Sciatica - and rucksacks

Much as it pains me (no pun intended) to admit it, I came back from a six month trek around india, Pakistan, Iran, etc. with quite a severe dose of sciatica, due to carrying up to 16k in a bag on one shoulder.

It's all but gone, and now when I travel I take my bag on a trolley.
But in a couple of months I'm off to Egypt and the Sudan - very poor infrastructure and a whole lot of desert. I'm thinking seriously that I'll need a rucksack, and am worried about whether or not this is likely to put my back out again (I still fell a twinge or two if I carry heavy shopping).

Does anyone on here have advice for me?

I'm a light traveller and no expert on rucksacks. My rucksack is 30 L and weighs about 8 kg.
Anyway, what I've heard, the main weight of your pack (rucksack in that case) should rest on the lower part of your back, and not on your shoulders.
You carried your bag on one shoulder. That's probably where the pain came from.

Don't go for a cheapie. Get an ergonomic one and get it properly fitted so the weight is taken where it should be. Get it weighted in the shop and walk around and up and down stairs for at least 15 mintues to make sure the weight is distributing properly on your body. The majority of the weight should be taken on your hips and shoulders.

I've got this one and carried it with my arthritic knee without too much of a problem. I don't hike with a full pack just carry it from plane/train/bus to hotel/hostel etc.

One Planet

Have a chat to your doctor first.

Edited by: annD

When you get to your destination, look around in luggage shops for specialized drag-along-the-sand luggage which should be cheap in such poor countries.

If you can't find any, buy a rucksack and hire some coolie to carry it for you.

Homour him with the odd "You're a better man than I am, Gunga Din".

If you can't find one that looks trustworthy, hire a camel on your Mastercard.

Make that 'homour'.

I meant "hUmour", of course.

Fieldgate - from what I've heard, the main weight of your pack (rucksack in that case) should rest on the lower part of your back, and not on your shoulders.
Actually, my sciatica is located in the lower vertebrae. The impact travels downwards.

AnneD - thanks for the advice on how to choose and buy.

Meddler - I don't hire 'coolies' - do all my own carrying. And since I have to get my baggage there in the first place, it doesn't make sense to buy second-class rubbish in a country where most people carry heavy weights on their head.
No ATMs in the country, and I don't know how to care for a camel on a day-to-day basis.
It seems, in terms of planning, I'm a better man than you are Meddler-Din. (Also a better speller!)

I'd still like to hear from someone who's suffered the same problem, though.

Take less than a dozen kilos, you don't need more, and wear the rucksac in the way it was intended, on two shoulders. You can usually findtransport/small boys to take the weight.

Dave

'An ounce of prevention...'

You are lucky your sciatica resolved. Do you really want to take
the chance and turn it into a cronic condition?? I have some low back
issues and have gone over to an oversized day pack with waist belt and
a small rolling bag to take most of the heavier stuff. The day pack can
at times can sit on top of the roller.

Good luck

It's always a crapshoot-rolling bags can sometime impart a twisting to the back-never good news.

I'd go with the other advice carry as little weight as possible and be prepared to do laundry often.

Hi,

First and foremost have a word with your medial practitioner, assuming you have not already that is. Secondly buy a GOOD rucksack from a decent outlet. Ensure that all straps are more than suitable i.e. wide, well padded and well positioned. Ensure that you can alter the back length so that the sack rests properly on your shoulders hips and back.

Latest info is that heavier weighted articles should in fact be placed towards the top of your sack and not the bottom. This contradicts the old fashioned theory of heaviest articles at the bottom. Remember in a good outlet the salesperson should be well informed, try an exhaustive test with them in attendance. If they see you are serious about purchasing a good sack they will assist and earn their money so to speak. If you are not sure do not buy. Happy travels.

As someone who has actually backpacked in the original sense of the word, for over 30 years I think I have a fair amount of knowledge and experience on the subject.

First, carrying anything on one shoulder is wrong. It may be fashionable but it's stupid. The purpose of any carrying system is to distribute the weight as much as possible. So two shoulder straps are better than one and two straps and a hip belt are better than 2 straps. Look at any good backpack and look at the hip belt ( It is not a waist belt, your waist is above your hips although guys with beer bellys don't want to know that.). Do you see how wide it is, how it's shaped and padded? This is for a reason obviously and the only reason is to get the weight distributed onto the hips and decrease the weight on the shoulders. Look at the sternum strap on a good backpack. Why do you think that is there? To look good? To simply keep the shoulder straps from slipping off your shoulders? No, it is there again for a very good reason, to keep the shoulder straps in the correct position.

Second, a backpack must fit the individual. Each person has a longer or shorter torso. The best backpacks have a means of adjusting the distance between the shoulder straps and hip belt to account for that difference. Suppose a backpack does not have an adjustable system. You put the pack on with the hip belt in the correct position (resting on the top of your hip bones) and the shoulder straps go upwards from the top of your shoulders to the pack. That is a pack that is too long for your body. Similarly, if you put the hip belt in the correct position and the shoulder straps meet the pack down by the bottom of your shoulder blades the pack is too short. (you may have seen a lot of school kids carrying a pack with the shoulder straps half way down their back. It's the fashion. In their case the pack is actually too big but they are just letting it dangle down past their ass.)

The hip belt should rest on the top of your hip bones (good ones will have contoured belts that curve around your hip bone) and the shoulder belts should meet the pack at the top of your shoulder blades. Many packs are not adjustable or not adjustable enough for someone who is taller or shorter than average. I cannot stress too much how much difference it makes to comfort and efficiency to have a pack that fits properly. Unfortunately, a lot of sales clerks have no idea of how to fit a pack properly and of course most consumers buy based on price and looks.

I do not know what you actually mean by a 'rucksack'. It has a specific meaning to me but I know many people use the word to mean anything from a small daypack to a large backpack. If I go by the weight of 16kg. you mention it still doesn't tell me much since nowadays people can have that much in a small daypack if they are carrying a laptop, camera, etc.

While a daypack can easily carry that much weight it is in fact not designed to carry it efficiently. They rarely have a hip belt since they are generally too short to reach from shoulder blade to hips. Some of the 'Camelback' type packs are long and slim to reach from shoulder to hips but even they don't normally have a proper hip belt. It's usually just a small waist strap that holds the bag close to your body but does not transfer any weight off your shoulders and onto your hips. They're more suited to running with water and an energy bar in them. In other words not a lot of weight. The less weight you carry the more you can get away with as far as efficiency of the pack in transferring the weight to your body properly.

I would not reccommend carrying 16kg. in a daypack for any length of time (over an hour). At that kind of weight you should be using a properly fitting backpack, particularly if you have a back problem of any kind.

You can get into all kinds of technical details on sites like this one: http://www.backpackinglight.com/cgi-bin/backpackinglight/forums/thread_display.html?forum_thread_id=2

Or find all kinds of websites by Googling for 'backpack suspension' that discuss pack fit and weight distribution. In backpacking (wilderness) circles this has been a major topic for decades. So read to your heart's content if you want.

But I'll give you my number one best piece of advice on backpacks. Learn to carry LESS WEIGHT. In backpacking (wilderness) circles there is a common definition of the ultimate backpacker. It applies equally well to the tourist with a backpack I think.

"He would carries the most comforts with the least weight." In other words if you can't feel comfortable without your french cafetiere, make sure it is the lightest weight cafetiere there is. I know people who cut half the handle off a toothbrush and drill holes in the remaining half to reduce weight. If you think I'm kidding, read here: http://www.backpacking.net/tips.html#toothbrush

Read through the tips to see just how fanatic people get about reducing weight. In particular though read the tip about footwear. It is in fact a widely held belief that losing 1lb. off your fee is the equivalent of 5lbs. off your back. Basically, the theory is mathematical based on the amount of energy needed to lift the weight on your foot with each step you take. Less to lift, less energy used, the better you feel.

There are some good 'Youtube' videos on fitting packs. I found these right off the top.

http://technorati.com/videos/youtube.com%2Fwatch%3Fv%3DXBoZWEHuAeY

Thanks a million, BP. For the valuable information as well as the time and trouble you took posting it here.

It's been so many years since I carried a rucksack; mostly travelling to 'hot spots' I preferred a shoulder bag, so your advice is excellent. I've copied it and will use as a guide to buying my new one ... or, hopefully, a suitable second-hand one should it fit the bill, as in general I prefer not to add extra heat to my body in the desert. (Sudan being a new situation, with few roads or pavements outside of Khartoum.)

In defence of my "16k India bag" I should say that on that occasion I was away for six months, travelling through a number of countries, and the things I bought along the way and didn't want to risk posting home made up a fair proportion of the weight.
I had designed my bag as an outer cover for two inner bags, one of which would normally be carried on each shoulder to distribute the weight.

In the event, each of these smaller bags was so stuffed I could only just squeeze them into my outer carrier, which then meant carrying the whole weight on one shoulder - something I hadn't allowed for.
I normally carry about 8-9k in total. 'Rule of 3s' plus medical and washing kit, small camera, guidebook, etc.

Be careful taking the pack on and off. Try putting the pack on a table, stooping, getting it on properly, and then standing.

And, in spite of Meddler's derogatory term, this might be the time to start accepting help from others and hiring people to help you. For some reason many of us have the idea that there is something wrong with paying someone else to do something for us. It's probably based on the attitude some people have toward those offering basic services (note Meddler's derogatory term). However, that person needs the money, and you need the service. If you pay fairly, and aren't arrogant and superior about it, you've just hired someone to do a job. If you feel you have to do everything yourself, you would have to grow your own food, tilling the ground with tools you made. But you don't do that, you 'hire' some people to take care of all that. Nor do you walk everywhere. You take taxis and planes.

I always try to hire the people who want to carry bags, and I take rickshaws or bicycle rickshaws rather than mechanized transport when I can, because the people who do that work really, really need the money. So help someone out, hire someone to carry your stuff when possible, and decrease the risk of permanently damaging your back. I know it kind of hurts to admit there is something you can no longer do, but there it is.

Thanks, stilloutthere, for that timely advice too.
I always travel by rickshaw when I can - and certainly I'll remember what you said if I need help.
I just have so many bad memories of the 'British Raj' attitude. Maybe I need to rethink them. ;>)

The problem with the era of the British Raj was as you say their attitude. As long as you don't have that same attitude towards those you pay to help you, there is no issue to rethink.

If I could get someone to shlep my backpack for me on a week in the bush I'd gladly pay someone to do so. Imagine the freedom of it! Who knows, go_2, you may have given me all new food for thought about what the ultimate backpacker is!

S/he who travels with NO weight and the most comforts.

I have this vision of me at the head of a line of porters carrying everything including the bathtub. LOL Maybe those 'great white hunters' in Africa years ago had it right after all.

Oh dear! Just looked in here before bed and there's no way I can go now. I have this vision of you in the African savannah at the head of a line of porters - but sitting in the bathtub.
Oh my aching sides! :>)

LOL, I never thought of that possibility! Better than on top of an elephant or what, eh. I wonder what the Swahili word for 'mush' is? (Canadian term of endearment spoken to sled huskies for those not in the know.)

No idea but pole is slowly.

Mush in Swahili, would be Haya!

Get a move on! { Swahili : haya! }[ derived: Arabic ]
interjection [ photos: upload ]

http://kamusiproject.org/

I read a travel book once by a famous, and long dead, author. He wrote about his travels in Africa, Liberia I think, with his sister, and how he changed his mind and decided to walk. His sister stuck to the original plan, which was to be carried everywhere in hammocks!

Now that's the way to travel. LOL

Stilloutthere - no hammock for me! I shall be travelling by bus and boksai.

BP - I wouldn't even think of inviting you along with me - all that LOLling around all over the place just isn't my style at all :>)

yeah - no sense of humour at all - sticks out like a sore thumb - not that there's anything wrong with that!

Oh meddler ... you've learned how to spell humour ... the English way, too. Congratulations!
Now you only have to learn what it means...

In your case, it would mean:-

"3. One of the four fluids of the body - blood, phlegm, black bile, and yellow bile".

In that sense, you could be said to be not without humour.

A quick tip, meddler: the (obs) at the end of that definition stands for 'obsolete'.

Ah, but you're probably getting that way yourself, so no worries sweetie.

I don't at any rate suffer from sciatica yet, but maybe you are less obsolete in other ways that will by and by become apparent.

My husband and I just got back from a couple of months in SE Asia. As in most of our other travels my husband hauled his rather heavy backpack over one shoulder much of the time. He he developed "frozen shoulder" - very painful and very hard to get over. Right now he is having to go to regular physio sessions and has pain most of the time. And, he came back to ski!!!
Another reason to not carry a pack over one shoulder