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  1. #1
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    Default Back Pain / Sleeping Pads

    At 47 and two back surgeries later, I still have to roll out of my tent and onto my hands and knees and slowly struggle to my feet (sometimes REAL slowly) to get up in the morning. After a bit of stretching and moving around I’m fine. I presently have an original 1” Thermarest that’s about 12 years old, but obviously it’s not doing the deal. Before I go out and blindly invest in a new pad does anyone have a suggestion for a good, light alternative? I’ve considered a hammock, but I sure enjoy cooking under my vestibule and being able to stretch out and record in my trail journal, etc. Although that may still be a viable option I’d prefer to solve the pad issue first.

  2. #2

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    A hammock gives you much more freedom for cooking than a tent. Sit up, reach down, fuel stove, boil water. It's much more open under a tarp than in a tent vestibule.

    For regions where I think I might have to go to ground, I take a NeoAir - awesome, no repairs and no crinkling in the last two years, packs small, keeps my middle aged hips off the ground. I have a blue foam ccf torso pad - in the hammock it goes across at my shoulders to keep out side drafts, on the ground it keeps the NeoAir from sliding on the trash bag and if the temps plunged unexpectedly (as it often does in subalpine-alpine Sierra Nevada) it adds to the R value of the Neo.

    A lot of people like the Big Agnes Air Core Insulated - they are a little heavier and have vertical baffles, where the NeoAir is pretty flat and has horizontal baffles.

  3. #3
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    Perhaps a Big Agnes inflatable pad. I know everyone was jealous of mine this year.
    I have not had back surgery but I do have back problems. At home I use three pillows one of which is a body pillow to support my back.

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    I have back problems as well and am in the final stages of therapy, I have a Large Thermarest NeoAir and it is very comfortable, They also now have the NeoAir Trekker which is more durable but also a little heavier. I wake up with back pain no matter what I use including a pad like you mentioned. The NeoAir comes closest to a good night's rest. Just about any air mattress should work for you but the NeoAir is the lightest.

  5. #5

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    I have chronic back pain and a Big Agnes Air Core has been a small miracle for me. I'm considering switching to a Therm-a-Rest NeoAir just to save weight.

    On my thruhike I was younger and slept on a Z-rest but there's no way I could do that now.

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    I just checked out the Big Agnes site, has anyone tried the integrated sleeping bag and pad system? Looks like a good way to save weight and get a pretty fat pad.

  7. #7
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    Quote Originally Posted by Ashevillian View Post
    I just checked out the Big Agnes site, has anyone tried the integrated sleeping bag and pad system? Looks like a good way to save weight and get a pretty fat pad.
    You don't save that much weight; better to just get a quilt. And I used to get up like you in the morning, then I got my POE Ether Thermo 6.
    Con men understand that their job is not to use facts to convince skeptics but to use words to help the gullible to believe what they want to believe - Thomas Sowell

  8. #8

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    I looked at Big Agnes too. The problem is, the pad in sleeve keeps the bag wide open, and if you're a lot thinner than the space inside there's a lot of air space and no way to wrap up in the insulation.

    I like my quilts better. Less bulk, wrap up all I want, and the kind I have (JRB) let me use it like a blanket when it's warm.

  9. #9
    Registered User Bags4266's Avatar
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    I know I have said this before but Kooka Bay air mats are wayyyy lighter than BA and give you 2.5 or 3.5 inches of comfort. You can have one custom made to your likening which I find to be a great option instead of cookie cutter sizes that might not work for some people. I ordered one over 2 weeks ago and still waiting for its arrival. He is working on a 3 week turn around.

  10. #10

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    Quote Originally Posted by Bags4266 View Post
    I know I have said this before but Kooka Bay air mats are wayyyy lighter than BA and give you 2.5 or 3.5 inches of comfort. You can have one custom made to your likening which I find to be a great option instead of cookie cutter sizes that might not work for some people. I ordered one over 2 weeks ago and still waiting for its arrival. He is working on a 3 week turn around.
    I checked into that too. For the price I was quoted I found the NeoAir was cheaper. And I have yet to be cold with that 2.5 inches of comfort.

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    Yes the neo's are nice and light and seem to be the craze now. It's just the R-value is only 2.5. If you need more KB will be the lightest.

  12. #12

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    And yet, I was comfortable in the low 20F range with it.

    Just met a mountaineer on the trail who has had his NeoAir down to 14F comfortably. Which is not to say everyone has the same results. Too many variables. But there are also plenty of people who find CCF comfy below freezing as well, and others who get cold. R value isn't exactly ironclad proof of anything.

    Don't get me wrong, down filled air mattresses are nice enough to have, but I can't blow 'em up without a pump. Having a mattress I can puff up without concern for mold or ruining the loft is kind of nice.

  13. #13

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    I have a Big Agnes Air Core Mummy pad (no insulation). If I put a closed cell pad on top it is cushy and warm. I use a hammock with a very large tarp in bad weather (section hiking has some benefits, such as choosing which week you go out). I can set up my 10x12 tarp as an A frame tent which I can walk into, barely stooping, sit on my hammock, and go to sleep. I can cook in it if need be. It's still lighter than my 3#2oz. tent plus a Thermarest pad.
    As I live, declares the Lord God, I take no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but rather that the wicked turn back from his way and live. Ezekiel 33:11

  14. #14
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    Quote Originally Posted by Bags4266 View Post
    Yes the neo's are nice and light and seem to be the craze now.
    Amazing the number of people who wouldn't consider (or didn't realize they were available) an insulated air mattress until there was a Thermarest label on it.
    Con men understand that their job is not to use facts to convince skeptics but to use words to help the gullible to believe what they want to believe - Thomas Sowell

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