How To Prevent Common Hiking Injuries
Hiking is a fun outdoor activity to engage in with family and friends throughout the summer and has numerous health benefits. However, hiking can be arduous, placing significant physical stress on the body as you navigate varied terrain and high temperatures. Check out our tips for preventing common hiking injuries like knee pain, ankle sprains, and heat exhaustion and what to do to ensure a safe hike this summer!
Common Hiking Injuries
Hiking is a popular summer activity, whether you’re hiking in your local park or vacationing at a national state park. Hiking has numerous health benefits including improving cardiovascular health like blood pressure, cholesterol, and blood sugar levels, increasing overall fitness and bone and muscle strength, enhancing balance and proprioception, and easing stress while boosting mental well-being.
However, hiking can be arduous, placing significant stress on the body as you navigate varied terrain along with sun exposure and extreme temperatures. Here are common injuries and issues that can arise while hiking:
Blisters: A blister develops when a sock or shoe rubs against the skin of the foot or heel, causing the top layer of the skin to separate. A fluid-filled sac, the blister, forms to protect the deeper skin layers. When the blister bursts, it reveals raw skin that is susceptible to infection. Prevent blisters by breaking in your hiking boots before you hike and wear moleskins on the areas that are prone to blisters.
Muscle cramping: Muscle cramps while hiking result from dehydration and lack of warm-up before the intensity of hiking. Always hydrate and engage in a dynamic warm-up.
Poison ivy and scrapes: When hiking, you may experience scrapes from trees or rocks or have skin contact with poison ivy and other plants that can cause a rash. Wearing long-sleeved pants and shirts can prevent scrapes and poison ivy rash as well as learning how to identify and avoid poison ivy.
Sunburn: If you hike all day, you will be exposed to the sun’s UVA and UVB rays at peak hours, increasing the risk for sunburn if sunscreen and protective clothing are not worn.
Chaffing: Chaffing occurs when the thighs rub together while walking, causing irritation. To prevent this, wear active underwear made of wool or synthetic nylon.
Temperature-related illness: Heat exhaustion, heat stroke, or hypothermia can occur when hiking. Heat exhaustion leads to feelings of tiredness, dizziness, and nausea that improve with rest, food, and rehydration. A heat stroke, however, is life-threatening and has symptoms of confusion, delirium, and loss of consciousness. Heat exhaustion and heat stroke result from dehydration and exposure to high temperatures while exercising in which the body cannot regulate your temperature and allow you to cool down. Hypothermia, however, occurs when the body’s core temperature drops below normal, and you become extremely cold. It can lead to poor judgment, confusion, and loss of consciousness.
Headaches: A headache commonly results from dehydration. If the headache improves when lying down, drink water up to a liter an hour and eat a few salty snacks to restore your body’s mineral balance and hydration. However, if the headache does not get better when you lie down or it feels better when you stand up, you may have drunk too much water and you need to supplement with salts, sugars, and electrolytes.
Bug bites: When hiking along trails deep in a forest, you are more vulnerable to bug bites, so it’s key to wear bug repellant, wear long-sleeved pants and shirts, and use calamine lotion to avoid itching.
Ankle sprains: Healthy ankles are essential when you’re on a trail as they provide support and mobility to navigate uneven terrain. A sprain results when a ligament is overstretched which is easy to do with a misstep on rough terrain.
Knee pain: Knee pain is common among hikers due to logging a lot of miles on the trail, wearing ill-fitting or worn-out shoes, and the physical stress of hiking on your knees. When hiking downhill, the knees are under significant stress. As you descend one leg at a time, the lead knee is forced to absorb the impact of not only your body weight but also the added forces of going downhill and the weight of what is in your backpack. The compressive force between the tibia and femur is 7-8 times your body weight when going downhill.
Foot arch pain: Worn-out, ill-fitting, or improper footwear when hiking can lead to foot arch pain and plantar fasciitis, causing tenderness and pain through the bottom of the foot.
Preventing Hiking Injuries
To prevent hiking injuries, follow these tips:
Wear broad-spectrum sunscreen and reapply every 2-4 hours throughout your hike.
Dress properly for your hikes, e.g. well-fitted ankle-supportive hiking boots, synthetic clothes that keep you dry as you sweat, and lightweight long-sleeved shirts and pants.
Use appropriate gear, such as a hiking backpack that fits your torso length and has a chest strap and waist belt. A well-fitted backpack should fit such that the pack is body-hugging with the majority of the load transferred to the hips rather than the shoulders or back.
Check weather patterns before you go to prepare for any rain, snow, or thunderstorms that can make the trail more slippery or reduce visibility. Hike during the early hours of the morning or late afternoon, avoiding the heat of the day from 10 am to 2 pm.
Wear moleskins in the areas where blisters are more likely to form, break in your hiking boots prior to the hike, and keep your feet dry to prevent blisters.
Know your terrain to plan a safe hike and take regular breaks to pace yourself, rest, and rejuvenate with water and nutrients.
Always stay on the hiking trail and be mindful of wildlife.
Stay hydrated by drinking at least ½ liter of water per hour when engaging in moderate activity in moderate temperatures. When temperatures are higher, drink a liter of water an hour and supplement with electrolytes.
Maintain proper nutrition when hiking to fuel your body during high physical exertion, balancing protein, fiber, healthy fats, and mineral and vitamin-rich vegetables as much as possible before and during the hike.
Prior to your hike, strengthen your quadriceps, hamstrings, core, and shoulder muscles to minimize stress on the shoulders, back, and knees when hiking. At the start of your hike, do a dynamic warm-up to stretch and warm up your muscles to reduce the risk of muscle cramps and injury.
Use trekking poles which substantially reduce the amount of pressure on your knees. Trekking poles are a pair of fixed or collapsible hiking poles that offset force from the knee and leg to the upper body and core and help hikers maintain balance and stability when going downhill and improve forward lean when going uphill. Hold the poles as close to a 90-degree angle to the elbow as you can, shortening the pole for uphill treks and lengthening them when going downhill.
