Loading…
24
I was climbing 3,000 ft days on the AT and wondering why my knees hurt until a guy at a shelter in Virginia called me out
Last spring I did a 60 mile stretch of the Appalachian Trail through Shenandoah and my knees were wrecked by day two. I figured it was just the rocks, but a section hiker named Dale watched me walk into the shelter and asked if I was locking my knees on every downhill step. Turns out I had been stepping down stiff-legged for three trips in a row, basically slamming my joint into the ground instead of letting my legs bend. He showed me how to take shorter, softer steps and the next 40 miles felt totally different. Anyone else figure out a basic walking mistake way too late?
1 comments
Log in to join the discussion
Log In1 Comment
jake_wilson128d ago
Same thing happened to me on Blood Mountain, my quads were dying and some guy told me I was fighting gravity instead of working with it on the downhills. Letting your knee bend on each step spreads the load out over your muscles instead of jamming it all into the joint. Locked knees on descents will wreck you fast, so keep the steps short and let your legs act like shocks.
6