[at-l] post thru-hike aches and pains

[Debbie_Smith@millipore.com (Debbie_Smith@millipore.com)]

I'm no doctor but I can tell you of my personal experience.  I didn't
really have too many aches and pains with joints on my thruhike until
Maine.  In Maine I started having some hip problems.  I think it was due to
the need to tighten the waist-belt of my pack and pressing my hips (quite a
lot smaller in ME than in GA) against my lower-spine/tailbone.  After my
hike I continued to have occasional sciatica problems for about a year.

My knees didn't really bother me until after the hike.  Then they hated to
be in one position for a long time.  We had to stop a bunch of times on the
2-day drive home (to Mass) just so I could straighten my legs and move my
knees around.  They really bothered me unless I moved them often.  That
lasted a couple months, and then they got better gradually over a couple
more months.  By about 6 months post-hike I really had no remaining aches
and pains (of the physical nature - I'm still missing the mountains every
day I sit in the office).  I haven't had any 'permanent' damage to any of
my joints but some of my friends who developed knee problems along the hike
still have twinges and aches and pains they didn't have before.  I was 36
on my thruhike, and most of them were in their 20's.

Twilight
GA>ME '98