Lower Back Pains

[boulderv7]

Your hammock fabric could be stretched from use resulting in an uncomfortable lay and pain. If no other factors have changed, that would be my guess. Fabric degrades over time and if it stretched from the beginning some of that becomes permanent, subsequent uses result in new stretch, pretty soon no more comfort. Happened to my first lightweight hammock, which coincidentally was a ghost hammock. I never had pain, but definitely could not sleep worth a darn after a while.

[Sweeper]

Back pain is a tough one, there are several good ideas in this thread. I am fused at C5-C6 and have degenerative disc disease in L3-S1. I always sleep better in a hammock, and on my back, which I NEVER do in a bed. One thing that I have found is that the more stretchy the fabric, the better I sleep. Firm fabric hammocks usually wind up on the shelf. I have 14 different hammocks now, I think. I suspect that your hammock is compromised as mentioned in an earlier post. In a discussion I had with the guys at Butt in a Sling a while back, they mentioned that they felt that a lifespan of a hammock is really around 2 years with a lot of use. YMMV. I've noticed that my go-to hammock is starting to stretch a little more as well each time out. It may be that hammocks are like running shoes - when they go, they go without warning.

Just my two cents.

Sweeper

[grannypat]

I'm betting that the hammock section where your butt usually hits has stretched out.

[Boston]

If you like the lay of the Ghost hammock try making one from a heavier material. It'll add a little weight be the 1.1, but still be pretty dang light! 1.6 or 1.9 ripstop would be my recommendation. If that doesn't solve it, try a traditional GE hammock, or maybe a bridge hammock.

[Girotogo]

Thanks for everyone's comments. Just saw the doctor and he thinks I must have pulled something during the trip. Hopefully the pain will go away, and next time I will try putting some clothes under my knees to see if that helps. I really like my DIY ghost. It's like 5.5 oz. What do you guys think, if I sew another layer on my hammock. Would that even work...like a double layer hammock... double the fabric will still be around 11oz.

[boulderv7]

Thanks for everyone's comments. Just saw the doctor and he thinks I must have pulled something during the trip. Hopefully the pain will go away, and next time I will try putting some clothes under my knees to see if that helps. I really like my DIY ghost. It's like 5.5 oz. What do you guys think, if I sew another layer on my hammock. Would that even work...like a double layer hammock... double the fabric will still be around 11oz.

I would just make another single layer out of 1.6 hyperD or similar material. Then you have two hammocks.

[ShooTa]

my advice is to spend an hour or so perusing the MWOD old videos (set to oldest first) on youtube - the good dr kelly slater is a master of providing you with slef physio - his stuff is mainly about crossfit but his shoulder stretches/excercises have saved me many times.

[Rollintent]

I recently had a bout of back pain this winter I think due to a lot of inactivity in the office starting in about November and then right before the first of the year I did something to my back and had a lot of lower back trouble for about 3 weeks. It finally started getting better then I decided to get my first underquilt and started doing some cold weather testing and as much as I don't want to admit it after every night in the hammock my lower right side of my back (I lay head right/feet left) would be screaming the next day and would get better through the week and by the next weekend it would be feeling a lot better. Well guess what I did on the weekends? I hung my hammock for another night of cold weather testing. Same thing, my back would be hurting the next day. I probably did this for 4 or 5 weeks where my back would be just about back to being healed up and a night in the hammock would agitate it badly.

I am 5'11'' and 210 lbs. I wish it was all muscle but it's not. I spend most of my winters in the office and out doing a lot more physical activity in the summer and I will drop back to around 200 lbs in the summer which is still 10 pounds heavier than I would like to be. That being said, I think the fact that I am a lot less physically active in the winter for long periods of time really contributed to my initial back injury to begin with. I already have been out doing enough labor type work this spring that I feel a lot more in shape and just feel better overall. I am convinced lack of physical activity is very bad for people and I am no exception.

I think that my trouble was that I had a back injury and the hammock was not helping it at all. Once I finally got healed up I have spent two nights out now where my back pain didn't flare up after a night in the hammock. Don't know if this is what you are dealing with but it sounds suspiciously familiar. Based on my experience I think the hammock is a strain on my back but only when I am out of shape or still trying to heal up from another injury does it become a problem.

[OutCold]

I would try a therm a rest self inflating style pad half inflated the extra padding is divine! I recommend the long wide ones for hammock 76" x 25" (better coverage). You can usually find alps mountaineering pads for half the price of a therm a rest.