My backpack is crushing my sciatic nerve

April 11, 2009 3:01 PM

My backpack is crushing my sciatic nerve. I'd like that to stop.

After a long absence from doing such a thing, this summer I'm going on a long (10-12 days) trip up a fair amount of elevation. To get my legs back into shape, in addition to running up more inclination that I usually do, I've been taking a loaded (50 lbs or so) bag up as many stairs as I can. It seems like no matter how I start out adjusted, the bag after a while will slip down in the back so that much of the weight is pressing down into my lower back. This happens much faster when the bag is heavy. If I'm only using 30 lbs 80 flights of stairs is fine, but if I'm using 50 lbs it happens after two or three dozen flights, and with 60 lbs it will happen after ten.

Part of the problem is that I lost weight. I'm about 40-45lbs lighter than the last time I went on this kind of thing. I'm working on building back up the muscles, but the fat pad isn't coming back. I'm not eager to replace perfectly good gear, but I have the hip belt pretty much as tight as it can go. I never had problems like this before.

What can I do to stop the low riding in the back? Do I need to bite the bullet and buy a new refitted pack? Can I reasonably adjust this to work comfortably?

posted by a robot made out of meat to sports, hobbies, & recreation (3 comments total)

Your sciatic nerve runs through your butt. What exactly is going on with this pack? Is it physically pushing into your back? If you're carrying a heavy pack and getting shooting pains in your legs it sounds more like a disc herniation. In which case, stop carrying heavy stuff until you get that sorted out.
posted by lblair at 3:10 PM on April 11

A supporting strap was gone for some reason, so the frame of the back was putting pressure on my butt. Fixed. Nothing to see here.
posted by a robot made out of meat at 5:01 PM on April 11

For folks who need it, you can often switch out the hip belt on most modern backpacks, generally backpacks these days are fitted for your torso length and then separately for your hips. (congrats on finding the strap!)
posted by iamabot at 9:57 PM on April 11