Strong back pain - what went wrong ?

**Womble** · 06-02-2014, 04:41

Last week-end I got one of the rare possibilities to use my hammock set up in reality condition - not at home but in "the wild".

I have spent more time fine-tuning my setup than actually sleeping in it. While I like a little experimenting, I'm not the type of guy that needs to re-invent the wheel at every occasion. What work for most others should work for me. So I skipped the experimental phase with pads and went directly with a good setup with great hammock, tarp, top- and underquilts all from confirmed and appreciated cottage manufacturers. My suspension system is simple now with tree-huggers and the Python straps + rated biners.

So last Friday I was on my way back home from a off-road training camp (where I slept with a group in beds). I drove through a very beautiful area in central France (Lozère) and decided to camp in a little forest near Grèzes

I setup my tarp and hammock, had my dinner and around 10pm went to lie in my hammock. It was windy but I set up the tarp so that the side of the tarp that was facing the wind was slightly lower and I used the pull-outs. Temperature was probably around 50F in the evening and 40F in the morning. I wasn't feeling cold so I slept in my short undies. I thought I felt a slight draft despite the UQ, but not enough to make me feel the need to readjust the UQ. I slept and - at a point - had a strange dream like my hammock went down with a rumble. It woke me up but when I checked with my hand under the hammock I was still hanging +/- like setup. So I slept again until about 5am.

Sofar I was feeling ok, but when I got out of the hammock, I had a sharp pain in my lower back and a very hard time to get straight. It was extremely painful and I had a hard time packing my stuff, especially the tarp which was attached at about 7 ft. I had to sit down on the floor a few times to curb my back for relaxation. It took me about 45 minutes to get packed instead of the normal 10-15 minutes.

Luckily sitting on my bike was OK, but getting on and off was torture. At 8am the drugstores opened and I was able to get some painkillers and heating pads that somehow relieved the pain. Yet two days later, I'm still in near unchanged pain and waiting for a doctors appointment.

So I'm not sure where I went wrong...I think I had a correct hanging angle and a good straight diagonal lay. Yet I'm a side-sleeper and during night I curled up to both sides. I never felt really unconfortable but I had a restless sleep.

I don't have many nights of experience in the hammock but it is for sure the first night where I went to sleep in good condition and woke up in a terrible pain. I usually prefer firm mattresses, so I'm really wondering if a hammock is too soft.

I really want my hammock set to work, because I like the ease of setup and the small packsize (all squeezed its the size of a basket ball).

**Pipsissewa** · 06-02-2014, 06:18

I don't know what happened, but I'll be interested to hear what the doctor says. Hope you feel better soon!

**oldbiker** · 06-02-2014, 07:43

I would say it's motorcycle related back strain. Not from the hammock.

**doogie** · 06-02-2014, 08:02

I tend to agree with oldbiker, but it could have been exasperated by a gap in your underquilt that created a cool spot on your back...not enough to make you cold, but enough to cause a fatigued muscle to stiffen up.

**Womble** · 06-02-2014, 08:04

Originally Posted by oldbiker

I would say it's motorcycle related back strain. Not from the hammock.

I will not exclude this possibility. Yet I'm used to 10-12 hours rides with no problems. That specific day, I did some offroad riding in the morning, then a long 4h break and then only 3 hours of riding, so really no particular stress...The morning after sitting on the bike then rather relieving then stressing.

**Firesong** · 06-02-2014, 08:15

I recently blew a disc in my l5/s1 with no possible origin within the last 12 hours from acute pain. I went from sleep to a car drive to meeting my father to go ice fishing. Pain started on the drive. I did something before sleep and the damage was from a continual wear and tear to something I feel was normal that set it over the edge. Not saying you have something like I had for an injury but it's possible it was bad timing with hanging in a hammock. Me hanging helps my back since my surgery.

**2eez4life** · 06-02-2014, 08:37

Take my advice, go to a very trusted and skilled massage therapist, and request your Psoas to be worked on. The Psoas is the gut and the massage consists of reaching the lower back through the gut by moving around your intestines and such. I had gnarly lower back pack after a night of puking and I got an equally gnarly Psoas massage and literally all my pain was gone as soon as the session was over.

**Womble** · 06-02-2014, 09:07

Thank you all for your good advice & wishes. I'm waiting for an appointment with my trusted therapist. He's a very good but busy guy so I hope to get to a session soon. I prefer the thesis of the cold draft, but again, I'm not excluding any other possibility including tiredness, stress or hidden weakness. I really want to keep working on hammock camping, but I must admit that it never "helped" me, but it didn't make things worse either. I have a hard time getting through the night, because I move a lot before falling asleep and during the wake-up phase. The only times I'm really getting a good rest is on short naps during the day.

**Womble** · 06-04-2014, 07:29

So it took until today to get an appointment with my specialized medial cabinet. This is the down-side of affordable healthcare, you just never have enough doctors

She noticed displacements in the hip and on a vertebra. And of course the psoas shared the symptoms Looking for reasons, if I consider the action my body had to endure during the full last week (offroad riding and long distance traveling and camping) there are too many and yet none immediately related. Yes I stressed my body, but I was feeling fine until that night.

I agree that it is improbable (but not impossible) that a night in a hammock would cause hip and vertebra displacements. Its more probable that they are due to previous actions. But then I'm still a bit unhappy, because I read a lot of hammocks relieving stressed bodies but in my case it seemed to be the last feather that broke my back.