Hammock bad for your posture/back?

[SoCal Mike]

I'm not a doctor and won't pretend to be one. I have no idea if long term hammock use is good or bad for one's back.

However, I've had a few aches and pains early in the morning after hanging. I usually use an UQ with a bridge hammock. Got me thinking about using a pad instead of the UQ to give my back some more support with a slightly firmer sleep area.

Perhaps the issue isn't as simple as a hammock being good or bad for your back, but which hammock (i.e. the positions your body forms in a gathered end v. bridge hammock) and how much support your back has in the hammock (i.e. pad v. UQ, or SL v. DL hammock).

Just my purely non-scientific, unsubstantiated two cents.

Michael (SoCal Mike)

[Sailor]

I guess everyone's experience is different. I injured by back 35 years ago and have fought back pain ever since. It hurts the most after a long day of standing (walking not so bad), carrying a load, and playing golf. An hour in the hammock is the best medicine for me. I normally sleep in a bed, and I normally wake up stiff and back/hips/legs a little achy. After a night in a hammock, they are clearly not so achy. My 2 cents. (to answer the obvious question, why still using a bed? I'm married, and I'm not as smart as the average bear.)

[spoonyspork]

So I ran a little experiment last night. Didn't drink anything for two hours before bed, and put a blanket under me so the air didn't flow through. Only difference it made was I got up for a bathroom break ~30 minutes later than I have been since starting the hammock sleeping.

The blanket also made for slightly less comfortable sleep since I couldn't make fine adjustments to the weave gathered under me. Woke up about 5 minutes before my alarm went off with a Charley horse and slightly stiff neck.

Other than the stiffness in my calf muscle from the Charley horse, I still feel better than I did sleeping in a bed XD

[Cannibal]

OK all you waterbed haters; no Xmas card for you!
I still have one in the garage in a pile. Can't make myself get rid of it, but won't set it up again either. Some fond memories there.

My hammock adventure began because of a bad back. I suppose I can blame the waterbed, but more likely the brick wall I tried to move with my head and spine when I was in eighth grade. A few months after that, my back went out for the first time. Never knew pain like that before at 14 years old. My dad found me collapased in the middle of the living room unable to move. It was 10 days before I could walk unsupported. For the next 23 years, once a year, I would suffer the same. Misery!

Then, I decided to hike the AT. Number one concern was my back. While on Whiteblaze, there was a thread asking about what kind of tent people were using. Since I had just ordered a MSR Hubba, I wanted validation. One poster named "Rockstar" posted that she had selected a hammock because of back problems. I thought, "Well, the internet is full of wackados". But, I sent her a PM out of curiosity and she just pointed me to HF. A week later, I had a $20 hammock that I ordered online. I set it up above my bed (waterbed ) right after work the day it arrived. After futzing with it for about half an hour, I laid down to try it. This was about 6:30 in the evening. Next thing I knew, my alarm clock was going off and it was morning. First time I can ever remember sleeping all the way through the night.

I slept in it the next night too. And the night after that. That third morning when I got up, I thought something was wrong with me. I was standing erect immediately after waking up. Something is seriously wrong. I wasn't limping towards the medicine cabinet for my first dose of pain meds for the new day. Uh oh! It was a strange sensation to be pain-free in the morning.

A week later, my waterbed was drained and disassembled. That was 2007. The only times I've slept in a bed since were when I was in a hotel/motel and couldn't figure out how to hang my hammock. In fact, when I do sleep in a bed now, I'm sore for a couple of days. My ribs hurt like nobody's business. My knees ache and my back complains. Three nights in a bed and Genuine Draft won't even come near me for fear of Hulk Smash!

Does long term hammock use negatively impact my back?

Yes!
Because I can no longer sleep on a bed without dealing with unreasonable pain. At least I had a tolerance to the pain before. So many years of pain-free sleeping have made me soft and weak.....and really really happy.

[peteypk]

My wife and I have a king-sized sleep number bed -- had it for the past 13 years -- and for the first 10 years I can't say that I recall having noticed any back issues or pain. But for whatever reason (not sure what caused it) for the last 3 years or so, I had been waking up out of bed with my lower back and hips feeling progressively achy, stiff, and unrested. No matter how much tweaking of my "number," I noticed that I would toss and turn more and more often throughout the night.

Enter the hammock.

About two years ago, I bought me a hammock with the intention of taking it camping -- I scoured the web and found HF to be an EXCELLENT resource. After 2 nights, it was AMAZING to have slept and feel rested and awake with no back aches and stiffness.

When we got home I asked my wife if I could run an experiment w/ a hammock in the bedroom -- try a few nights in bed, try a few nights in hammock, try every other night, etc. She rolled her eyes at me but gave me the leeway to run my experiment. I bought a hammock stand for $25 from Craigslist (had to fix it up) and I set it up in our bedroom next to my side of the bed.

To my wife's chagrin, the hammock always resulted in a better sleep. The bed left me achy and annoyed but the hammock alleviated any lower back and hip issues.

So, for a little under 2 years now, I've been sleeping in my hammock virtually pain free. I will occasionally end up back in the bed (wink-wink nudge-nudge) but the morning after is always tainted with my back issues.

[Cannibal]

I will occasionally end up back in the bed (wink-wink nudge-nudge) but the morning after is always tainted with my back issues.

You need two things:

More creativity
More practice time

Trust me, there is no need for a bed.

[peteypk]

You need two things:

More creativity
More practice time

Trust me, there is no need for a bed.

HAHAAAHAAAAA!!!
(we'll get there!)

[Armor Like Fire]

So I ran a little experiment last night. Didn't drink anything for two hours before bed, and put a blanket under me so the air didn't flow through. Only difference it made was I got up for a bathroom break ~30 minutes later than I have been since starting the hammock sleeping.

The blanket also made for slightly less comfortable sleep since I couldn't make fine adjustments to the weave gathered under me. Woke up about 5 minutes before my alarm went off with a Charley horse and slightly stiff neck.

Other than the stiffness in my calf muscle from the Charley horse, I still feel better than I did sleeping in a bed XD

Well I sleep literally about a foot away from my window ac and my back got cold sleeping in my sleeping bag so I just out my sleeping bag inside a Flece liner and that got rid of the annoying lumps of blankets underneath me could have that a try!

[Armor Like Fire]

OK all you waterbed haters; no Xmas card for you!
I still have one in the garage in a pile. Can't make myself get rid of it, but won't set it up again either. Some fond memories there.

My hammock adventure began because of a bad back. I suppose I can blame the waterbed, but more likely the brick wall I tried to move with my head and spine when I was in eighth grade. A few months after that, my back went out for the first time. Never knew pain like that before at 14 years old. My dad found me collapased in the middle of the living room unable to move. It was 10 days before I could walk unsupported. For the next 23 years, once a year, I would suffer the same. Misery!

Then, I decided to hike the AT. Number one concern was my back. While on Whiteblaze, there was a thread asking about what kind of tent people were using. Since I had just ordered a MSR Hubba, I wanted validation. One poster named "Rockstar" posted that she had selected a hammock because of back problems. I thought, "Well, the internet is full of wackados". But, I sent her a PM out of curiosity and she just pointed me to HF. A week later, I had a $20 hammock that I ordered online. I set it up above my bed (waterbed ) right after work the day it arrived. After futzing with it for about half an hour, I laid down to try it. This was about 6:30 in the evening. Next thing I knew, my alarm clock was going off and it was morning. First time I can ever remember sleeping all the way through the night.

I slept in it the next night too. And the night after that. That third morning when I got up, I thought something was wrong with me. I was standing erect immediately after waking up. Something is seriously wrong. I wasn't limping towards the medicine cabinet for my first dose of pain meds for the new day. Uh oh! It was a strange sensation to be pain-free in the morning.

A week later, my waterbed was drained and disassembled. That was 2007. The only times I've slept in a bed since were when I was in a hotel/motel and couldn't figure out how to hang my hammock. In fact, when I do sleep in a bed now, I'm sore for a couple of days. My ribs hurt like nobody's business. My knees ache and my back complains. Three nights in a bed and Genuine Draft won't even come near me for fear of Hulk Smash!

Does long term hammock use negatively impact my back?

Yes!
Because I can no longer sleep on a bed without dealing with unreasonable pain. At least I had a tolerance to the pain before. So many years of pain-free sleeping have made me soft and weak.....and really really happy.

Hammock>waterbed.
Waterbed>bed(as long as I, not sleeping their lol

[Aardvark]

Degenerative Disc Disease sufferer for about 15 years now, vertibrae L3-4-5. Almost gave up camping as I couldn't get more than 3 hours sleep (even on Big Agnes sleep pad) due to back, first time in a hammock overnight I slept 9 hours straight thru, don't even get that kind of love after a couple flexoril and lortabs. I will never never never sleep on ground again (unless hammock splits and I fall to ground becoming unconscious), and I have used Turtledog stand in apt when severe back pain threatens.

The curve I get when sleeping on the diagonal seems to spread the column in that area, relieving any pinch or tightness, and like almost everyone here says I am the most happy camper waking up in the morning.