pain in wrists!.

muz250 · March 2008

Went for a ride today on my road bike for the 1st time in about three months, and am feeling pain in both my wrists.

Am new to road biking got myself a crap £130 bike of ebay then trek 1.5 and did a fair bit of riding on them before the crap winter weather forced me to put it away (december) till the better weather showed up. Problem is I had bee getting pains in my wrists at about that time but Had also started playing golf and put it down to that, e.g hitting the ball with the club the movements ivolved and the impacts. Even went to the docter and got a blood test to check I didnt have issues with aurtheritis or something like that, nothing wrong was found, said I probably could be the result of golf or the fact I am Heavy vehicle mechanic and am doing heavy work.

Anyways they had been getting better and after only 14 miles of cycling today am getting pain in both my wrists and am a bit worried that its a direct result of the cycling.

Has anybody here had this before?.

Its quite a serious issue for me as the sore wrists realy affect me at work.

redddraggon · March 2008

It might be that Shimano hoods don't suit your wrists (assuming you use the hoods most of the time).

My wrists get on better with Campag rather than Shimano, (although I try to stay on the drops as much as I can).

Do you wear padded mitts?

muz250 · March 2008

I wear moto x gloves, there slightly padded you could say but realy just to keep your hands warm more than provide cousion. I dont find it uncomfortable when am cycling. How much padding do normal cycling gloves have?. Seem bit of a lame question but Iv never had or worn a pair when cycling.

redddraggon · March 2008

Mitts TBH don't help me much, I've only just starting using them after using unpadded winter gloves for the past 4 months - and I didn't have any "hand issues" in those four months.

But they might help if you have wrist issues.

muz250 · March 2008

Just been looking on wiggle at the gloves, difficult to tell just how much padding is on the gloves from the pics, Ill order some and give it try.

Might put out a different topic post and see if there are any realy good ones that are recommended, dont want to buy something thats no better than the gloves am already wearing.

Of course I cold just go to a bike shop and try some on like I would do If I wasnt so used to buying stuff online.....

Just out of interest I see you have a new bike (well since Ive last been on the forums), How dose the carbon bike compare to the Carrera. I was in halfords looking at mountain bikes, and had look at the carrera road bikes and thought they looked like nice bikes and was woundering If I could tell the difference between it and my trek. Is the new bike night and day better and how much did you pay?.

redddraggon · March 2008

It cost me more than £1200. The exact amount I do not know, and don't really want to find out. It's insured for around £1400, which I think is fair. It's a hell of a lot lighter than my Carrera.

muz250 · March 2008

A good bit lighter than my trek also no doubt, very nice looking bike.

Cajun · March 2008

I'm not medically trained, but you might want to review the following:
Are you riding with a rigid arm? Bend the elbows.
Relax your grip.
Try finger-curls with lightweight dumbells (5#-10#)..stand up straight; with the arms hanging straight down, let the dumbells rest on your finger tips and raise the dumbells (with fingers only) to the heel of your hands...this will strengthen your grip, wrist and forearm.

Chirg · March 2008

You might be putting too much weight on your hands. This would be because either the front end is too low or the stem is too long. Try flipping the stem so it points upwards and/or tilting the handlebars back a little so you can take the weight off.

Somebody once told me that for longer rides you need to set the bike up so that there is little weight on your arms. To test this you should be able to maintain your body position with no hands on the handlebars, if you can't your leaning too far forward and therefore putting too much pressure on you hands.

muz250 · March 2008

cajun, I ride with my elbows bent almost all the time but do keep a firm grip and tend to stand up alot and ride, like Iv said before am new to road riding, this is probably totaly wrong but am sure as I get fitter I will stay seated more. I will start doing some exersizes like you mentioned.

chirg, my stem is already turned up the way, and I do feel am leaning over to much but at the same time I would like to raise the hight of my seat up just a little bit more to but cant do that cause would make the angle worse. When I first got the bike I thought it was great then I got a turbo trainer as a result of the poor weather and found I could pedal better with the seat higher but this gave me more of a lean angle. I was getting the pains before I had adjusted the seat post. I dont know what sise of stem my bike has, its standerd (trek 1.5) am sure I could but a higher won.

Chirg · March 2008

Go back to the shop and explain the problem and ask to borrow a shorter stem. I went from a 11cm to a 9cm and it made quite a difference as you lean less with a shorter stem.

geoff_ss · March 2008

Chirg wrote:

You might be putting too much weight on your hands. This would be because either the front end is too low or the stem is too long. Try flipping the stem so it points upwards and/or tilting the handlebars back a little so you can take the weight off.

Somebody once told me that for longer rides you need to set the bike up so that there is little weight on your arms. To test this you should be able to maintain your body position with no hands on the handlebars, if you can't your leaning too far forward and therefore putting too much pressure on you hands.

I can't imagine any normal position that would allow me to take my hands off the handlebars without subsequently hitting my nose on the stem! Any position that allowed that would be (literally) a pain in the bum as you'd need to be supporting most of your weight on the saddle rather than distributing it between handlebars, saddle and pedals.

In the past I've done 400km audaxes on dropped handlebars with no other ill effects than tiredness through missing a night's sleep. For other reasons I ride with short, flat bars now, but they are set to reproduce the 'riding on the tops' drop bar position and wrist pain doesn't happen.

A friend has recently replaced his tandem with a Cannondale which has straight bars and he suffers wrist problems on that but has no trouble on his solos with dropped bars. So perhaps the angle of your hands when resting on the bars plays a part.

Geoff

Chirg · March 2008

Geoff your a better cyclist than I am, I have only been cycling a year and the chap that gave me that advice was a cat 1 rider. Maybe what he said was pants, but it helped me.

SeanT · March 2008

Will your saddle slide further back the rails? This will shift your centre of gravity back and take weight off your arms and wrists.

stevewheel · March 2008

I had similar for a while. Try to find some exercises that work on your core (trunk) strength. If you develop that, like previous posters have said you actually contact the bars less heavily & therefore create less fatigue.

muz250 · March 2008

Thanks everyone for all the advice.

I went on a 10 mile ride earler today and made an effort to keep my elbows bent and my grip loose. My wrists dont feel so bad at the moment so am going to consintrate on doing this when am riding from now on.

My seats as far back as its going to go on the rails.

Am going to take my bike back to the shop I got it from and explain to them my problems and things I want to change, might order a higher stem if they think it will help. Its due a free inspection anyway.

Am going to start Trying to get miles in everyday, Iv also orderd a mountain bike which I should have by the end of the week, so will be intresting to see if that dose anything to my wrists. Hopefully by riding alot my fitness and arm and hand strength should improve a little also.

pain in wrists!.

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