[pct-l] External framed packs

[Jeffrey Olson]

Two days before a long section hike my girlfriend was slammed in the 
head with a door by an angry adolescent in a group home.  It snapped her 
neck back and her ability to hike with the neck pain was seriously in 
question.

We went ahead and after 30 days her neck pain was gone.  When she went 
back to her doctor he got all excited (he was a backpacker with a wall 
in his family room covered with topos of the northern cascades).  He 
said that her Jansport D-5 acted as a traction device.  She carried 90% 
of the pack's weight on her hips, and the other 10% was on the clavicle, 
not the muscles on top of her shoulders.  The pack straps pulled back 
and didn't rest on top and pull down.  Apparently, while wearing the 
pack, the strain on her neck muscles was even, and this helped her heal 
what can often turn into a lifelong, chronic condition.

Jeff
Arcata, CA


On 7/25/2014 11:30 AM, Carol wrote:
> Ned, I want to thank you for your last two messages-- this one and the next one, about your perspective on how backpacking has changed over the last forty years. Experience like yours and that of others on the list is invaluable.
> I have been doing short hikes with a purposely heavier day pack (not filled with chains like Scott does, but still...!) I tend to carry all my tension in my neck and shoulders, so the internal framed packs I've used exacerbate that problem. My instinct has been to try to shift that weight to my hips, but with little success. It is nice to know that external framed packs work on that principle. My question about that is, is it possible to carry an "ultralight' kit in an external frame pack, then add extra weight as needed (extra food and water when supplies are scarce, mountain equipment in the Sierra, for example) ? How does a pack like that ride when a heavier load isn't necessary?
> Carol
>
> Sent from my iPhone
>
>> On Jul 2