[pct-l] permanent injuries from thru-hiking?

[kdpo at pacbell.net (Ken Powers)]

The only permanent injury that I have from thru-hiking the PCT  is that I
can't get enough thru-hiking. I'm always looking for another long trail to
thru-hike.

On a thru-hike my feet, especially my toes, get a numbness. I expect part of
that is inadvertent kicking of rocks and roots. Anyway the numbness foes
away within a month of finishing a thru-hike.

I used to get pains in my knees when I hiked with Boy Scouts over 10 years
ago. Since I have been hiking longer distances I no longer get the knee
pains. I attribute it to stronger knees from more frequent exercise.

Ken
www.GottaWalk.com

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Pea Hicks" <phix@optigan.com>
To: <pct-l@mailman.backcountry.net>
Sent: Tuesday, June 08, 2004 4:00 AM
Subject: [pct-l] permanent injuries from thru-hiking?


> hi all-
>
> i'm wondering if anyone out there has any stories to share vis a vis
> permanent (or at least long-lasting) injuries sustained from the simple
> act of thru-hiking a trail such as the PCT. i'm not talking about
> injuries from isolated accidents or incidents- i'm more interested in,
> say, knee or foot injuries due to all that daily stress that linger well
> after the hike is over. it seems that everyone that attempts such a hike
> complains about various types of pain either sporadically or constantly,
> but i don't recall reading much about the consequences of continuing on
> day after day despite the pain... except, of course, in cases where the
> pain was sufficient to knock the person off the trail... but even in
> those cases, people generally report their eventual recovery.
>
> so, any stories of permanent injury? any particular types of pain that
> should be interpreted as real red-flags?
>
> also, when i hiked section A of the pct last year, the main issue my
> body had was illiotibial band syndrome on my right knee. i had pain on
> the outside area of my knee, and it was much worse on downhill than on
> uphill. my knee and hips remained sore for weeks after my hike- much
> longer than i had expected! i have an article with some stretches, etc,
> related to this problem, but i'm wondering if anyone out there has any
> advice, especially techniques or technology to help avoid having this
> problem in the future.
>
> thanks in advance!
> peanut
> (pct05 wannabe)
>
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