Kifaru EMRII - Problem I need help with...

[TheGDog]

Long Story Shorter, for some Reason... when wearing my EMR II and especially when there is a lot of uphill in the outing... I'm having a debilitating problem with my Coccyx (Tailbone) and Saccrum area.

Background Info:
I had a bad over-the-handlebars incident on hard-pack many years ago in '95. My Tailbone area got slammed into HardPack about as hard you probably can without it actually breaking. I went from Zero to Black-Blue-Pureple-Yellow-And even Green in the entirety of my entire buttocks and tailbone/lumber area within like 30 minutes that ensued afterward.

Also:
I'm a coder, so I sit too much for my job.

Also:
I had the Flu, then I caught the CoVID just after that this year. So like the first 3 months of this year I was coughing my bleeping brains out and it was infamming everything including that area noticeably from the tensioning that presumably occurs from those hard deep coughs.

I've had the pack since 2017. Before now, I'd only noticed this issue when doing two locations which are steep and are downhill going in and uphill coming out. And when successful and doing a packout.


I'm wondering if I may have improperly executed my spine measurement when initially ordering this pack and frame. (I bought the carbon fiber one, incidently) and that perhaps this is leading to the Lumbar pad actually being too far down on my body? Thus placing a bit of the pressure upon my sensitive/injured area?

My other thought is that perhaps since I gained a bit of weight since rebounding from being sick and inactive... if having that extra in the gut area is somehow causing the hip-belt, since also now squeezing across some gut... to inadvertantly be exerting some excess pressures/forces back there?

I wear a simple Cabelas T-Buckle belt, purposefully so that when I'm on a sit, I can pop the buckle and redo it majorly loosely.. Because of I don't that will also invoke this debilitatingly painful area.

Also... from needing to tighten the hip-belt... since I wear that Nylon T-Buckle belt... my injured area can not take the pressure of the hip-belt pressing against the Nylon belt... and the Nylon belt... the ridge of it's edge, pressing into that area. So... as a result... I pop the T-Buckle and tend to loosen the Nylon belt and try to juuust loosen it just enough to where that top most edge of it can slide down a little to below where the hip-belt it placing any discernable pressure upon it. .....HOWEVER... doing so also creates another condition that invokes some pain as well.. and that is the top edge of the Nylon-belt where it crosses the hips... not doing so at or above the illiac crests. And with the walking uphill, and the resultant way your high-knee'd steps can cause the back of your pants, and therefore belt too, to want to pull downward and ride downward to even lower upon the buttocks area... the Nylon belt... to some degree will then have that top edge of it... exerting some pressure towards my injured area.


So I'm bothering to ask this question about fitment... cause I figure if the case is that this might all be because I didn't submit perhaps the correct measurement to begin with... then I'd possibly be willing to grin and bare it and maybe pay for another frame for the pack, if only to see if it will end this debilitating pain. (It can take greater than 3 days for the majority of the pain to recover sometimes). As you can imagine... with the costs involved with these higher-end packs... I'd really be upset if I paid that money yet again... only to find out that wasn't the answer to the problem.

I figure if I ask around... maybe somebody went thru something similar to this and can tell me if my thinking... that maybe I wasn't measuring spine height the way they had intended you're supposed to it... is indeed likely the culprit in this?

I know there's undoubtedly a certain amount more pain I'm going to go thru then somebody who never got hurt like this. But what I'm going thru here... if redo'ing the pack can't help it... I may likely have to seriously consider some kinda gnarly medical options, or even reconsidering this sport. At least the big-game pack-in aspect of it.

I'd very much appreciate anybody whose worked thru similar problems to lend their observation and story and what outcomes they were able to achieve.

Thank You for your time.

-G

 

[tdot]

You might consider calling Kifaru directly. They are usually pretty good about helping guys with fitment issues.

The hip belt should be centered vertically on your hip bones. If it isn't, then it needs to be adjusted so that it is.

Personally I found the kifaru frames applied too much pressure on my lower back, through the lumbar pad. I eventually ended up with the Seek Outside frame and I'm happy that I made the switch. The hipbelt is very different from the Kifaru and doesn't have the large lumbar pad.... just an idea if you can't get the fit you want.

 

[TheGDog]

You might consider calling Kifaru directly. They are usually pretty good about helping guys with fitment issues.

The hip belt should be centered vertically on your hip bones. If it isn't, then it needs to be adjusted so that it is.

Personally I found the kifaru frames applied too much pressure on my lower back, through the lumbar pad. I eventually ended up with the Seek Outside frame and I'm happy that I made the switch. The hipbelt is very different from the Kifaru and doesn't have the large lumbar pad.... just an idea if you can't get the fit you want.

This is sounding like along the lines of what I thought made sense. Finding perhaps a new system where that lumbar pad didn't hang down as far. I've got the height of their shoulder straps lowered down to as close to the hip-belt as they can go in their adjustment range... the thought there being to try to raise that hipbelt and lumbar pad up as much as possible to help alleviate it touching upon or resting upon my area of injury.

So Question... are you saying you bought this "Seek Outside" frame, and then just affixed your existing Kifaru bag to it? And this was able to help with your issue? If so this sounds very exciting to me!

 

[tdot]

This is sounding like along the lines of what I thought made sense. Finding perhaps a new system where that lumbar pad didn't hang down as far. I've got the height of their shoulder straps lowered down to as close to the hip-belt as they can go in their adjustment range... the thought there being to try to raise that hipbelt and lumbar pad up as much as possible to help alleviate it touching upon or resting upon my area of injury.

So Question... are you saying you bought this "Seek Outside" frame, and then just affixed your existing Kifaru bag to it? And this was able to help with your issue? If so this sounds very exciting to me!

I have a Seek Outside bag with their frame. But I don't see why the Kifaru wouldn't strap onto it fairly easily. I do strap bags from a few different manufacturers onto the Seek Outside Revolution frame. Seek Outside use 3/4" Gatekeeper buckles. Those will work on 1" webbing loops.

 

[Maverick1]

Sounds like you have a lot going on! Sorry to hear about your back, that can be a PITA. ;-)

First thing I would do is call Kifaru. Their customer service is really good, IME.

Second, I will share an experience with my Kifaru pack system. With moderate weight, I did not have any issues with their pack system, using both the duplex and bikini frames. Handled great, no issues at all.

However, when I started packing really heavy loads, I had some discomfort in the lower lumbar region. Almost like the lumbar pad was too thick, so I tried something different: I pulled out the lumbar pad, separated the two foam pieces (their lumbar pad is two pieces of foam adhered to one another), and put half of the original thickness back in. Works great! No problems since, packs light and heavy loads really well. I think my Rumpus Maximus was the culprit. (Worked great for me....I'd suggest calling Kifaru if you go this route to see if you could order another lumbar pad if this doesn't work for you).

 

[Maverick1]

This explains my post above:

https://www.edcforums.com/threads/kifaru-lumbar-pad.119942/

 

[Maverick1]

From this forum

https://www.rokslide.com/forums/threads/does-your-kifaru-pack-rub-your-lower-back-raw.55389/

 

[Brendan]

Long post, but I find I have to start my pack higher than most recommend, even after talking with Kifaru multiple times. If I don't, it starts to slide down for me. I'm a thinner waist, curved back, and have an ass. I'd start to feel the frame pushing down into the top of my butt.

Now, My starting point is with the waist belt over my belly button or even a little higher, cinch it down tight, and let it settle to where the center of the belt is centered on the point of my hip bones, or even a little higher. That keeps the lumbar pad in the small of my back and helps it keep from riding down. If you have a belly though, that's hard to do. More apt to have it slide down.

Try it out, see if it helps. Everyone's built differently.

 

[WCS]

I had a similar issue when I tried a Kifaru pack. Prior to buying it I had been involved in a collision while riding my bike to work. Someone pulled out of an alley and I slammed into their front fender and went over the handlebars landing on their hood. My sacrum/iliac crest area on my right hip smacked my u-lock very hard and I ended up with a multi coloured bruise such as the one the OP described. After the bruise went away and I was back to a close to full range of motion I started to work with a couple of brands of packs, trying to find one for guiding. It seemed like no matter what I did I couldn't get my kifaru to fit comfortably under weight. I did make a number of calls to Kifaru to try and resolve my fit issues, and despite some stellar customer service I just couldn't get it to work for me. The lumbar pad would beat the hell out of the piriformis muscle on my right side, causing it lock up and sometimes resulting in shooting pain running up the right side of my back. I really wanted to like that pack because it was built like a brick s#!thouse and the guys at Kifaru were great to deal with. I ended up having better luck with a stone glacier pack. I'd say try to pare down the lumbar pad first, and if that doesn't work maybe try a few different brands.