Backpacking is awesome fun, but what if you have a health issue that makes carrying a bag painful and difficult?
 

Stefanie wrote to me on Facebook with some health related questions, about pack weight and diet.

Stefanie:
“Hi mentor! 
I really like your blog and after I read the ‘Go Now‘ page I thought I might ask you for some advice (or your thoughts if you have no advice).
I’m 22, female and I want to do a world trip after finishing college. I will definitely do it but there’s something I’m worried about.  I’m intolerant to some grains (wheat, barley, spelt and oat) and therefore I have to follow a gluten free diet.  Because I’m already traveling a lot I know that it can get really challenging to find food that I can eat if people don’t speak English or if I’m not speaking their language.  I won’t be able to bring my own pasta and bread as I do now.
The other thing is that I already have problems with my back and sometimes even carrying my go-bag (which includes a DSLR camera) hurts my shoulders or can cause problems for my spine if it’s too heavy.  I’m wondering how it will be, carrying a heavy backpack way more often than I do now and carrying the go-bag more or less daily for (a) year(s).  Any advice, tips, suggestions? I’m thankful for everything that might help!
Cheers!”

Emmanuel:
“Thanks for your questions, Stefanie, and the positive feedback.  I’m really glad you are enjoying the blog.
I think the answer, for you, is gonna be to carry a light bag.  Read my ‘Pack Your Bag‘ page for some tips on travelling light.  Depending how much money you have and how you travel, you can manage with very little gear.
I also have some chronic injuries.  My knees and feet are in very bad shape, and give me a bit of pain if I walk long distances and/or carry heavy loads. 
Travel can be very athletic sometimes.  
Have you considered a bag with wheels?   I’ve been thinking about adding a pair of light plastic wheels to my backpack for a while now. 
Travel blogger Gary Arndt is not a fan of carrying backpacks.  Check out his solution here.  
Also, Osprey make a range of convertible packs with wheels that look interesting.
Maybe get some good pain killers, for the days that you are really suffering?  Could be herbal ;) ?  I keep a box of muscle pain tablets with me, which I use maybe once or twice a month.  
I don’t know much about gluten intolerance.  Dietary restrictions are tricky.   Carbs are important for energy.  Stick to rice maybe?  It’s safe isn’t it? 
This website might have some useful info for you: Gluten Free Travel.”

Stefanie:
“I read your ‘Pack Your Bag‘ post.  Do you have all your shelter stuff in the green bag in the photo?  Or is that in the other bag on the left side of the photo?
I didn’t think about a bag with wheels yet.  Might be an option.   Before I start my world tour I’d like to do a longer trip around Europe (as I am from Austria) first to test my gear and see what I really need / don’t need and can improve for the world tour. 
You wrote you don’t have a fixed address and you just add/subtract according to your next destination.  Where do you keep your stuff that you don’t need at the moment?  For instance, when you’re in SE Asia you won’t need super warm stuff that you would need in Scandinavia?  I’d like to do my tour through all continents (apart from antarctica) without going back home to get the warmer stuff.  It seems like I need to carry all the stuff with me all the time or buy it on the road.
My problem with my spine is not just that it hurts because of the muscles, but also my ribs and vertebrae sometimes are not in their proper places and somebody needs to set them as I can’t really do it on my own.  Hopefully my vertebrae will stay the way they should as I just got them fixed properly.
Rice is OK for me, as well as maize, potatoes, buckwheat, millet and stuff.  Unfortunately wheat flour is already in so many things you wouldn’t believe it.  Most processed products for example.  It’ls not that I prefer them, but sometimes they’re quite handy for traveling.
Thanks for your answer and safe travels!”

Emmanuel:
“The smaller bag I have just has water, food, that sort of day to day stuff in it.  Everything else is in the green bag.  
What I try to do, is only carry things I need.  If I need warm outer clothing I just buy cheap polar fleece stuff where I need it.  For instance, when I was in Spain, the weather started to get cold, so I bought a polar fleece jumper and hat from a discount shop for about 10 Euro. 
The main thing is to have a really good quality, light sleeping bag and shelter.   It’s a big investment, but cheap camping stuff is usually heavy, unfortunately.  For the last three months I’ve been carrying my sleeping bag around Asia, and I haven’t used it at all, but it only weighs 450 grams, so it’s not a big deal.  Even with my tent and sleeping bag my pack is still under 11kg.
To avoid carrying too much stuff, I also avoid very extreme cold climates!  I went to northern Europe in the summer.  When it started to get cold, I headed for Morocco!”

Stefanie:
“OK, so that’s how you do it. 11kg sounds good. Doable in the long run, especially because you don’t run around with the 11kg all the time anyway. I checked out the Osprey bag, and this one looks really good to me: www.ospreyeurope.com/at_de/pack-selector/sojourn-60#.U61f86VElho
I like it even more than the Eagle Creek Gear Warrior, because I can carry it as a backpack. I prefer to travel with backpacks to suitcases because they give me more freedom where I’m walking and so on. So this would be really nice, it seems.
Thanks for the effort!”

Emmanuel:
“Brilliant! You’re very welcome.
You could manage with much less than 11kg, easy. I have lots of optional stuff, like my tablet, harmonicas, camera, etc.”

Stefanie:
“And I will have the DSLR and a polaroid and I’m sure other stuff somebody else might not need but I’ll be persuaded I will DEFINITELY need it (even if it turns out it wasn’t entirely necessary). That’s why I want to do the tour through Europe first. Unfortunately this suitcase/backpack weighs already nearly 4kg but when I don’t need to carry it all the time it should be fine.

Emmanuel:
“Maybe DIY a simple set of wheels? I’ve been looking at doing something like that on my bag. Heaps lighter. A very simple axle, plus a pair of light plastic wheels couldn’t add more than 300 grams to the total load. I am going to share my thumbnail sketch with you. I haven’t even built this yet, so I don’t know if it will be effective, but I think it has potential…”

Stefanie:
“Your sketch is nice ;) That might work out, just the blue protectors won’t stay that way if the straps for tying on are too loose (and they will most likely), so I’d try it without them. Super handy would be if you could take off the wheels from the axle when you don’t need it so it doesn’t need that much space in your bag either.

Emmanuel:
Wait… wait… I think I have a better idea…

(Below: this is the future of backpacking!)

  
What do you know? If you have more info to add to this Q and A, please share your thoughts in the comments, below.
Big thanks to Sarah, Frank, and everyone else who already put ideas up on the Nomads forum to help Stefanie out!

 
>> You can find more questions and answers on the Q and A page.
>> What the heck do I carry in my backpack anyway?