[pct-l] Numbness

[dwilsonsprint4 at earthlink.net (Don Wilson)]

This summer on the JMT, both my wife and I started getting numb just 
below the hips on the front of our upper legs. This started after about 
a week on the trail. Certainly this was from our hip belts. We had 
pretty light loads, and small packs - maybe 30 lbs max with food for me 
and 25 for my wife.  We use different packs and have very different 
builds, so its funny that we both had the same problem. In years of 
hiking, I don't ever remember this happening. Maybe I'm just getting 
old. Actually, there is no maybe about that (I'm 43). We spent 14 
glorious days getting to Whitney and afterwards I had sensations of 
numbness for at least a month, maybe two.  It didn't really bother us 
too much , but got us to thinking about similar problems on a thru hike 
- although none of the many thru hikers we met mentioned anything 
similar.  Has anyone else had a similar problem?  Any comments on how 
to avoid it?
I always shift the weight around as I hike - hip belt loose, hip belt 
tighter, no hip belt, etc.

Thanks,
Don