Can carrying a pack be good for stress?

[rocketsocks]

As one who has carried pipe on my shoulders for years and had numerous aches and pains in the upper back and neck area....I've made a observation...

When I put a pack on my back the shoulder straps pull my shoulders down releasing a lot of tension in my shoulders and neck. Now that said, carrying a pack for a prolonged period will lead to fatigue of those muscle groups....but for the most part this has been a good thing for me...

Anybody ever notice that there pain actually went away while backpacking?

[moldy]

In my early 20's I developed some back pain from carrying too much weight at work and it would lay me up for days at times. My big worry when I went to military training was that because of the extreme nature of the physical part of training and that the Marine Corp Drill instructor would cause my back to fail. Well, just the opposite happened. It fixed my back. It was 35 years ago and I have had no problems despite logging thousands of miles on the trail. Backs are complicated systems of bones, muscles, nerves, blood vessels and a plethora or other materials acting in unison. There is no telling what my problem was before so it's impossible to come up with a good reason why the physical demands of boot camp fixed it. Also, did you ever notice that a chiropractor can completely fix one guy by twisting his back and for the next guy he makes it worse?

[rocketsocks]

In my early 20's I developed some back pain from carrying too much weight at work and it would lay me up for days at times. My big worry when I went to military training was that because of the extreme nature of the physical part of training and that the Marine Corp Drill instructor would cause my back to fail. Well, just the opposite happened. It fixed my back. It was 35 years ago and I have had no problems despite logging thousands of miles on the trail. Backs are complicated systems of bones, muscles, nerves, blood vessels and a plethora or other materials acting in unison. There is no telling what my problem was before so it's impossible to come up with a good reason why the physical demands of boot camp fixed it. Also, did you ever notice that a chiropractor can completely fix one guy by twisting his back and for the next guy he makes it worse?Yes I have...I guess it's the apple and oranges thing. Were all unique with our own set of back troubles...really no such thing as a bad back (as the saying goes) just failing components that need to be tweaked sometimes.

[susiecruise]

Whenever I have back pains, I go for a walk or hike and it seems to work-it-out. Last fall I got rid of back and leg cramps by taking a four day trip...gone all winter only to return this summer after too much time in the car.

[Dogwood]

Got stress problems? I have a solution for ya. Here, carry my pack. If I could get someone to do that I'd throw my beautiful Florida land deal(swamp land) sales pitch at them next.

[Teacher & Snacktime]

I don't know if carrying a heavy pack on a hot day on steep, rocky, uneven terrain can relieve stress, but I imagine pitching it off the top of the mountain might! :)

[Just Bill]

When I hike I get the tension release you describe, then I get the tension build up too. I started adding some windmills (not sure if that's the real term) once per hour. I windmill my arms about ten times in each direction, then I hold them up over my head doing a "military press" against an imaginary weight for thirty seconds or so, repeat as needed. This relieves the muscle tension and helps reduce the finger tingles and swollen hands I get. I also recently started adding head rolls too to take out a little pinch I tend to get in my neck. On a long day, I have had to add a few push ups into my breaks to open up my shoulders. Give it a go, works well for me.