Qianghu Column | Injuries Caused by Mountaineering
Mt. Tiger Column | The Injuries Caused by Mountaineering
Author: Huang Yao-He
I have always been bothered by those who leave comments every now and then on mountaineering-related news boards saying: If you get knee pain when you get old from hiking, how are you supposed to keep hiking?
This is both a question and a statement of fact.
First of all, the person surely doesn't participate in mountaineering; furthermore, their friends must have developed knee pain from hiking. This is an interesting phenomenon currently happening among my own friends.
Those who don't hike are the most afraid that hiking will cause knee pain.
So today, I want to write about some of the injuries that mountaineering has caused me over my 20 years of hiking.
Physical injuries—those where there was no pain before—are acute injuries caused by carelessness or accidents during the hiking process, for example:
Looking down at my new shoes while walking and hitting a tree; I've done that.
Rocks falling and hitting my head; I've done that.
Falling down a slope and severely spraining my ankle; I've done that.
Forcefully kicking a log with my shin; I've done that.
Forcefully banging my knee against a rock on the side of the trail; I've done that.
Slipping and bruising my buttocks; I've done that.
Having bamboo stalks whip back and scratch my cornea; I've done that.
Getting poked in the hand by a hiking buddy’s trekking pole; I've done that.
There are simply too many examples. And I believe everyone has experienced these.
Mountaineering Training Ground / A Corner of the Mabo Sighing Bay Reverse Route
Acute injuries are often avoidable if you are just a bit more careful, but isn't that just a platitude? Many times, "accidents happen even when you are careful," and there are so many things to pay attention to that if you were looking out for everything, you wouldn't be able to hike at all.
Novices, lacking experience, certainly won't notice so much; when they are already exhausted, where would they find the energy to pay attention to potential emergencies? So, I thought about developing a training course:
"On a safe trail, place some fallen logs to strike the novices' foreheads (wearing helmets), plant some bouncy bamboo to whip the novices' eyes (wearing goggles), and have them wear shin and knee guards to kick rocks and wood..."
Setting aside acute injuries, I think the knee pain people get when they get old from hiking is what truly confuses everyone, or leads to misleading rhetoric.
First, do people who don't hike not get knee pain when they get old? Is knee pain in old age caused by overuse, or by lack of use?
Second, regardless of what exercise or labor you do, using your body constantly will lead to wear and tear. Have you tried letting your body recover before continuing to train? Or do you just take painkillers so it doesn't hurt, and then continue exercising or working?
Third, regarding sports like hiking or carrying heavy loads on stairs, there are many walking gait techniques, as well as muscular strength and joint mobility, and intensity settings. These are problems that are never fully solved; have you ever taken them seriously?
You might say, "I have! I pay attention to all of these, but my knees still hurt when I hike—should I just give up on mountaineering!"
That statement is still too simplistic; more information is needed to find the core problem. I would try asking it this way:
Does your knee hurt when you walk normally? Does it hurt when lying or sitting down?
Does it hurt on flat ground? Or uphill? Or only on the descent?
Can you squat down to use the toilet? Can you stand up from a squat? Or do you need a handrail to fully squat and stand?
Do you have other old injuries to your lower limbs (ankles, knees, hips) or spine? Have you seen a doctor? Did you receive any treatment? Do you have any other chronic illnesses?
If the answer to all of these is no, then I ask further:
How long after hiking does your knee start to hurt—half a day, one day, two days, or more than three days?
How heavy is your pack, how fast do you walk, how long is your stride? How would you rate your muscular strength and endurance? Your body composition, nutritional intake during the hike, electrolyte replenishment, sleep status, and so on—all of these directly or indirectly affect various parts of the body, including your "knees," which you worry about the most.
Final Graduation / A Corner of Jiaming Lake via Jiemousi
If you want to become healthier through mountaineering, you shouldn't just focus on your knees; your whole body should be cared for and attended to. However, the fellow hikers I meet usually only focus on two things: first, whether their knees hurt, and second, how many "Hundred Peaks" they have climbed.
Let's summarize the key points:
#Young and middle-aged people also get hiking-related knee pain
#To avoid hiking knee pain, do not simply avoid hiking
#Everyone's hiking knee pain must be treated as an individual case
#There is no one-size-fits-all solution for hiking knee pain
#The key to resolving existing hiking knee pain is to spend time, not just money
Beyond physical injuries, there are financial injuries (you can never finish buying gear), time-loss injuries (wild camping takes up most of your vacation time), psychological injuries (hypothetical problems), and emotional injuries (also hypothetical). In short, mountaineering is full of injuries. If you still come hiking after hearing this, you must be a fool.
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