[pct-l] Pinched Nerves?

[Josie]

Greg and Rod
I had exactly the same issue-- an old whiplash injury that came back to haunt me this year--a pinched nerve which caused spasms to shoot down my arm and numbness in my left thumb. It was a pinched nerve in my neck and after a lot of
tests I was told I needed a cortisone shot into the affected area. Not being willing to go through such an intrusive procedure, I went for acupuncture treatments which cleared it up completely (over 6-8 weeks). I hiked about 500 miles this summer between the CDT, Sierra High Route and various other hikes and the condition flared up again. I was thinking about going for more treatments, but things seem to have calmed down since I've been off the trail.
Jo


Rod Belshee rbelshee at hotmail.com 
Mon Nov 14 21:27:53 CST 2011

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Greg,

Some similar nerve experiences, and the same objective (no permanent 
consequences).

I have an old whiplash injury that flared up early in the hike.  A little 
soreness in the neck grew to numbness and then shooting pain down the arm to 
the fingers.  I modified the pack with a coat hanger wire as an external 
frame and put 100% of the weight on the hip belt, and the problem subsided. 
It also made hiking a breeze!

Next issue was a pain at the top of the thigh that occurred mid-hike.  Again 
it increased until it was shooting down the leg.  I tried a number of ways 
to reduce the pinch point under the belt, and the one that worked was to 
tuck a sock under the belt in front of the hip bone.  That problem subsided 
too.

The last issue was jumpy legs.  That was new to me, and developed on the 
hike. If I slept on my back then the legs just bounced up and down too much 
for me to get to sleep, so I've had to learn to sleep on my side (legs jump 
less).

The only thing lasting beyond the hike is the jumpy legs -- they flare up 
any time I get a good workout.  I haven't found a way to get them to 
subside.  But that hasn't been enough of a problem to make me stop thru 
hiking.

Steady Sr.


-----Original Message----- 
From: bighummel at aol.com
Sent: Monday, November 14, 2011 11:38 AM
To: pct-l at backcountry.net
Subject: [pct-l] Pinched Nerves?

When I hiked the trail, back in the early days, I pinched a nerve in my hip 
that caused a patch of skin on my thigh to go numb. It took 25+ years but 
the feeling is back. However, hiking this fall I apparently pinched another 
nerve either in my neck or shoulders that has caused a significant weakening 
of my left fore and middle finger. Anyone else have these problems? Hiking 
is one of my favorite things to do and well worth the effort, planning and 
preparation. However, if this continues I'm not sure how much I willing to 
sacrifice!!


Greg Hummel



“My religion is very simple. My religion is kindness.”
― Dalai Lama XIV
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