Positioning Your Pack

“How do yo wear your pack?

Above-at-below your bely button, for the strap.

Any sites describing how you should wear it?”

“Definitely lower, on your hips.”

“Don't worry about where your belly button is, find your hips and make sure your HIPbelt rests on them. I'll admit, that used to be a lot easier for me about 25 years ago, LOL. So your build will certainly influence where that buckle comes together on the front side.”

“Kelty This will help if you have a kelty or similar type pack.”

“My hip is hurting pretty bad when I rest my pack down over my hips.

I tried to lift the pack just above my hips at the top where they start.”

“Adjust more weight to your shoulders.”

“Prowler, that sounds like you are trying to do the right thing -- the hip belt should be overlapping the top of the hips, not around them below the top of the bone, nor all the way above the bone.”

“Prowler, you need to get that situation worked out before our trip next month!!

Getting fired up yet???”

“what is the general opinion of what the correct proportion of shoulder/waist weight.70%/30%???cliff”

“The only time I've thought of pack weight location as a percentage is probably 70% in my brother's pack and 30% in mine...:P”

“Here's some info for fitting a Gregory Internal...
Gregory Pack Fitting
and..
Pack Fit
I like most of the weight on my hips 70% or more, but then I have bad shoulders...I think the most important thing is to play around with it. I carried my big Gregory for years, when I made a rather small change in the adjustment on one trip, and was amazed how much better I liked it. Your hips were built to carry a load, not your shoulders. If your not used to carrying most of the load on your hips, they will hurt (along with some other muscle's you didn't know you had) until you build up the right muscles”

“with my gvp4 i like most of the load on my shoulders(80%).the waist mostly stabilizes the load which seldom exceeds 23lbs.”

“MDS im ready just trying to take care of this hip. It seams to hurt only when I carry a load. Back in the day when I fisrt started packing my shoulders always hurt know I have adjusted the weight to my hips. So know my right hip is inflamed, causing pain when using it under strenuous activities.”

“ive adjusted my pack today more onto my shoulders and off the hips.

Walked around awhile and seems to help if I wear the pack just above my hip bone at the top.

plus w/ my pain killers I cant feel a thing!!”

“Varies.

Comfortable pack position varies for me depending on conditions. Cross country I like the weight lower. Higher on good trail. I shift more load to my shoulders on sustained uphills and to my waist on long downhills.”

“Type of pack can make a difference too,, I use an external frame, maybe that makes a big difference, but I pack the weight high on the frame, with put most of the load on the hips. Most of the time, the shoulder straps are almost loose for me, with no problems. I know it doesn't work for everybody that way,everybody has a different body type, but it could be because I can adjust my hipbelt height pretty much anywhere I want in relation to the shoulder straps, I haven't run into an internal that could do that. I'd suggest anyone with a problem goes to a good outdoor store and see if they can help. Check out the external frames and try them with a serious load(100 lbs or so, and then the same load with an internal,, you may be surprised! good luck.”

“I have the same problem prowler. I carry about 30lbs and my hips get a little tender after a few days - doesn't matter if I'm using an external or internal pack.

We must be defective!!”

“I try to let all the weight hand from my hips. I don't like the pack resting on my back at all, except the lower lumbar part. I'll adjust the shoulder strap lifter-straps so they don't carry any weight, and allow my pack to dangle slightly away from my back so there's airflow. I know this isn't the "proper" way to carry a pack, but it works well for me.”

“I like to have as much weight going to my waist as I can.Thats what works best for me.”

“I even got a leather smith to add a hipbelt to my daypack...can't stand to have weight on my shoulders...abit is OK. Weight on the shoulders equals sore shoulders and tired back.”

“Just tighten or loosen hip belt or shoulder straps to ease the load to the most pain felt area.
More importantly it sounds like you need to lighten your pack. How much weight do you carry on avarage?”

“The only time I ever had hip pain with mine, the strap was slightly twisted causing a pressure point. Check all your straps to make sure they were buckled straight to begin with. Sometimes they're not. Then you need to make sure the fit is adjusted properly and that the load is balanced both vertically and horizontally. And of course, that your load is not too heavy. I'm afraid I can't be any more help than that.”

“WD, I carry about 30-35 lbs, but know w/ some new light gear its around 20-30 max!

I just finished w/ my first physical therapy this morning and man, im in good shape but my flexibility is awfull. That where all my pain comes from.

Hopping out of the truck and rushing to the trail doesnt help much.

If or what do you do before hitting the trail to stretch??”

“The only way to improve flexibility is to stretch every day.”

“Stretching is very important and gets more important as you get older. My massage therapist told me it is more important to stretch AFTER the hike for lots of reasons. When I do it, I am generally not very sore the next day.

I have also learned that strengthening the trunk muscles is very important also. I really have to get busy on that.”

“I agree.It's good to do it before and after.”

“LOL!
I started talking about stretching once and Me and Birch got into a debate about it's importance. We laughed about it once we finally got to hike together.
I say stretch away!!”

“Mr.Phil is strengthening his trunk. LOL














Sorry...I just couldn't help it!”

“I use to stretch religiously when I skateboarded. It made me more limber and agile, not just when doing tricks but also when tumbling on the ground.

Stretching after a hard workout will decrease your chance of muscle cramps.”

“My hips don't bother me but my knees often hurt. I have found that if I pack the heavy stuff in the center of my back between the shoulder blades my knee don't bother me as much. You may need to play around with the location of your heaviest gear. You will probally find that we all do things a little differant to suit our own needs. You'll just have to find out what works best for you. I should also mention I use a external. It works for me but others will swear by their internals.

Good Luck

BAMA”

“just as you train your muscles, you must train your skin. You need to build up some cauloses (sp?) on your hips to deal with the friction. As for positioning, I think it depends a lot on the type of hip belt. I have used big ole fat belts that ride better above the hip bones so that the weight presses directly on them, but I have also used belts that are wider and do better at wrapping over the hip bones.”

“When it comes to hip discomfort, most problems occur because of the clothing you have on underneath the hipbelt. Seams, snaps, buckles and bunched clothes are the biggest culprits. Maintain smooth lines under the hipbelt by folding the waist band of your pants under the hipbelt our just buy clothes that don't irritate to begin with. The other problem is that the vast majority of internal frame hipbelts are not designed right to carry heavy loads. They don't move with your pelvis since they are either sewn to the bag or attached in a manner in that they don't hinge forward enough when you move. The result of this is that they hang like a tumpline off your front hip structure and need to be very tight to prevent slipping and sagging. Dan McHale is the only one who has figured out how to make a hipbelt right and perform like a hipbelt should. Once you try one of his packs you'll realize how disfunctional other packs really are. I bought one of his packs recently and am so spoiled by it's performance I find it difficult to go back to a conventional pack that in reality looks like it will work right , but doesn't.”

“I just try to position my pack on my back, sometimes it ends up on the front though, I cant see well then.”