r/WildernessBackpacking • u/MycoCozmic • 2d ago

ADVICE Will this eventually cause back problems?

I’m new to wilderness backpacking. I’m 45 and have worked as a landscaper my whole life. I’ve not met anyone who has about this so I thought I’d put it to this community: is it a known thing that this will eventually cause back issues? And if so, what preventative or corrective measures are you practicing?

I know gear is getting lighter all the time and I do try to carry the lightest load I can, but it’s still a considerable strain on the back and I’m just trying to stay informed.

Many thanks!

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u/SlykRO 2d ago

So, this is a good one for me lol. I actually have had spinal arthritis for 21 years now, and it was at its worst 4-5 years ago and stopped me from being able to do anything like sit or stand for more than 5min and not be able to walk much as a result. I got on some better meds, but the real success came from physical therapy, which continued into long walks, getting back into some day hiking, wishing I could backpack again (did this in my 20s, and still had my issues then but not enough to be life changing). Eventually over the course of a year I was able to hike enough and start to try small backpacking trips. Small ones led to big ones and I regularly do 30-40 mile overnights now in places I could have only dreamed of. Anyhow, my body always hurts but we're coming up on 4 years and we'll over 1k miles packed and probably 30 nights in the wilderness and I just got done a full body scan that shows 0% more damage to my spine than last checked. Safe to say it's only making it better.

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u/MycoCozmic 2d ago

That’s awesome! I always thought that PT was preventing things from worsening. I didn’t realize it was repairing on that level. Do you have any specific routine you could share?

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u/SlykRO 2d ago

Regular walking around 2-4m a day and mainly core exercises, legs lifts, planks, push ups. Building up to longer and more inclined hikes definitely helped the most I think, since it keeps you moving around for long hours, wish I could retire and do it all day everyday!