Sore arm

neilrobins

I gave been training for around 6 weeks and the one thing that is holding me back from increasing my daily distance is a pain developing in my left arm. It's worst just on the outside of the elbow joint. during the ride it can get so severe I cannot bend my arm to my face but settles down an hour or so after ride is finished. I have made minor tweaks to saddle and bars but not to any effect good or bad.
Any ideas??
Ta

P_Tucker

Have you considered using your right hand, or perhaps a waterwing and baby oil?

Ride hard

I get exactly the same thing on 40+ mile rides, only to a lesser degree.

I assume you're out on very long rides as part of your training programme, so the only thing I can suggest is to frequently chage your hand positions. I've got a flat bar hybrid with bar ends, and I have a habit of using the bar ends when I'm up to speed and want to cruise at a decent pace. However, I've found that keeping this position for too long aggravates the elbow pain, so I use the grips for a while instead and this seems to help.

I guess it might be the case of trying different things to see if it has any effect.

neilrobins

Hi
Tried changing hand position. Also saddle position in case I am hyper extending the joint.
I just tend to work through the pain but by 40 miles I can't lift the water bottle!
Perhaps its just one of those muscles that needs to get fitter?

Ride hard

Woah! That does sound painful.

I'm no doctor/physio but if it is that severe I would make an appointment to see a sports therapist - ideally one that is a cyclist - who might be able to shed some light on the subject.

As an example I used to get a very painful right knee after only 10 miles into a ride which serious hindered my performance for the rest of the ride. I went to see a really good sports therapist/chiropractor in Putney who is also a triathelete. She sorted me right out in one session as the left side of my body was misaligned, thus creating the problem on the opposite side. She then jumped on me a bit (oooerr missus) and popped/cracked a few bones which not only gave me full power in my left hand side again (I could seriously feel the difference riding home straight after), but also stopped the pain on a 60 miler I did a week later.

Its expensive at £40 a pop, but at least you might get some good advice where you could start tryong to sort your elbow. Of course, the cheaper/free option is to search the net!

As another thought, I assume you have drops so maybe you're over extending your arm too much by stretching to the bars?? Maybe you need more spacers to adjust the drops to less agressive position? As I say, just a thougt.

crumbschief

Had something similar,first time it happened i found out that my handlebars were slightly off centre causing the arm with pain to over stretch,subtle stuff but it makes a difference over distance.If not that i would look at bar tape and gloves.

neilrobins

All good advice cheers.
I have some time off work next week and I will try some of the above.
Might get LBS to fit me properly in case any previous fettling has been misguided.