Back or hip pain from duty belt?

[APB]

Do you have back or hip pain, or other problems, from wearing the duty belt?

[Five-0]

Yes, and I'm only in my thirties.

[Twan007]

every now and then - especially weapon side seems to dig right through my hip bone

and I'm with ya Five-0 - in my 30's and got a long road to go =/

[Cidp24]

Yes, I had excruciating left hip and sciatic pain along with left leg numbness caused by placement of my handcuff pouch. I moved it to the center of my back and the pain went away. The belt was always causing some kind of minor pain or chafing.

I also stopped carrying a big wallet years ago because of the similar pain on the other side. I went to a small front pocket wallet and fixed that.

[kjlaw]

I did and it had gotten so bad that I went to the doctor and luckily for me the pain was sciatica and after working with the Physical therapist I was able to come up with a schedule of core strengthening and stretching that has really made the pain almost disappear.

[Five-0]

My holster pushes the right side of my hips up. Not as much with the lower riding Blackhawk Serpa holster but still some discomfort. I have been to a chiropractor and he x-rayed my hips. The right side was riding slightly higer than the non-gun side. Some therapy fixed it, but damn that ain't right.

[irishmick]

Yes, but I've also had two back surgeries (unrelated to LE). I try never to put anything on the back of my belt as it kills me when I'm sitting in the car. I also use a Backsaver and it helps a lot.

[BigDawg]

Yes, i do

[pac201]

Yes. It hurts when I stand or sit or lay down...other than that it doesn't bother me at all.

[jmur5074]

I have basically permanent bruises on my hips from my belt digging in. And my right leg frequently goes numb along my thigh. I've moved my belt up and down, and moved stuff around and haven't found anything that works.


I just bought suspenders. They should be here any day now. I'm hoping they help.

[ChesCopPodz]

Right leg going numb sounds like sciatica. Do you have your wallet in your right back pocket?

I had 2 neck injuries, and my back has been getting progressively worse in my 7 years on this job. I too have the hip bruises.

[Pudge]

Yes, and I'm only 31. Numbness or tingling/burning in my quadriceps, back and hip pain, etc. I'm not looking forward to many more years with the current setup.

[jcsdscott]

Have had some lower back pain. Has since gone away due to a few things:

1). Big wallet went away for a money/card clip.
2). Started paying closer attention to how I was carrying my son. Little things like an unnatural arch in your back holding a twenty lb. butterball can cost you.
3). More focus on stretching (yoga), and added core strengthening moves to workout routine.
4). Rearranged the gear on the belt. The double cuff case saved space but made me off balance. So now there are two singles on either side of my belt and the weight is more evenly distributed all the way around.

[k-9max]

just like the rest of the complaints, mine "were" similar, until i purchased a 5.11 L.B. outer vest. ( only the k9 unit is allowed wearing it..lol)
the only thing on my actual duty belt now is my weapon, and my radio.
everything else is attached to the vest.

At times, the vest will pull on my shoulders and cause pain in my shoulder blades, but i just loosen up the vest, and it goes away.

[armsmaster270]

Count me as a yes also

[pgg]

Yep

[lewisipso]

What he said ^

[Jenna]

[213th]

When I was in the military, with full duty load (above 200rds 5.56 plus 9mm) and using just the web belt, I had back pain. We went to a duty vest, which enabled us to carry radio, handcuffs and all 5.56 in vest pouchs around the chest, and sidearm on the belt, and properly adjusted cured the back pain.

[Jks9199]

I run into occasional lower back pain -- but it's hard to rule out weight (I could stand to lose more than a bit), and prior back injuries (poorly diagnosed probable sprain of the base of the spine in college, compression fracture of L1 & L2 about 20 years ago). Realistically, my duty belt weighs about 15 or so pounds, I'd guess. (Probably ought to weigh the damn thing...)

I've used a tac vest, but didn't migrate a lot of stuff off of my belt because I knew I'd be going back to the street and didn't want to end up with messed up muscle memory. I keep stuff off my back as much as I can, and balance what has to be there. I'm also careful to maintain my core strength and flexibility -- and to balance my workouts so that muscle imbalance doesn't exaggerate problems. And, with the back injuries, I'm always cautious about how I lift and move things. Proper body mechanics and structure especially in the silly things that you take for granted is important... Most people don't get injured or throw their back out working out or lifting stuff they know is going to be a problem. It's the silly little crap like reaching for that pencil that's just out reach that get 'em hurt...