You wake up and your back's tight from yesterday's heavy run. Your shoulder's been twinging since you caught that 30kg box awkwardly last week. Your knee aches going up stairs. You take some Nurofen, stretch for 30 seconds, and drive to the depot. Because bills don't stop for sore muscles, right? Except here's the thing — every experienced driver will tell you the same story: the injury that put them out for weeks wasn't a new one. It was a minor one they kept working through until it became major.
Why Minor Injuries Become Major Ones
When you've got a minor strain — a sore back, a tweaked shoulder, a stiff knee — your body compensates. You lift differently, you twist at a different angle, you favour one side. This compensation puts stress on other muscles and joints that aren't designed to handle it. You're now at much higher risk of a secondary injury, which is often worse than the original.
A mild lower back strain takes 1–2 weeks to heal with rest. That same strain, if you keep loading vans and carrying freight, can progress to a disc bulge or herniation that takes 6–12 weeks to recover from — sometimes longer, sometimes with surgery. That's not 1 week of lost pay. That's 2–3 months.
The maths is brutal: skip 1 week now and recover fully, or push through and lose 8–12 weeks later. Most drivers who've been through it will tell you they wish they'd stopped sooner.
Know Your Workers' Comp Rights
If you're employed (not a contractor), you are covered by workers' compensation for injuries that occur at work or because of work. This includes gradual onset injuries from repetitive lifting, not just sudden accidents. According to WorkSafe Queensland workers' compensation claims, you should report any workplace injury to your employer as soon as possible, even if it seems minor at the time.
Report it early. This is critical. If you hurt your back on Monday but don't report it until Thursday — after you've worked three more shifts — it becomes harder to link the injury to work. Report every injury, even minor ones, on the day they happen. Keep a written record.
See a doctor. Get a medical certificate. Even if you plan to keep working, having a medical record of the injury protects you if it gets worse. A doctor can also prescribe modified duties, which your employer is required to accommodate where possible.
When to Stop
Stop and seek medical attention if: the pain is getting worse, not better, over 2–3 days. You're changing how you move to avoid pain (limping, lifting one-handed, twisting differently). The pain is sharp rather than dull. You have numbness, tingling, or weakness in a limb. You can't grip properly — dropping parcels is a sign your body is telling you something.
There's no shame in taking a day off to recover. There is significant financial pain in taking three months off because you didn't take one day when you should have. Your body is your primary tool in this job — if it breaks, everything stops.