Arm Injury Prevention for Hikers

This might not make any sense to you at first glance: arm injury prevention - how would a hiker injure an arm? But doesn't it depend upon the setting the hiker is in? Sure, on a well maintained trail, chances of arm injuries for hikers are slim. But does everyone stick to well groomed, wide-enough-to-drive-on trails?

I sincerely hope not. Otherwise, you are missing a lot of fun.

Arm injury prevention for hikers is a dose of common sense AND an understanding of the way your arm is connected to your trunk. Can you think of a better appendage for a hiker? A freely movable limb that is anchored securely at one end, and is able to grasp objects* at the other end! Woohoo - what a deal! And you have 2 of them. *Objects such as a hiking pole, interesting rocks, a bird feather on the trail, the lunch sack...

Ah, but I digress (it must be near lunch time!).

So where is your arm, anyway? Technically, your arm is just the portion of your upper limb from your shoulder joint to your elbow joint. The rest is the forearm, joined at the wrist to the hand. So there must be a bunch of bones in there, right? Oddly enough, it doesn't take many bones to do the job: the long arm bone (humerus), two shorter forearm bones (radius and ulna), and that's pretty much it. (Your wrist and hand bones become more plentiful, and somewhat complicated, in comparison).

The upper end of your arm bone rests in the shallow shoulder socket provided by your shoulder blade bone (scapula). Your arm sacrifices stability for mobility: you can swing your arm wildly in comparison with your stable, relatively immobile hip joint. So what does that mean for hikers? An opportunity to overdo it with the shoulder and elbow joints.

How?

Asking the arm and shoulder to do too much work, especially if you haven't warmed up properly. Think about jumping out of the car after a long ride to the trail head, lacing up your boots quickly, and hoisting up your pack. Off you go! But you may be asking a lot from your shoulder and arm muscles, of which there are plenty.

Major arm muscles include some you have probably noticed on athletes and celebrities: biceps and triceps, for instance. There are other smaller muscles hidden beneath these, which connect the upper body with the elbow area. These muscles cling to the bone via tendons, and the bones join together to form joints partly due to ligaments (tough ropey connections). It's possible to ask these soft tissues to do too much work: pick up a heavy pack without using your back muscles to help, or pull yourself up a rocky ledge when the muscles are too unaccustomed to doing that type of work.

The result? Sore arms. Or an arm injury. So what would arm injury prevention for hikers look like?

You probably already know the answer: do some weight lifting at home, prior to hiking. It doesn't take much: even 3 pound weights can show you a big difference in arm strength. And you don't even need to buy weights: fill 2 water bottles and use those. Here's another approach: bring your own bags with strong handles to the library or grocery store and give your arms a workout toting home the goodies. Swimming is another great way to give your arms some work.

On the trail, arm injury prevention requires a bit of mental discipline. I myself have been guilty of doing stupid things with my arms: waving them in front of me to clear prickly brush and dangerously sharp blow downs, sticking them into murky water with no idea of what was beneath me (think jagged rocks or sharp sticks), falling on my arm instead of rolling to my back, pushing heavy objects out of the way, and the list goes on.

So let's make this short and sweet: don't use your arms as levers to pick up too much weight unless you are confident that you are strong enough to pull it off safely. Don't sacrifice your soft tissues to the bushwacking guardians of off-trail navigation: wear long sleeves, use your hiking poles/sticks to help you clear a route or probe murky or fast moving water, don't max out your joints by overexertion or weird arm positions. And if you trip over something and are falling please avoid using your arm as a brace against your fall.

Of course, there are some reasons for hikers to rely upon the strength of the arms: putting on a pack properly, removing a heavy pack safely, doing a bit of rock scrambling (Class 2 and above require the use of arms), getting up and over trail obstacles such as blown down trees, using fixed rope belays over short sections of trail....and then there's doing the Y-M-C-A song before turning into your tent after a long day. :)

Arm injury prevention probably isn't high on your list of things to think about. Try these ideas...