Carrying heavy loads in my Kifaru and hip pain.

Joined
Dec 6, 2019
Messages
859
Location
Southern OK
I’ve been doing daily cardio on the treadmill after I finish my normal workout while wearing my new Kifaru 44mag. It’s on a 26” frame with composite stays. I’ve been loading the pack with 55-60 pounds and and gradually increasing the incline every 60 seconds till I max it out. I’m running the hip belt in the area I feel I’m supposed to. About 5 min into the session, my left hip begins to burn/hurt pretty bad. Right hip is fine and the rest of me is just fine. If I loosen the hip belt, the left hip pain/burn goes away. I can keep going for however long I want. But this keeps all the weight on my upper body. I’m in pretty good shape and pretty well built so this isn’t a problem for 20-30 min while doing cardio, but on a all day pack, I know this won’t work out. I need to have that weight on my hips. When I loosen the belt, I’ll go for 5–10 more minutes and there is no pain. I’ll cinch it back up and within 5 min my left hip is on fire again. I’ll loosen it off and it’s just fine again. My conclusion is it’s the belt putting pressure on my left hip that is causing the pain. Not the weight I’m carrying. Am I running the belt too tight? Too high/low? Is it just me and I’m being a puss and need to stop whining?
Any insight would be appreciated.
 
Joined
Oct 2, 2016
Messages
2,651
Location
West Virginia
The hip belt should buckle over your belly button. I'm guessing it isn't. If it is adjusted correctly, you have something affecting your gate. Weak knee, thigh, hamstring, ankle, etc...... that makes treadmill walking harder.

FWIW, you shouldn't have to crank the heck out of your belt in order to get it to stay put if your torso is adjusted correctly.
 
OP
Trevor73402
Joined
Dec 6, 2019
Messages
859
Location
Southern OK
The hip belt should buckle over your belly button. I'm guessing it isn't. If it is adjusted correctly, you have something affecting your gate. Weak knee, thigh, hamstring, ankle, etc...... that makes treadmill walking harder.

FWIW, you shouldn't have to crank the heck out of your belt in order to get it to stay put if your torso is adjusted correctly.

The way the pack is adjusted now, the belt buckles below my belly button.
 

zacattack

WKR
Joined
Aug 23, 2018
Messages
1,332
Location
Michigan
The way the pack is adjusted now, the belt buckles below my belly button.
That’s too low. I sent them pictures when I was trying to fit my first pack and that’s the first thing I was told to change. Like already said that buckle should be on your belly button. You need to do some tweaking on your adjustments.
 

*zap*

WKR
Joined
Dec 20, 2018
Messages
7,032
Location
N/E Kansas
There is a center seam on the hip belt that runs the length of the belt from front to back on either side. That seam should be on your iliac crest/hip bone.
 

Marble

WKR
Joined
May 29, 2019
Messages
3,219
There is a center seam on the hip belt that runs the length of the belt from front to back on either side. That seam should be on your iliac crest/hip bone.
This is the correct answer. Belly buttons are not uniformly placed on the body. My belt rides 2 inches below my belly button, but right across the lilac Crest.

By watching snyder on how to out the pack on, I do the following:

Loosen eveything
Put it in my shoulders, lean forward and buckle belt. I then cinch it snug.
Pull shoulder straps until pack barely touches back.
Chest strap is the attached
Tighten load lifters until I feel pack get closer.
I then recheck the belt.
Sometimes the chest strap is last.

I think the belief that putting 55 to 60 pounds on your back and working out with it is a good idea is questionable. I would cut the weight to 30 and occasionally do more. You will still be getting results, but not working yourself to the verge of injury.
 

tdot

WKR
Joined
Aug 18, 2014
Messages
1,888
Location
BC
My belly button doesnt carry the load of my pack, my hips do. So I prefer to have the hip belt centered vertically on my hips. (Which puts it about 1" below my belly button). But everyone's different.

I would personally back off on the weight and the angle of the treadmill, until you get you pack 100% sorted. Then slowly increase both weight and difficulty and make adjustments along the way.

When you say your hips burn. Is this the skin over your hips? Or the muscle within your hips?

If it's Skin it could just be abrasion, anything from a seam in a tucked in shirt to a logo on your underwear band can cause this. I have bony hips and abrade them very easily.

If it's the muscle, it could be a fitment issue or it could be tight hip muscles.

Are you wearing heavy boots that you are not used to?
 
OP
Trevor73402
Joined
Dec 6, 2019
Messages
859
Location
Southern OK
First off I appreciate all the replies that have been given.
As some have stated above, I have the hip belt lined up the way Aaron says to with the center seem at the top of my hip bones. This does put it below my belly button, but it is lined up on my hip bones as per Kifaru’s instructions.

The pain is only in my left hip and is a burning muscle pain. The pain is not weight dependent. It does it if I have 25 pounds in the pack or if I have 60 pounds in the pack. As I said above, I feel like it is a pressure issue that the belt is applying to the muscles on my left side. When I loosen the belt, the pain goes away. It’s not that the weight is too heavy for me. I’m a big guy. 5’11” and 225 with a 33” inch waist and a 50“+ chest. With the way I’m built (think bodybuilder-ish) packs typically don’t fit me “perfectly” like they do most people. I had to let the shoulder straps out a good bit so that they would follow the contour of my upper body better due to the size of my trap muscles. This may be letting the pack ride too low on me. I will tinker with it and see what I can figure out. What stumps me is that it’s only on my left side.

Someone asked about heavy boots.....I’m just wearing my normal gym shoes while doing this on the treadmill.
 

LMT66

FNG
Joined
Jan 6, 2017
Messages
47
Is the belt the right size? My waist size could go with a M or L according to the Kifaru‘s order page. I always go with the L after experiencing a similar issue.
Also might need to check the shoulder strap adjustment on both sides. (Do you walk tensed up on one side)
 
Last edited:
OP
Trevor73402
Joined
Dec 6, 2019
Messages
859
Location
Southern OK
Is the belt the right size? My waist size could go with a M or L according to the Kifaru‘s order page. I always go with the L after experiencing a similar issue.
When I emailed them to ask about belt size, I was actually told by Frank to order a small belt. I went ahead and ordered a medium anyway. I feel like it is the perfect size, but I could be wrong.
 

LMT66

FNG
Joined
Jan 6, 2017
Messages
47
When I emailed them to ask about belt size, I was actually told by Frank to order a small belt. I went ahead and ordered a medium anyway. I feel like it is the perfect size, but I could be wrong.
I would focus on getting the shoulder straps and lifters properly setup. Takes some time and things change as loads change but once you find out what alleviates that pain, youll know what to do with different weights.

I prefer aluminum stays for a custom bend. Composites don’t like my back curve.
 

sveltri

WKR
Joined
Jun 22, 2016
Messages
822
Location
SALIDA
I believe I was having similar issues as the OP, once I got the fitment adjusted (needed to move it higher up on the hips) the pain went away.
 

*zap*

WKR
Joined
Dec 20, 2018
Messages
7,032
Location
N/E Kansas
Try dropping the shoulder straps down 1.5" and see what happens. Hips tight when your walking not loose and using the incline feature you should be getting mid foot placement and no heel strike. Chest up/shoulder back.
With the hip belt tight two things happen...you have the belt tight and that places weight on the back of your hips not you shoulders, especially with the Kifaru and I would assume you are aware of that. In breaking down the actual issue you need to determine which is causing the 'muscle burning'.
One way would be to do that exercise with another pack frame and see if it is the frame fit. Another would be to identify the actual muscle and find out what it's role is in packing weight on your hips and address what may be a muscular imbalance.
It also may be that you need one shoulder strap longer than the other....so if the left side hurts maybe it has more weight on it, then lengthen the left side strap....
It would be e-z to try another brand frame first, maybe post your location and see who is around there and borrow a frame for a few days? If you get up around this area your welcome to try one of mine @ my gym.

Halfway thru this video (try 15:00) there is good info on posture and gait while rucking:
 
Top