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kbatku Questionable hiker
Joined: 17 Sep 2007 Posts: 3330 | TRs | Pics Location: Yaquima |
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kbatku
Questionable hiker
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Sat May 19, 2018 8:29 am
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I've noticed that a lot of people don't know how to properly use hiking poles. Do you think it would be a violation of HYOH to point this out in a polite manner, or should I just leave them to suffer in their ignorance?
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reststep Member
Joined: 17 Dec 2001 Posts: 4757 | TRs | Pics
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reststep
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Sat May 19, 2018 9:02 am
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Just out of curiosity what were they doing improperly?
I offered use of my hiking poles one time to someone who seemed to be having balance problems on the Lillian Ridge Trail out of Obstruction Point but they were not interested in trying them.
"The mountains are calling and I must go." - John Muir
"The mountains are calling and I must go." - John Muir
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Randito Snarky Member
Joined: 27 Jul 2008 Posts: 9512 | TRs | Pics Location: Bellevue at the moment. |
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Randito
Snarky Member
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Sat May 19, 2018 9:23 am
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kbatku Questionable hiker
Joined: 17 Sep 2007 Posts: 3330 | TRs | Pics Location: Yaquima |
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kbatku
Questionable hiker
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Sat May 19, 2018 1:40 pm
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reststep wrote: | Just out of curiosity what were they doing improperly?
I offered use of my hiking poles one time to someone who seemed to be having balance problems on the Lillian Ridge Trail out of Obstruction Point but they were not interested in trying them. |
I see quite a few people tightly gripping their poles with the straps hanging loose. The strap should wrap over the back of the hand and loop up between the web of your thumb and your fingers. You should lightly grip the pole, the weight being carried by the strap onto your wrist. You move the poles forward by "flicking" them. Tightly gripping your poles will wear your hands out and not give the full benefit of the hiking poles.
And yeah, I'm loathe to point this out (MYOB and all that) but it also pains me to see people making such a basic mistake. I wonder why hiking poles don't come with instructions, people could really use some help.
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schifferj Member
Joined: 07 Mar 2015 Posts: 224 | TRs | Pics Location: 509 |
I see this a lot and just let it go. That said, my son-in-law who is an avid skier and been skiing for 15 years was using his ski poles incorrectly. I DID point this out to him as that was/is a common cause of skiers thumb injury. He was incredulous but when he checked it out he found out he was wrong.
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SKS Member
Joined: 16 Jun 2011 Posts: 161 | TRs | Pics Location: Snohomish |
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SKS
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Sat May 19, 2018 3:41 pm
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I would kindly ask if I could make a suggestion. If they say "What?" or "Sure", then show them a different way to hold their hiking poles. I think 99% of people would be receptive.
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williswall poser
Joined: 30 Sep 2007 Posts: 1966 | TRs | Pics Location: Redmond |
I don’t use straps. 35 years of using poles before “trekking poles” were sold, guess I’m doing it wrong....
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huron Member
Joined: 13 Sep 2004 Posts: 1035 | TRs | Pics
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huron
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Sat May 19, 2018 4:10 pm
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Using straps in the way you describe prohibits the ability to change your grip height on the pole. My preferred method is to keep a thumb through the strap and hold the pole at the bottom of the grip area. Then, I can palm the top for the low side of trail and drop lower on the shaft for the high side. You should try it. You may not go back to straps.
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HitTheTrail Member
Joined: 30 Oct 2007 Posts: 5455 | TRs | Pics Location: 509 |
When I first started using poles I was gripping them tightly with my hands thru the strap and got tennis elbow (tendonitis) in both elbows. My sports medicine doctor told me to use them more or less as described above and my tennis elbow finally went away. But it took me almost two years.
Because of my experience I sometimes offer advice if the people seem friendly and want to know how to better use them.
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RumiDude Marmota olympus
Joined: 26 Jul 2009 Posts: 3589 | TRs | Pics Location: Port Angeles |
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RumiDude
Marmota olympus
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Sat May 19, 2018 5:18 pm
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schifferj wrote: | I see this a lot and just let it go. That said, my son-in-law who is an avid skier and been skiing for 15 years was using his ski poles incorrectly. I DID point this out to him as that was/is a common cause of skiers thumb injury. He was incredulous but when he checked it out he found out he was wrong. |
Yep, I learned the proper way to use the straps about 45 years ago when I learned to snow ski in Colorado. My father learned the hard way when he injured his hand in a skiing fall.
I talked with a lady who gave up on trekking poles when she fell and injured herself worse than it should have been because of improper strap use. I demonstrated why her pole stayed in her hand because of how her strap was positioned and how the proper strap positioning would allow the poles to drop out of her hands. She decided to give her poles another chance after I showed her the proper way to use her poles.
Positioning the straps like kbatku described is the correct way. An individual can choose to have no straps or use the straps differently but by doing so they lose the inherent advantages proper use affords. I generally adhere to the MYOB and HYOH philosophies but every so often I do get an opportunity to demonstrate to another person the correct way.
Rumi
"This is my Indian summer ... I'm far more dangerous now, because I don't care at all."
"This is my Indian summer ... I'm far more dangerous now, because I don't care at all."
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Malachai Constant Member
Joined: 13 Jan 2002 Posts: 16092 | TRs | Pics Location: Back Again Like A Bad Penny |
A friend broke his wrist using straps, since then have not used them. Descending I have the top in my palm uphill I grip the handle lower down if steep. It works for me.
"You do not laugh when you look at the mountains, or when you look at the sea." Lafcadio Hearn
"You do not laugh when you look at the mountains, or when you look at the sea." Lafcadio Hearn
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nordique Member
Joined: 04 May 2008 Posts: 1086 | TRs | Pics
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nordique
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Sat May 19, 2018 6:26 pm
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Today was my 45th hike this year--and, as usual, I was cranking away on my trekking poles, uphill and down. As a longtime nordic ski racer, in many states, I used racing poles to post a lot of great results in the U.S. and Canada. For nordic ski racing, I always used the straps. For hiking, never! One of my old nordic touring partners, in the Canadian Rockies, always used her straps for touring--but after several visits with her to ER, many of us stopped using straps downhill. She dislocated her shoulders multiple times and eventually had shoulder surgery. As a telemark slalom racer, I did use the straps--but had the good luck to avoid a shoulder dislocation. I also made a lot of use of trekking poles while hiking downhill, in the decades before my right knee and right ankle replacements (those replacements were not hiking-related, but Vietnam-related). Without poles, I'd have had to stop hiking.
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RumiDude Marmota olympus
Joined: 26 Jul 2009 Posts: 3589 | TRs | Pics Location: Port Angeles |
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RumiDude
Marmota olympus
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Sat May 19, 2018 7:08 pm
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Malachai Constant wrote: | A friend broke his wrist using straps |
I am going to assume that there is more to this than just using straps on their trekking poles. It is difficult to fathom how simply using straps while hiking down the trail could break one's wrist unless that person's bones were brittle or something.
Rumi
"This is my Indian summer ... I'm far more dangerous now, because I don't care at all."
"This is my Indian summer ... I'm far more dangerous now, because I don't care at all."
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nordique Member
Joined: 04 May 2008 Posts: 1086 | TRs | Pics
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nordique
Member
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Sat May 19, 2018 8:07 pm
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Wrist straps, to my mind, on descents, seem to increase the chance of a dislocated shoulder. I don't want to take that chance. It's not that easy, for non-medical personnel, to reduce a shoulder dislocation in the back country.
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Malachai Constant Member
Joined: 13 Jan 2002 Posts: 16092 | TRs | Pics Location: Back Again Like A Bad Penny |
He fell
"You do not laugh when you look at the mountains, or when you look at the sea." Lafcadio Hearn
"You do not laugh when you look at the mountains, or when you look at the sea." Lafcadio Hearn
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