Injury/Arthritis

Thought your camping days were over?  Can't sleep on the hard ground anymore?  Forget about restless nights, tossing and turning on an uncomfortable sleeping pad.  Let these people tell you about their experiences with hammock hammock.

You guys are awesome, hands down! I want to to thank you so very much for taking care of the special needs of my wife and I insuch a timely manner...Now we have two of the Explorer models which allow us easier entry and egress.

As we discussed, both my wife and I are disabled; me with two severe back injuries requiring five surgeries and leaving me with excruciating chronic back pain, and my wife with the disorder of fibromyalgia, a nerve disease similar to touching a hotwire. Anyways we thought that our backpacking days were through until we were turned onto your hammocks by a fellow REI member.

At first I scoffed, then I tried out your Explorer Ultralight Asym. IT WAS WONDERFUL!!! I have never slept so well in the outdoors! It was what I needed to continue my love of being outdoors and hiking once again, because I could look forward to pain-free rest, something that has been absent in my life for the past eight years. In fact, I sleep so comfortably and soundly in my hammock that I have put up eyebolts in the family room walls, as well as our outdoor patio supports,to where I can hang my hammock and where I end up sleeping every night when I can no longer take sleeping in our conventional bed(a top of the line select comfort air bed). When I now wake up each morning my backache is absent until I've been upright for several hours.

Because of my relief and success in the outdoors, my wife has been enticed to get "out there" with me, and after two trips of several days duration each, she is thrilled at being able to enjoy backpacking with me once again!

Jon Friedrichs

I went down to the park with the wife at 7pm , to set the hammock up and make sure I knew what I was doing before setting off for any adventures. So just a quick prelim test. Very easy to find suitable tree. And I quickly setup the hammock the first time.

hardest part was the lashing, which I practiced at home with a piece of rope and the table.

As soon as I had set it up, I got the wife to hop in , she is 50kg lighter, so just in case I set it up wrong, she got first go. She loved it, and commented how nice it was compared to sleeping on the ground in a tent.

Next I tried the hammock, I have a very bad back with two failed discs in my lower back, even so I must say after reading comments all over the internet, I was still surprised how nice it was to lie in.

And so soon then I got in the hammock, a passerby came over to have a look. I gave him a quick try . He was so impressed he said where did you get it, And he was off to buy one the next day for his hunting trips !!!

many thanks for such a great product.

Amazing for people like me with back bads, giving us the chance to get back in the outdoors.

your sincerely
J. D., New Zealand

Chuck

The Hennessy Hammock is so comfortable that many back-pain sufferers use them at home for resting without discomfort. Pressure is taken off the joints as you float off to sleep — many people tell us their hammock is even more comfortable than their expensive mattress at home.

In addition, the easy-enter system allows you to settle yourself without leaping over the side of the hammock, wary of the dangers of flipping over or falling out. Climbing into the hammock is as easy as sitting in a chair and exiting is equally convenient..

No more painful pressure points, no more sore shoulders, hips, elbows, bone spurs, arthritis pain. Several seniors have even encouraged us to write articles for health magazines and claim that the Hennessy Hammock is "the answer" to getting older people back on the trail. We have also been totally amazed by the response from people who had stopped camping because of injuries caused by automobile accidents, operations, work-related damage and cumulative wear and tear.

Dear Tom and Ann

I am writing you, as I imagine hordes of other people have, to thank you for an incredible product.

I can honestly say that I wake up with less back pain/stiffness in your hammock than I do in my bed at home. The lightness and convenience make bicycle touring, even for day trips, such a pleasure that I am thinking of authoring a book called "Cool places to Sleep".

All the Best — Phil

I'm a 42 year old avid backpacker who four years ago injured my back to the extent that each morning I spend about twenty min. getting out of bed, which consists of a lot of cussing, moaning, and a lot of slow straightening. Two weeks ago I spent my first night in a Hennessy ultralite backpacker A-sym. hammock. To my great surprise I awake in the morning able to stand with no pain —actually able to stand straight for the first time in four years. I'm not saying that it healed me because 30 min. later my back was at it again. Getting up in the morning was wonderful. I just wanted to thank you. "Bandit"

"Thank you very much!
I'm 45 rears old and have camped more in the last 2 years with my children than I have in the prior 43. Until now I could never get much sleep. I've tried air mattresses (always go flat at 4 AM), pads, and robbed our deck lounge of its cushion, and I still woke uncomfortably many times with a back ache. I did have some limited success popping a couple Tylenol PM to get through the night, but not any more. Now I sleep as well or better than I do in my own bed with the Hennessy Hammock. I find it exceptionally well designed. I really enjoy camping as much or more than my kids. Better yet, I don't have to share a tent with a wet dog anymore. Although I swear he has been eyeing my hammock with envy!" J.C.

"I am a sixty-four-year-old, six-feet-two-inch two-hundred-twenty-pound lunatic, with arthritis which has been hammering on me for years. Roughly, two years ago, I stopped sleeping in a conventional flat-bed and started sleeping in a recliner, because of the pain in my right knee, which was aggravated horribly by the flat bed. I've just gotten pretty much used to the fact that a night's sleep consisted of several segments of fitful sleep, interspersed with jolts of hellish, awakening, pain. Thanks to my qualification as "lunatic", and your genius, that all appears to be a thing of the past.

My life-long best friend and fly fishing buddy, is retiring in March. The two of us have decided that we aren't ready for the AARP crowd, and are outfitting ourselves for some serious back-country, backpacking/fishing expeditions - the first being a ten-day hump into the high-country of North Carolina's Great Smokey Mountains. I wasn't worried about the backpacking and climbing, since activity keeps the arthritis at bay - but - I was worried about sleeping on the ground, and trying to "unfold" all 6'-2" of me in the mornings, without screaming, after smidgens of sleep on roots, rocks and a sliding sleeping bag, so I started doing some serious research into "other" modes of sleeping systems. That's when I discovered HENNESSY HAMMOCKS! I skeptically ordered your Explorer Deluxe A-sym, and when it arrived, I went over every stitch, hem and attachment, with the critical eyes which have come from many years in Quality Assurance. I didn't know whether to sleep in it, or put it on display. It is the absolute epitome of outstanding design and immaculate craftsmanship. You should be proud!

I hurried to the nearest hardware store, purchased a pair of beefy screw hooks; two large screw eyes; returned home; installed these into the chestnut logs of my 12'x16', fly tying/rod-building room and shortly had my Explorer stretched and strung. I practically had to beat my wife and daughter off with a stick when they got into it. They didn't want to get out.

Now, the question is - did I like it? Tom - that night - for the first time, in many years - I slept for six, straight hours, before getting up to make a head-call. Getting out, and back in (even in the dark) was so easy, I marveled at how quickly, and without struggle, I was back into the warm cocoon. I slept for two more hours, that morning, and when I finally did crawl out, it was after much toying with the idea of just stayng there all day. I finally slid out - and walked away - no pain; no groaning; no miserable unbending of gnarled joints! I closed my radiators, opened the windows wide, (it was twelve (12) degrees F, here in Central PA)(I told you I'm a lunatic) threw my sleeping bag onto my fleece blanket, and crawled in at 2200 hrs. I didn't wake up until 0600, this morning. No aches; no pains; no sore knee, no cold back. I didn't want to get up, but Nature called, strongly, and, rather than go back, I wanted to let you know just how grateful I am for the brilliance you put into this hammock. It may not be the RX for every old #@%$ with a bad knee and sore joints, but she works a whole lot better than Celebrex for me...Gene DellingerDear Tom,

I've owned my HH for about 3 years and have converted numerous people to "hanging-out," but have not until recently had the opportunity to use it for more than a long weekend here or there. I finally got the chance to use my HH, along w/ several of my converted friends, on a week-long Boundary Waters trip. I want to say that I've not slept better in the BWCA in the 20+ years that I've been going there. The HH proved what I suspected: a great night's sleep in the hammock makes everyday better. I have always found myself looking forward to the end of a trip about 4 days into it: the roots and rocks always disrupted my sleep and made my bad-back sore. With my HH, I never wanted the trip to end. But wait, there's more. I bought a second HH for my 64 year old father to use. He'd not slept in a hammock since his midshipman/Navy days. He was skeptical about the trip as he has joint issues from his years of jogging and hard use activities - but after much cajoling, agreed to go along with us. After the trip I asked what his thoughts were and was surprised to here that he thought it was the best camping trip he'd gone on and was already looking forward to doing it again. When I asked him what made the difference? You guessed it: you hammock. Thanks for extending my dad's camping years!