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  1. #1
    slowhike's Avatar
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    Back Issues & Hammocks

    Have you found using a hammock to be the answer to back problems?
    We've herd so many mentions & stories saying just that, so this thread is a place to collect personal experiences for others to read about.

    Everyone's body responds differently, so "your mileage may differ" (YMMD).
    Here's my story.
    I experienced a broken back. As bad as that may sound, I believe that other back issues involving the disks, etc, can be much more difficult in the long run.

    In May of 2002, a friend named Chuck & myself went to Panthertown Valley, NC to backpack.
    http://www.ncwaterfalls.com/panther1.htm
    On Sat eve as we sat up camp, I thew the "rock sack" attached to the bear bag line across a limb to hang our food for the night. It got tangled in a bunch of sucker limbs growing up out of the main limb.
    Next morning, after a leisurely breakfast, we started packing up to start hiking back in the direction of the car. I had given quite a bit of thought about the hung bear bag line... either cut the line & leave it hanging w/ the rock sack & carabiner used to attach bag to line, or climb up & un-tangle it.
    I choose to climb up & get it. It wasn't a difficult climb or very high. I was being very cautious & thoughtful (I thought), but I made one very costly mistake. After untangling the line & dropping it down, I put one foot on a knot on the side of the tree to change directions, intending to climb back down in the other direction. My foot slipped off the knot & I grabbed for a limb, but it was rotten.

    Next thing I knew, Chuck was knelling over me saying "Don't move, don't move".
    He said I was not unconscious but was in a daze for a couple minutes before I realized were I was again.
    I didn't know the extent of my injuries at the time, but I knew I had at least one broken rib. It clicked every time i breathed in or out & it hurt like everything to try to breath. I couldn't breath well at all. There was no getting a satisfying breath.

    Panic soon tried to set in, knowing that although we weren't far from roadways, this was still a wilderness area that had not yet become well known & used, not to mention that we were on a little used, unnamed foot path that snaked it's way up & down a creek bank & through Rhododendrons so close that you could barely get a backpack through it.

    I had my cell phone but the day before we had tried it, but got no signal at all. Chuck dialed 911 & thank the Lord, it went through.
    As Chuck talked to the 911 operator, I was able to describe, through Chuck, that we were on an unnamed trail between two named waterfalls.
    It was about 1.5 hours later when the first of the rescuers found us. More soon followed.

    After taking the fall, I had found some comfort in drawing my knees up w/ feet on the ground, near my rump. I could not put them back down. Trying to was excruciatingly painful. But my legs grew tired after a while so I had Chuck make a loop of cord, then put it around my knees, allowing me to relax my legs outward with the loop holding them.
    The rescuers said I would have to get my legs down for the stretcher ride out, so very painfully, we got them down & they strapped me onto a backboard.

    They tried some kind of lesser medication at first, but it wasn't even touching the pain, so the folks on the other end of the radio had them give me morphine. Still in pain, but it certainly helped

    I believe the trip out was almost as bad for the guys trying to tote me on a backboard as it was for me.... up & down steep banks, passing me through & around trees & Rhododendrons. They dropped one corner of the stretcher twice, but they were giving it all they had.
    I expressed my thankfulness for what they were doing. I even tried to joke a little, but I believe my delivery was off because of the pain & the meds

    They got me out to a forest service road were an ambulance was waiting & I was off to a hospital in Highlands/Cashiers were they did ex-rays.
    They determined that my injuries were more than they needed to be dealing with at the small mountain hospital so back to the ambulance for a ride to St Joesph Hospital in Ashville, NC. BTW... put some shocks on that ambulance or something
    The Neurosurgeon that worked on me was one of those called in for consultation when President Regan was shot. I was very fortunate to have such a highly respected doctor taking my case.

    After closer inspection of ex-rays & MRIs & such, he found me to have two broken vertebra, one a fracture & one a clean break.
    Also as many as 13 breaks/cracks in ribs (both front & back) from fractures to clean breaks. I believe one or two are still free floating?
    And a mild concussion to the back of my head.

    I don't know what happened on the way down from that tree, but I must have hit a limb on the way down, maybe did a spin??? The ground was nothing but exposed roots. That didn't help

    Anyway, he fused vertebrae (took bone from my hip) & added titanium hardware. I believe it was about a week & a half when I walked a little ways down the hall & back & went home to continue recovery.

    I started walking down the road from my house, using my trekking poles. The trekking poles not only gave a little extra margin of safety against any possible falling, but they also spread the work to my arms & back, which was good therapy.

    Started walking a very short ways, accompanied by someone, but was quickly on my own & increasing the miles.
    In a couple months I was up to 13 miles & at a pretty good clip

    I thank the Lord for good healing!!!
    Three months & five days after the fall, I was able to hike into the Mt Rogers area, about 4.5 miles for an overnight backpacking trip
    Friends carried some of my stuff, but I was still carrying about 20lbs. I still hadn't learned to get my pack much below 40lbs at that time

    One year after the original surgery, at my request, a Neurosurgeon nearer home removed the hardware. I got right here

    It remained difficult to lay on my back on any kind of a firm surface, including a mattress, so I slept on pillows.

    In winter of 2005 I somehow became interested in hammocks & came across the yahoo site "Hammock camping".
    Once I got past some of the "Newbie" uncertainties of making my first hammock purchase, I bought an Eagle's Nest Outfitter's (ENO) hammock!!!
    I started with the single, but wasn't satisfied. So I took it back & exchanged it for a double. No turning back after that!!!

    I slept better in my hammock than I did in a bed & almost immediately replaced my bed w/ the hammock. As I continued to experiment, I realized that sometimes, even the taughtly stretched fabric of the hammock was not always pleasant on the center of my back were they had twice made the 11" cut to work on the ol spine. Along comes the Big Agnes (BA) Insulated Air Core mat, then the Exped Down Air Mat (DAM)!!!
    AHHHH.... Heaven!!!!
    Perfect support!!!
    I too will something make and joy in it's making

  2. #2
    Senior Member Hawk-eye's Avatar
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    I knew you broke your back pal ... didn't know how bad it was. Dang ... thanks for sharing. Makes me feel much better about my ordeal.

    Well you definitely have over come all that bad luck ... you be a hiking machine now ... trail name not withstanding!

    WARNING: Will discuss Rhurbarb Strawberry Pie and Livermush at random.


    "A democracy is two wolves and a small lamb voting on what to have for dinner.
    Freedom under a constitutional republic is a well armed lamb contesting the vote." ... B.Franklin


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  3. #3
    Senior Member Cannibal's Avatar
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    Daaaaaaaang. Good story!

    13 broken ribs at once?! Man, I've had 7 broken ribs and only 2 of them at the same time. I still curse the memories of those breaks. Amazing how something can cause so much pain, yet there is so little they can do to help. Terrible idea ribs are.

    If anyone asks how you got your moniker "slowhike" just push em out of a tree and let em figure it out for themselves.
    Trust nobody!

  4. #4
    Senior Member Hawk-eye's Avatar
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    13 ribs ... 7 ribs ... dang ... I feel so ... so ... under broken ... only managed to fracture 3 in 56 years. Maybe I should go jump off the roof this evening! Nawh ... on second thought ... in this case third place isn't so bad!

    WARNING: Will discuss Rhurbarb Strawberry Pie and Livermush at random.


    "A democracy is two wolves and a small lamb voting on what to have for dinner.
    Freedom under a constitutional republic is a well armed lamb contesting the vote." ... B.Franklin


    Home of the Gorge Rats: Linville Gorge
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  5. #5
    Senior Member Beast 71's Avatar
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    I broke my back on a jobsite when I was an electrician. I ended up having to get L4,L5 and S1 fused. I find my hammock better, for my back, than my high buck memory foam mattress. I don't think I would be able to camp as often or as comfortably if I were still a ground dweller.

  6. #6
    Senior Member Veto 65's Avatar
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    I'm not complaining about my two herniated disks anymore.
    I would feel more optimistic about a bright future for man if he spent less time proving that he can outwit Nature and more time tasting her sweetness and respecting her seniority. - E. B. White (1899 - 1985)

  7. #7
    Senior Member Just Jeff's Avatar
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    I broke 4 vertabrae playing dodgeball, and walked off the court. No joke. Don't mess with me when it comes to elementary school sports...
    “Republics are created by the virtue, public spirit, and intelligence of the citizens. They fall when the wise are banished from the public councils because they dare to be honest, and the profligate are rewarded because they flatter the people, in order to betray them.” ~Judge Joseph Story

    - My site: http://www.tothewoods.net/
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    IMPOSSIBLE JUST TAKES LONGER

  8. #8
    Senior Member NCPatrick's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Just Jeff View Post
    I broke 4 vertabrae playing dodgeball, and walked off the court. No joke. Don't mess with me when it comes to elementary school sports...
    Wow, what kind of dodgeballs were you playing with - rocks? Tough school!


    "Civilization is the limitless multiplication of unnecessary necessities."
    - Mark Twain
    “I go to nature to be soothed and healed, and to have my senses put in order.”
    - John Burroughs

  9. #9
    Senior Member Mustardman's Avatar
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    I never broke my back, thankfully, but I do have some degeneration in my disks, both due to bad genetics, and carrying too much weight on my back when I was working construction as a teenager. Carrying bundles of shingles up ladders on your shoulders while your spine is developing is maybe not the best way to earn bucks for new Nintendo games... Combine that with knees that are pretty banged up from taking a lot of ground falls while climbing, and getting up in the morning can be challenging in the woods (I mostly boulder, which is climbing within 12-18 or so feet of the ground, using foam mats for protection instead of ropes)

    Hammock camping has definitely greatly reduced my woods discomfort. Sleeping on the ground at climbing competitions was actually negatively affecting my performance in those comps. I was waking up so stiff and with all kinds of shooting pains in my back and neck, that it was difficult to climb things that should have been warmups for me. My neck sometime still gets stiff in the hammock, but my back and knees are worlds better, and that makes it a lot easier to get out of bed in the morning.

  10. #10
    Senior Member Just Jeff's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by NCPatrick View Post
    Wow, what kind of dodgeballs were you playing with - rocks? Tough school!
    Basketballs, my freshman year of college. I dove for the ball just as the enemy slid knee-first to pick it up...so we were both going full-speed when his knees smashed into my back. My team won so I guess my sacrifice was worth it.

    Got smacked in the face with a basketball in the game before that, too. Basketballs hurt.
    “Republics are created by the virtue, public spirit, and intelligence of the citizens. They fall when the wise are banished from the public councils because they dare to be honest, and the profligate are rewarded because they flatter the people, in order to betray them.” ~Judge Joseph Story

    - My site: http://www.tothewoods.net/
    - Designer, Jeff's Gear Hammock / Pack Cover by JRB

    IMPOSSIBLE JUST TAKES LONGER

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