Rothrock Gas Line Traverse

The gas line is an 8 mile North-South scar across the heart of Rothrock State Forest. It goes from near Colyer Lake in the North to Big Valley in the area of Barrville in Mifflin County in the South. Anyone who has done much hiking, or even driving, in the area has enjoyed the vistas it provides. And anyone with any interest in human powered adventures instantly sees possibilities in a 30-yard wide trail constructed with complete disregard to topography. The simplest of these would be to simply start at one end, hike to the other, and hike back. That was my plan last Saturday on a beautiful, sunny winter Saturday.

I packed up on Friday. I didn't take much but I brought along my down jacket as a bit of insurance against a night out in the low teens, my gaiters as a hedge against overgrown brush, and extra ibuprofen as a precaution against knee problems. The down jacket required that I use my wife's GoLite Jam rather than my slick little 20L Cilogear leaderpack. I also pulled out my thin, lightweight hooded Marmot Ion windshirt to use as my shell to see how it performs in the cold (very well it turns out, but the real problem is it's just a bit too short to stay tucked in under my harness. I'll have to add a few clips or something). Unfortunately, I debated it, but left my trekking poles at home. I could have used them on the icey descents with creakey knees.

With a few hours of sleep after The Hangover, I was on the road around 5:00 am. Got some good sugary coffee for the ride. I wasn't exactly sure if I would be able to easily access the pipeline at the very edge of the northern state forest border. A few turnarounds in folks' driveways and I decided to bail to the back-up spot: the intersection of the pipeline with Treaster Kettle Road.

It was still totally dark when I got there so I chilled a bit in the Tacoma Lodge but got antsy and split with a bit of lighter sky in the east at 6:45. It was colder than I expected: 14 degrees. It took twenty minutes to go the first 50 yards as the stream through the gas line was just barely too big to jump and just barely to deep to wade with dry feet. So the only option was a heinouse bushwhack stream crossing through thick Mountain Laurel. Every other stream crossing was cake.

As day broke, the first mile or so is an easy grade and it feels odd to have so much space around you in the middle of the mountains of Central PA. No "green tunnel" here. It looks like PA, but feels like Wyoming. I was thinking it would be some nice cross-country skiing and eventually did see some ski tracks further on. I probably need skis.

The view from Thickhead mountain, south across Detwiler Run and the Mid-State Trail to Grass Mountain is one of the best. A deep, steep-sided valley without a road at the bottom. My knees start reminding me of why I hate long, steep, rocky downhills. This does not bode well.

Once I get to the top of Grass Mountain, the view south as the gas line makes a few turns to wind it's way through some convoluted ridges is amazing. I wake up a nice wilderness hobo spending "January" in Rothrock as part of the off-season from his farm job in southern Huntingdon county. Nice guy. Very knowledgeable about the trails in the area and we chat some more on the way back through. Usually when I get this view I'm just crossing the gas line on some trail and it feels good to finally be walking it. Actually, it feels terrible because my knees are definetely in some pain by the bottom. The nice part of this is, the view from the bottom UP the mountain is as nice as the view DOWN. But the next stretch is kinda rolling and I continue on to gain the far ridge of Broad Mountain, seeing 8 turkeys on the way.

I start down past Rag Hollow Road, but it's clear that my knees will probably sore for weeks and I have my CrossFit Level 1 cert in 6 days, so I turn around sometime before 11:00 and loaf it back to the truck under blue bird skies and warming weather. The snow-covered northern slopes of Grass and Thickhead were incredibly slick with the warmer weather. Just the surface had melted in the shade so it was too hard to edge or plunge step. I could have definetely used my trekking poles... both for my knees and for those descents. I also ran into two other backpackers off the MST on the way back. Good to see people getting out.

After 6588 feet total elevation, 12 miles, 9 hours, 8 turkeys, 4 squirrels, 3 hikers, and 1 itinerant wilderness hobo, I was definetely ready for my truck and a good home-grilled, double cheeseburger with provolone, salami, sauteed onions, and bacon.

Basic Low Back Rehab Routine

I'm recoverying from an L5-S1 herniation with no sciatica, most recently in December.

Following the suggestions in Low Back Disorders, this is the routine I'm doing now. I see alot of suggestions for exercises on the web for low back pain and herniated discs (Mackenzie, bird dogs, etc) but few information on how to incorporate these into long-term recovery. In some ways Low Back Disorders is very specific (how to roll over in bed!) in other ways, it's vague (like what are the rest times between the sequences for the static holds he recommends). This is my best shot.

During rehabilitation, McGill's goal is to improve low back and abdominal endurance (not strength) and groove proper motion and muscle activation patterns. I do this routine twice every day. I focus on form, abdominal bracing (independent of breathing), and glute/hip activation (during squats).

NOTE: "5-4-3" is shorthand for a reverse pyramid of static holds. The long version would look like this:
hold for 7 seconds, rest for 3 seconds --> Do this 5 times
rest 1 minute
hold for 7 seconds, rest for 3 seconds --> Do this 4 times
rest 1 minute
hold for 7 seconds, rest for 3 seconds --> Do this 3 times
move on to next exercise

The beginner's low back routine:
(1) 6 cat/camel motions (not stretches)
(2) 20 "potty" squats (air squats, basically)
(3) 5-4-3 curl-ups (NOT situps)
(4) 5-4-3 L & R side bridges (I do the 5 static holds for left then the 5 static holds for right, then I take a 1 minute rest and move onto the 4 round)
(5) 5-4-3 bird dogs (I do the 5 static hold with left arm out, then the 5 static holds with the right arm out, then I take a 1 minute rest and move onto the 4 round)
(6) 20 more potty squats (air squats)

I've been doing it for about two weeks and I'm increasing the pyramids from 5-4-3 to 6-5-4. I've also started substituting overhead squats (broomstick) for the second set of air squats. Focusing on the glute activation is definetely a help. I'm keeping a log of how my back feels and potential reasons why (four hours sitting in SAR training for instance). Next I'm going to add some stretches for my hamstrings and my hip flexors and see how that feels.

Gadd's Endless Ascent

Will Gadd just climbed more ice in 24 hours than I will in my lifetime (actually, given the limited climbing I do and the extended link-ups he does, this probably isn't the first time). Ended up being 196 laps on on 40-meter (131 feet) Pic of the Vic in Ouray. By my math, that's over 25,700 feet of vertical ice in 24 hours. Eight pitches per hour for 24 hours. Yikes! That's just about an 8000m peak from sea level, all straight up. No placing pro, no belaying, no swinging leads, just climb and lower, climb and lower, climb and lower. Definitely impressive, but even better for the rest of us, it sounds like he's gonna give some careful thought to what worked and what didn't on his blog. The first installment lists the damage. Nothing permanent, just blisters, lost fingernails and overtrained muscles and tendons, but it will be interesting to see what he has to say about nutrition, training and gear.

This is actually just one big monomodal WOD: As Many Rounds As Possible in 24 hours - climb 130 feet WI4. I've thought about this type of thing before. Long extended undurance efforts in a CrossFit style for depletion days. Like, instead of AMRAP:20, something like AMRAP:daylight or AMRAP:darkness, or even AMRAP:24 hours.

SOUNDTRACK: Bladder Bladder Bladder's Designated Drinking Driver . I know next to nothing about this band or this song. This song is stuck in my head since I listened to it this afternoon during my "workout." It gave me a powerful thirst for some beer, I do know that.

Low Back Rehab Program: Two Diagnostic Tests

So clearly I'm putting alot of faith in Stuart McGill's expertise. Of course, I'm also putting alot of faith in my ability to understand what he teaches and then use it intelligently to make this the last time I have to "rehab" my back. This is probably simple hubris, though, because the book itself is written to help the working clinical professional and my plan is to simply go it alone. I finished "Low Back Disorders" and I'm ready to get cracking on working out again as long I'm not risking another tweaked back. First though, there are a two simple tests that I think are instructive.

Back Bridge Test
The first can indicate whether a person is correctly activating the glutes for hip opening. This back-bridge test is performed lying flat on your back, legs bent, knees flat on the floor. Tense your entire "core" muscles to maintain a nuetral spine as you open raise your hips off the floor, opening your hip (it's kind of like what they are showing here, but don't extend the one leg at the knee). Use your hands to feel (the fancy word is "palpate", but just start poking and prodding) which of your muscles are most strongly activated. Feel your abs (not just the six pack but all around your abdomen), then check your glutes, check your hamstrings, and check your quads. Which are working the hardest? Can you feel them working? I

Go ahead, do it now. Once you know what it's supposed to feel like you'll never do it the same again.

Your glutes should be most strongly activated. The hamstrings should be only slightly activated However, in people who have had lower back injuries, it's very common to have the hamstrings and the extensors in the lower back take much of the effort rather than glutes. This places much more of a compressive load on the spine. If you pretend to squeeze a coin between your butt and activate your quads slightly, you can feel how the glutes and hips can take the load, and this is how the body is supposed to function. Retraining hip opening to emphasize the glutes will be key.

Abdominal Muscular Enduance (aka my Spinal Fran)
OK, so now to the good measurable stuff, testing muscular endurance. Given that endurance in the 'core' musculature is protective of the spine, defining any defficiencies in this area will help guide the rehabilitation program. It will also provide a useful measuring stick of progress. This will be my "Spinal Fran" benchmark. There are three static hold tests and by comparing the length (in seconds) of static holds in these different positions, one can determine what underlying defficiencies are limiting long-term recovery in low back pain patients. So, I put together a crude test lab in my living room (see picture) and, after a trial run to get everything right, here's what I got on my second tests

Left Side Bridge = 61 seconds
Right Side Bridge = 75 seconds
55 Degree Flexion = 153 seconds
Back Extension = 138 seconds

To interpret the results, he notes that the following ratios are statistically significant in populations with low back pain. I believe these values also have some use as predictors of future back pain.

55 degree flexion/back extension >1.0 -->My value is 1.11
Right Side Bridge/Left Side Bridge outside the range 0.95 to 1.05 --> My value is 1.23
Right Side Bridge/back extension > 0.75 --> My value is 0.54
Left Side Bridge/back extension > 0.75 --> My value is 0.44

So, if I've done these correctly, this indicates that my flexion/extension ratio is aberrant (>1.0), indicating that my back extension endurance is low. I'll be working these with Bird Dogs.

It also shows that the right side lateral abs have statistically higher endurance than my left (RSB/LSB outside the range 0.95 to 1.05). I'll be working both sides with Side Bridges.

Finally, it also shows that the relative endurance of my lateral abs to my extensors is OK (less than 0.75).

Interesting. And it will be interesting to see how these change over the next few months.

A Review of Stuart McGill's "Low Back Disorders" - Part 1

In an effort to resolve my own chronic back issues once and for all, I am making the effort to read -- and try to really understand -- Stuart McGill's "Low Back Disorders: Evidence-Based Prevention and Rehabilitation." This review is an effort to very concisely summarize some points that he makes in the book. The book is intended for professional clinicians, which I am not. I will try to summarize in the least technical terms possible the points that are helping me to shift how I think about my back and how I can get to a permanent pain-free situation; one where I don't have to worry about my back giving out every time I head out on some little trip. I encourage anyone who is actually working through their own back pain to consult the original source, it's entirely possible that I've completely misunderstood entire portions of the book.

Parts 1 & 2

The book is divided into three Parts: 1 - The Scientific Foundation, 2 - Injury Prevention, and 3 - Low Back Rehabilitation. I'm still working through Part 3, so this review only covers the scientific foundation and injury prevention. I know, if you're reading this all you really want o know is what to do, but I haven't gotten there yet. The first two parts are164 pages long. I took 8.5 pages of notes in very small print, so obviously I'm leaving alot out.

1 - Most chronic low back pain issues are not the result of a single traumatic incident (unless of course they are the result of, say, a snowmobile accident (see first image), or a fall from height which applies a very high load in a single event); they are the result of "cumulative trauma pathways." This is either the repeated application of a low load (ex, repetitively flexing the spine while picking light objects up off the floor; see second image) or a sustained load for long duration (ex, slouching while sitting at a computer or a carpenter constantly bending over to put nails in a floor; see third image). These loads are typically well below what people believe is damaging to the spine but repeated or prolonged exposure is indeed damaging. So, even though I typically can pinpoint an incident where I 'tweaked my back,' it is more likely that the hours of sitting slouched at work and poor control of lumbar flexion in other everyday tasks is the real culprit. These are the low-level loads that permit me to 'tweak' my back.

2 - Using the "core" musculature (extensors, anterior abdominals, and lateral abdominals along with a bunch of other supportive tissues, like the lumbodorsal facia, is discussed) to lock the rib cage onto the pelvis supports the spine in a neutral position is key to reducing loads on the spine during all everyday tasks from getting out of bed to opening a door to picking up a pencil off the floor.

3 - Interestingly, muscle endurance (NOT strength) and lower (NOT larger) range of motion is protective of the spine. So, even though it's common to think, "I need to be stronger and more flexible," you really need to be more precise. You don't need strength so much as you need endurance in your stabilizing core muscles so that they can maintain the low-level contractions necessary for stabilizing the lumbar spine in all of your everyday tasks; from opening doors to tying your shoes to shoveling snow. Further, more flexibility in the lumbar spine makes you MORE likely to get injured. Now, it might be that you need to increase flexibility in the hip (say, the hamstrings or psoas), but you need to stretch those muscles correctly; which is to say, keeping the spine neutral and being conscious to not accidentally stretch the lumbar extensors. This error is particularly common in the toe-touch type of hamstring stretches, where you bend over (or sit) and touch your toes. This is stretching your extensors more than your hamstrings and exacerbating instability issues in the lumbar spine.

4 - I've already commented on how poor motor control can lead to spine buckling and injury, even when picking up very light objects.

5 - McGill encourages you to think about your spine this way: it's a fishing rod with the reel end on the ground (this is the flimsy flexible spine itself) supported by guy wires that allow it to support a load (the guy wires are the anterior, lateral, and posterior musculature that, when stiff, permits the spine to bear massive loads. The key points: 1 - without stiffened (slightly taught) musculature, the spine is flimsy and flexible under even the most modest loads (few pounds); and 2 - if any of the guy wires are more or less tight than the others, this will lead to instability so all the muscles must work together.

6 - Spinal flexion early in the morning should be carefully avoided. The spine lengthens while you sleep overnight because the spinal loads are lower than the osmotic pressure, therefore the discs fill with fluid. These engorged discs greatly increase the pressure of any flexion in the morning, so absolutely no flexion stretches in the morning (no toe touches, no bringing your knees to your chest, etc) and be very careful when putting on your socks and tying your shoes.

7 - Sciatica symptoms are the result of nerve irritation. Therapy is two-fold: 1 - avoid end ROM in the spine, and 2 - perform "nerve flossing." There's a demo here, but I can't verify that is done absolutely perfectly, but that's the general idea. If you have sciatica, best to review this with you PT, and not rely on a blog or youtube.

8 - It is useful to remember that muscles and other soft tissues are not rigid and static but creep (slowly elongate when under load) and have more viscoelastic properties. This comes up several times in the discussion of herniated discs and how the nucleus of the spinal discs can 'migrate' or flow depending on the posture of the spine. In diagrams, the nucleus is typically shown in the middle of the annulus, but it's useful (if not completely technically accurate) to think about the nucleus moving closer to the edge of the annulus in response to repeated flexion (or extension) or prolonged flexion (or extension). When the nucleus is off-center and then full range of motion flexion/extension or large loads combined with flexion/extension are performed, it is much more likely to result in a herniated disc. Best to give the disc a few minutes to equilibrate while in a neutral posture before beginning to load it. This comes up again and again. It also affects the order in which rehabilitation exercises are performed, so it's an important concept that requires more detail than I can provide here.

9 - Some specific advice for preventing low back disorders:

a - avoid end ROM in the spine, keep it neutral;

b - reduce the reaction moment on the spine by keeping loads close to the body, directing force vectors through, or around, the lumbar spine, and simply reducing the weight or load itself;

c - avoid exertion after prolonged flexion (ex, immediately picking and moving boxes after sitting for awhile, instead stand-up, move around for a few minutes first, then begin exertion);

d - avoid high torques on twisted spines (note that significant torque should only be applied to neutral spine);

e - use momentum properly to reduce loads (note that slow and smooth isn't always the best way to spare the spine);

f - make seated work less demanding on the spine by constantly changing positions (there is no "perfect sitting posture"!), get out of the chair as often as possible (maybe every time the phone rings?), and get a little exercise in the middle of the workday;

g - Limit flexion early in the morning;

h - do as much variety as possible, repetitive work, even at low loads, can be very damaging over the long term;

i - co-contract the lower back and abdominal musculature to stabilize the spine even with very light loads.

10 - In general, workers should not wear any sort of lumbar back support. There's a whole chapter on this, if you really want to know why, check out the book. It's clearly stated and the supporting evidence is convincing (to me, anyway).

11 - During all daily activities and especially during rehabilitation exercises, prevent pain first. The pain is the result of injury and continuing to irritate the tissues causing the tissues to sensitize to even very minor irritation. In addition, the pain results in an entire series of cascading issues that basically makes gives your back a "limp." This "limping back" ingrains poor motion and muscle activation patterns that will prolong back pain and limit recovery and rehabilitation. Never work through the pain. This is not a "No Pain, No Gain" problem. Eliminate the pain first. Only work through a ROM that is pain-free. Always.

IMAGES: All the images above were photographed from Stuart McGill's "Low Back Disorders: Evidenced Based Prevention and Rehabilition" 2nd edition. They are provided here without permmission but with full credit.

Interesting Christmas Gifts 2

So, I just got back from 4 days climbing and camping in the Catskills and Adirondacks. I also just started taking the Pre-Req class so that I can begin volunteering for the local SAR team. I'm also trying to wrap up McGill's back rehab book and will summarize what I've got out of it so far, but first let me finish up some comments on a few odd-ball christmas gifts.

FoxPro Skyote Coyote Call: OK, first a disclaimer: my uncle and cousins run FoxPro over in Lewistown. My brother got me this little blue plastic hand held coyote call. I don't know the first thing about calling in coyotes. At least not yet, but I will. What interests me the most is this: Up until about two years ago I didn't really believe there were coyotes running around the woods I play in most often: Rothrock State Forest. Sure, I routinely heard coyotes camping up in the far end of Bald Eagle State Forest (I grew up right on the border between the two) but I spent a fair amount of time hiking and camping in Rothrock and never heard a single coyote yip. It was common for me to just go out for the evening, park the truck, walk a little ways into the woods, lay my foam pad out and sleep in the woods (mainly because I love waking up in the middle of the night and seeing the stars, noting how they've changed positions, then waking up in the morning to all that green... great way to start any day). Surely, if they were out there, I would know it.

Well, my brother is a trapper and so I went out with him early one morning to run his trap line and we tagged along with a friend of his to check his traps as well. My brother struck out, but the other guy hit the jackpot that morning: a fox at one location, and lo and behold, a coyote at another. Well, there was no denying coyotes around here anymore. I'm hoping that now when I go out I'll be able to get an occasional coyote to answer, just to confirm that they're around. It adds a little edge -- a little back-of-the-neck fear -- to know that there is definetely something within earshot that could, if it wanted, sneak up on you and tear your tree-hugging throat out while you're sleeping peacefully under the stars.

Antique Double Shot Glass: I like liquor. Usually whiskey. Typically on the rocks, occasionally sipped warm from a shot glass. I also like to make cocktails. I'm proud of my Long Island Iced Teas and Margaritas, but I'm struggling right now to get my Manhattan's right. Up until now all that I have for measuring are single shot glasses. Now, I live near Penn State, which was recently voted #1 Party School in the country. But do you think you can find a good quality double shot glass with a line on it to show where a single shot is anywhere in town? Basic thing like that? Nope. Sure there's a bunch of thin, low-class single shot glasses with different variations of PSU logos on it but nothing substantial. Nothing that could be put in a sock and used to knock in some loudmouth's teeth. My mother-in-law came through this year. Found this bad boy in an antique shop. This thing is hefty, it's got the line for measuring a single shot and it even has a few small, dull knicks in the lip. I like to think it's already taken out a few teeth. I've tried it out. It works... for drinking, not tooth-loosening.

Henry Rollins' "Get in the Van": I've always considered myself a big fan of Black Flag. Actually, though, I am really just a big fan of the "Wasted... Again" album (because it avoids the long drawn out noise and metal influenced later years) and a few other tracks. My brother turned me on to Black Flag when I was, perhaps, fourteen or fifteen years old and mainly listening to gangster rap like Ice-T and NWA. I swiped the tape from his Nissan Pulsar and listened to it endlessly. I did the same thing with Youth of Today's "Can't Close My Eyes" tape. I wish I could say that those tapes instantly flipped a switch in my brain that allowed me to reject both gangster rap and the hollow pointless whining of popular music and the coming grunge wave, but it didn't. As the CIA might put it: I failed to connect the dots. I didn't recognize that these two bands were just the tip of the iceberg of an entire world of underground punk and hardcore music. I eventually found that iceberg but it took a few more years and some terrible music in the meantime.

Now, I've never been a big fan of Henry Rollins, but I might be changing my mind. I love the State of Alert songs on Dischord's "1981 the Year in Singles" comp, but by the time I really got into punk, Henry had moved onto spoken word, then Rollins Band and Rollins Band does nothing for me. He got muscular and attracted -- at least in the people I knew -- a very football-jock fan base. This point was proven to me at Woodstock '94 when, lacking anything better to do, I wandered down to the "mosh pits" during the Rollins Band set and realized these were not "mosh pits" or "circle pits" as I knew them, but were just big jocks jousting with well-timed punches. There was no pretense of dancing, no change of pace to the energy of the music, just an excuse for violence. Now that's not always a bad thing, so I took a few turns, but was clearly the smallest in the pit and so the target of everyone else there.

So, in my mind, Henry was just a guy who happened to be the lead singer for Greg Ginn's Black Flag. This is still more or less true but I've had a chance to read through about 1/3 of this book so far. I didn't mean to, but it's laying on the kitchen countertop and it's written in short paragraphs like a diary so, while the water is heating or the chicken is broiling, I sneak in a few short paragraphs. In the last few pages that I've read it's begun to take on the same honest, introspective but deeply misanthropic tone that I so enjoy in Mark Twight's writing. Now, given that people are always quoting Rollins' "200 lbs is always 200 lbs" quote to me, and that Twight provided an interesting expansion on the comment, I may have to look a bit more deeply into what Rollins' has to say. "Get in the Van" is clearly demonstrating the commitment he had to punk rock and one of the most important american bands ever, so that's a decent place to start.


SOUNDTRACK: Black Flag "Wasted". Probably my all-time favorite Black Flag song. It might be the best 0:53 seconds of some people's life. It's from before Rollin's time with band, though, so it's Keith Morris on vocals. You can hear Henry kind of screwing it up live here.