Douglas Alpenstock wrote:Here's the contrarian view from a semi-retired wilderness backpacker. The hip bones, leg muscles, and supporting abdominal muscles is the best place on the human animal to handle significant weight. The spine just can't take it without damage...
I so agree with this. If someone's been carrying weight on the crown of their head since childhood, that would be one thing. But it seems to me that starting later in life could cause serious spinal issues, even with gradually adding the weight.
In my case, I have arthritis in my neck and some disk degeneration. The thought of putting real weight on that part of my spine gives me the willies - visions of paralysis for life (I'm a worrier). That said, while I have a scarf that would be perfect for a rodilha and I like the idea of carrying a lightweight item, I'm not into wearing scarves.
So I got to thinking what alternative could I come up with that would more likely work for me? The first thing that popped into my mind was a watch cap with the edges rolled up. The only drawback to it that I can think of is that my ears would suffer if I was wearing the watch cap to protect them. Then another idea came to mind, and that was neck tubes. I'm sure there's a proper name for them, but they'd be something I routinely wear that could be rolled up to make rodhilas, too.
