[pct-l] Trekking poles?

[Steve McAllister]

Regarding the straps. As stated in my earlier email, I rely heavily on poles.

I hate straps as I always feel like I'd get tangled in them.

I have found that on long hikes, with lots of ups and downs, that not
using straps has really caused repetitive stress issues on my thumbs.
I have had to go back to using the straps again as it was stressing
the thumb joints and tendons without.

The straps tend to spread the pressure over more of your hands.
I suspect this is important when catching yourself in a fall. If you
fall without straps, you tend to put more of the pressure on your
thumbs and can end injuring them to the point of ending up without the
use of your thumbs for a long period of time, which kinda sucks.

So I've gone back to using the straps.

-- 
... when your feeling blue, and you've lost all your dreams, there's
nothing like a campfire and a can of beans!
   -- Tom Waits

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