Been thinking about this since someone on my last post mentioned their shoulders locking up early on too, same as mine.
So I actually watched a video on driving anxiety for new drivers, since the shoulder thing kept happening every lesson and I wanted to know if it was just me. The guy in the video said a lot of new drivers apparently choke the wheel like they’re trying to strangle it, shoulders creeping up toward the ears, and the fix wasn’t about hand position at all — it was about dropping your shoulders every time you stop at a light. Just a quick reset, shoulders down, exhale, loosen the grip for a beat before you go again.
Tried it on my last lesson. Didn’t fix everything, my forearms were still a little sore after, but my shoulders weren’t locked up by the end like they usually are, and that’s actually something!
Doesn’t carry over to standing a full shift though, ugh, that’s a whole different kind of tired. But at least that sore spot has an actual fix now instead of just waiting for it to go away.
Sorry this got long, I tend to ramble when something actually works for once.