When sleeping in a hammock (which I have never done) it appears as though your body has an arc to it. How well does that fair for people that may have lower back issues? Does it help or make it worse?
When sleeping in a hammock (which I have never done) it appears as though your body has an arc to it. How well does that fair for people that may have lower back issues? Does it help or make it worse?
For me anyway, it helps a great deal.Originally Posted by thercman
MamaSmurf has never once had to help me out of bed since I started hanging full time.
Welcome to HF.
If you lay inline with the hammock, you assume the "banana" position and your knees will be over extended and hurt in short order.
The proper method is to lay on the diagonal which provides a fairly flat lay.
For those with lower back issues, it's going to be a try and see situation, but many report it has helped them.
I feel zero pressure on my back in a hammock. I sleep mostly in my bed at home, but sometimes the lower back gets sore. Then I'll sleep a few nights in the hammock and everything is right as rain!
"A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds." Ralph Waldo Emerson
Be warned...once you enter the hammock zone you will never leave. Lay on a diagonal and you will wonder why you ever had a concern about a lower back issue. Only you can be the judge. Stay hammocking my friend...
I could give you a verbatim answer as SS. Anytime my back starts to hurt, a few nights in the backyard in my hammock and no more Mr. Grumpy.
I can get a better nights sleep in 5 hours in my hammock, then "insert your answer here" hours in any bed or couch I have slept in. And when hiking, I have more energy and no sores in my back due to my hammock as opposed to the pad with grunting as I get up.
As for an arc to the body, a slight diagonal lay will produce a wonderfully "flatish" lay in the hammock. Don't look at the pics from non-hammock camping style hammocks, including the survival types "mis"using hammocks. Yes, survival is better in a hammock than spruce branches, but a camping hammock is "thriving, not surviving".
Enjoy and have fun with your family,before they have fun without you
My back hurts if I sleep to long in a bed. No problems in a hammock, I think I could stay all day with no pain. When My back starts to act up, I really try to get a few consecutive nights in the hammock - for me it seems to help. Now the hammock hair - that is a different matter.
I have an awful back and couldn't handle sleeping on the ground anymore, so I tried hammocks and wish I had just started with them. I have never slept longer than a couple of hours on the ground in all of my trips. The very first night in the hammock slept 8 hours straight! Hammocks may not be for everyone but my family and I won't go without them!
"Life's short, if you don't stop and look around every once in a while you might miss it". FB
I don't have back issues per say(kinda tweeked it when I was in the army sleeping in the front seat of a humvee for almost 40 days in a row)...
But I do feel a lightness in my spine that goes into my legs after Ive been laying in my hammock on the diagonal for a bit that's quite noticeable.
Last edited by ADKrella; 06-02-2014 at 23:30.
Thanks for all the great responses everyone! You have inspired me to give one a try. In 2008 I had lower back surgery, a fusion on S1/L5. (the military career just wore my body out) As some have mentioned, sleeping on the ground in a tent not only causes back but hip pain as well since I have to favor side sleeping to alleviate the back, as such I wake up regularly. Overall I love the idea of being off the ground and having my body cradled. The way you guys are making it sound, I should throw my Tempur-Pedic memory foam mattress in the trash. :-)
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