Hi all,

Over the summer I took a small backpacking trip with my father on the Shingle Mill Trail in northern Michigan. I currently use the Jansport Carson 80 pack and I love it, but one thing I have noticed is that the hip belt really hurts my hips. I do not have a lot of fat covering my hip bones so I was wondering if there was anything I could do to help get rid of this problem.

Thanks in advance!

Assuming you were wearing the hip belt properly positioned and adjusted, then the two obvious approaches would be to increase the padding on the belt and to reduce the weight in your pack. The first of these is the easier solution, but the second, although it takes more effort (and sometimes money) has the most total benefit.

As it happens, this entire website is devoted to helping people reduce the weight in their packs, safely and comfortably. Feel free to explore the site extensively and read the archives. On your next extended hike you'll be glad you did.

Happy hiking! <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />

Matt,
My son carried a Jansport Scout pack on a 60 mile, 12 day trip this past summer and we had swapped out the hip belt and shoulder straps for those used for a Carson. He found them to be much more comfortable. So, it may just be a personal, anatomical thing.

Try and do as Aimless says, but it may take a while. In the meantime, get a ccf pad and cut some pieces from it to use as hip pads. I'd sew them into sleeves that would slide along the hip belt. This would allow you to position them where needed. You could also try some open cell foam padding (try using the denser foam like is used for chair cushions) or a combination of the two.

Happy trails,
Tango

My advice, lower pack weight.

More effort has gone into making hip belts bearable than any other aspect of the pack since the advent of the things in 1970-71. They were a relief to folks like me who regularly packed 70 pounds for professional reasons. They hurt, but we thought they helped somehow. What a scam!

Then we discovered that the real problem was improperly located shoulder straps. Today, you will see 95 pound young women working for the AMC hauling cases of canned goods (and beer) up from the gaps in the White Mountains to the huts using old wooden Trapper Nelson frames or (slightly) more modern aluminum frames - without hip belts. Why? because hip belts hurt unless everything is just right; they restrict movement; they put pressure on major muscle groups causing undue fatigue.

Several folks said, lower the weight. That's the best idea.

Otherwise, substitute a waste band for the hip belt and try lowering the attachment points of your shoulder straps and maybe move the top attachment points closer together. Shoulder strap adjustments for use with a hip belt are just different from those for the straps used alone. You might have to adjust some other things such as the back bands.

The waste band is to keep the typically high center of gravity of a pack frame from causing the pack to tip.

Personally, I don't even notice my pack when the weight is under 30# - without a hip belt. I can carry a lot more and have done so, but I can't imagine why I would want to without some really good reason.

When I go out, my pack generally weighs between 25-30 lbs. Heavier depending on who I am going out with, but never has it been over 35 lbs. For my skeletal build and muscle structure there is no reason for it to hurt other than it is strapped against bone. I may try using it with some extra padding, but the weight of the pack is not the issue in my opinion, it's more my hip area design and the belt itself. I will try making some adjustments to my pack and see if that helps, although I'm not going out again until first of October so I have a little bit yet before I can really test it out.

Other than additional padding, the other thing I'd try is borrowing a different pack. The most comfortable packs I've found on my hips are Granite Gear Nimbus Ozone and Luxurylite, but your experience may vary.

I remember a trip long ago with a Jansport pack that left the spots over my hipbones numb for 6 months. I have a bit more padding now, my pack is lighter, and I use different packs; I'd guess that the later reasons are more significant than the first, but who knows. Anyway, no more problems on my hips these days - but I can relate to your problem due to my past experience.

When I started backpacking, I wore the belt in the wrong place (too low) and wondered why it hurt so bad...If you start off with the belt around your hips and then crank the strap tight, it just compresses your skin inward against your bones and it hurts!

Instead cinch your hip belt gently around your waist (thin part) and then allow it to settle downward on the slightly wider top of your hips. You might have to shrug your shoulders up while you first tighten the belt.

Ideally the belt will be slightly narrower at the top and wider at the bottom, forming a slight cup that goes snugly over the hips. (Some belts have tiny adjustments to help create this shape. Others are designed to automatically create this shape.)

Hope this helps!

-j

Thanks for the tip! I'm heading out this weekend so I will be sure to give it a try. I'll let you know how it works out.

On a side note, I did find out that I was missing a few of the back supports so I contacted Jansport's customer support and they are on the way to me in the mail free of charge thanks to Gander Mountain's screw up.