[pct-l] PCT-L - Most Common Causes of Thru-Dropout

[Tom Holz]

> Good advice all.  For me the most important thing was hiking, hiking and
> more hiking long before hitting trail.  I'm in the older age group and don't
> have the bounce back day after day [...]

Shroomer, this is very good advice, too, but some people (like me) can't 
just go walking to build up endurance because our acquired "natural" 
gait is so dysfunctional that using it as a foundation for endurance 
will almost guarantee an injury at some level of mileage.

(Most peoples' lifestyles impose very little stress on their body 
compared to a thru-hike, so it's common to find a great deal of latent 
movement dysfunction that only becomes painful or injurious when the 
miles start.  The good news is this dysfunction can usually be spotted 
and treated *before* it becomes painful, although finding a competent 
therapist and convincing people to visit before the onset of pain is tough.)

Learning how to walk and run more efficiently--like the barefoot people 
advocate--goes a long way to reducing the impact of each mile on your 
body.  I was shocked to find myself hiking without shin splints and 
metatarsal pain after "just" a change in my gait, especially because I 
did almost no physical training for my thruhike.  However, some people 
may have deeply rooted movement dysfunction that needs to be directly 
addressed with a period of therapy in order to improve their hiking 
movement to the point that a thruhike won't likely cause injury.  This 
may involve, for example, going back to more developmentally basic stuff 
like crawling or segmental rolling to get at the root of the problem.

Bigfoot