3 REASONS YOUR JOINTS HURT FROM DOWNHILL HIKING (AND WHAT TO DO ABOUT IT)
I remember the glorious feeling of reaching the summit of Acatenango and feeling invincible.
Only to start hiking down and feeling like my knees and ankles were about to snap with each step I took.
Why did my joints take such a beating from descending that mountain?
It’s mostly because of 3 things:
Speed, step length, and fatigue.
Gravity propelled me downhill, increasing the stress on my joints with every stride.
Sharp declines forced me to squat more to take my next step, so my muscles had to remain engaged longer on each step down.
Last but not least the fatigue from hiking up made my movement sloppier and I ended up falling down instead of stepping down securely.
The great news is that through trial and error, I found a way to counter these 3 things with my training.
Step-Down strength exercises allowed me to isolate the act of stepping down and exaggerate the process so I could develop a greater level of control on the way down. And I didn’t even need weights!
And I know that by progressing my conditioning workouts, I’m helping my body improve blood circulation, energy production, and oxygen delivery so that when I reach the top I’m not as tired, and my movement stays sharp and in control.
Lastly, mobility training helped me improve my range of motion so that my body could handle the force of impacts more seamlessly.
Hopefully someone else with the same issues can benefit from this!
I’m from Houston so I don’t have a lot of mountains to climb, but something I personally realized is that the better my training is, the more I enjoy my time in the mountains instead of just endure it.
But maybe more importantly it gives me the motivation and the goal to look forward to when I’m home.
