General Cycling Discussion - Wrist Pain

Hello,

I have a problem, everytime I ride, I get a reoccuring pain in my left wrist.

It's basically at the base of my thumb at the joint/wrist. After several days of popping Motrin, it will go away. But then comeback when I ride again.

At first it was only happening on my mountian bike, I had an old Iron Horse with no suspension. So I got a new on, a Trek 6500 with a shock. It still hurts.

This last weekend, I went out on my road bike, A trek 2200. And now it hurts too.

Anyone have a suggestion to help relieve/cure the pain. Even if I take a couple of months off it comes back when I start riding.

I had been taking Condroiden/Glucosimine/MSM supplement, but ran out and have not ordered more yet.
I'm thinking of trying some type wrist band maybe with some type of magnet in it? Anyone have any luck with those??

Thanks

I have the same problem. I contribute a lot of my pain to typing on a computer, and it is agravated by bicycling and motorcycling. Sometimes clutching in heavy traffic gets downright painful. I'd keep up the glucosimine, it takes months/years to notice the benefits of it. In the off season, do hand strength exercises and in the meantime, lighten your grip on the bar. Try your best to just rest your hand on the bar and decrease the angle of the bend at your hand. Those things have helped me a little. I would hesitate going with a wrist band simply because the wrist will become more dependent on the support and in the long wrong not fix the problem. Also, if you are a computer typer, wrest that sore wrist on a pad and keep the hand straight out, not bent. I'm no expert on this, but hope this helps.

Of coarse I'm a big time computer user, and a Motorcycle rider. Yes it does get aggrivated clutching in heavy traffic.

I ride my MC about 15,000 miles a year, and of coarse it's a sport bike--Triumph Sprint ST.

I'll be sure to order some more of the glucose/condroiden soon.

Thanks for the reply.

msparks,

Check your saddle adjustment. Everytime I've had
pain in wrist its because I'm putting too much pressure
on my hands. Make sure your saddle is level and not
nose down. After that check saddle to bars distance,
you might want a longer stem (less pressure).

check the archives lots of post about this.

Marty

Depending on the brand of glucosamine chondroitin you may not be getting the right amount, dosage or even the medicine itself. remember, the over the counter market does not have to prove or provide quality control assurances on their products unlike the prescription industry. (In other words, you could be getting talc powder).. Switch brand names for a while and see.

i had it to and i attributed it to weak wrists. I used an ACE wrist bandage wrap and it immediately relived the pain. The more i rode the stronger my wrists go and i don’t use it anymore.

These are my three solutions

1. If your not using cycling gloves, find the THICKEST ones on the market. I just purchased a set of Trek gloves with a heavy gel on the palms.

2. I had a similar problem recently but did not let it get out of hand. I noticed that my body was putting too much pressure on one side and my left hand was taking all the weight. I now move my weight over to my right hand every ten minutes. I don't know if this will work since the damage maybe permanent since the abuse lasted over several years.

3. If all else fails there is STILL hope. The good news is you will be able to ride a bicycle for the rest of your life. You'll just have to sell and road and mountain bike and get a RECUMBENT! Seriously. It may be time to switch rides since what you have is very expensive to fix using surgery. Furthermore, there is not guaranty this procedure will work. There is no cure for what you have and taking powerful drugs to ride a bicycle is NOT the answer.

If I were you, I'd start looking at bents.

It sounds like, for whatever reasons, your right wrist is stronger than your left wrist. Is there any type of exercises or activities you can do to match the strength of your right wrist?

In addition to the suggestions already made (gloves, proper position, etc.), I would make sure that while riding you frequently change the position of your hands on the steerer. Helps me a lot...

I have had a similar problem, it is most likely an inflammation in the wrist. That is why Motrin will make the pain go away, its an anti-inflammatory. I would suggest changing you hand position while you ride. Make sure you are not putting too much pressure on the wrists.

Vibrations on bad pavement or gravel could be a problem, but the front suspension "cures" that.

Hand position, however, is another problem.

On the road bike, you might read the "Raise that stem" article on the Rivendell website. See http://www.rivendellbicycles.com and look at documents on the right side. A higher, shorter stem is less aerodynamic, but better on hands. Bar width also make a difference. 20-30 years ago, bars were 38-40 cm wide (centre-centre, measured at the end of the drops); today, most bars are 44-46 cm wide. Common wisdom used to say that the most comfortable bars were about as wide as your shoulders or maybe 2 cm wider. You might have success by changing slightly the angle of your handlebars (best of all, it's free).

And on the other bike, I suppose it has straight bars. Totally straight bars are great for control on technical sections but bar ends would help by keeping your wrist in a straight line. Likewise, old "not so straight" bars that were seen on single speed and three speed bikes in the 1960s and 1970s kept the wrists in a much better position.


One other thing that might help : try to move your left hand while cycling. I noticed that I often get a bit of numbness in the left hand but never in the right hand, especially when cycling in the plains. But guess what: I'm often shifting the rear derailleur (right hand) but rarely the front one (left hand), which means that my weight is often carried by the left hand while the right hand is busy at shifting. If I think about deliberately taking my left hand off the handlebar once every 15 minutes or so, I'm ok.

Regards,

Originally posted by Dahon.Steve
These are my three solutions

1. If your not using cycling gloves, find the THICKEST ones on the market. I just purchased a set of Trek gloves with a heavy gel on the palms.
If I were you, I'd start looking at bents.

I find that thick gloves hurt more because my hand is trying to grip around too much thickness. The muscles being tensed up causes the pain more than the pressure on the bar. Again, this is just in my case. So I wear the thinnest glove possible both on the bicycle and the motorcycle.

I noticed that I often get a bit of numbness in the left hand but never in the right hand, especially when cycling in the plains. But guess what: I'm often shifting the rear derailleur (right hand) but rarely the front one (left hand), which means that my weight is often carried by the left hand while the right hand is busy at shifting. If I think about deliberately taking my left hand off the handlebar once every 15 minutes or so, I'm ok.

DOH! I was wondering why only the fingers on my left hand were going numb! Ding dong...

I fixed my wrist/hand problems by getting a shorter, steeper stem, which allows me to use my abs and back to hold me up off the handlebars a little, I got VERY thick gel gloves (PI Gel-Lites). I've got a Trek 1000 (road bike) with flat handlebars, so I added those longish bar ends, and I have them sticking out straight in front of the bars, and I use them sort of like wide aerobars. Gives me some extra options for hand placement (which I change a LOT), as well as getting me down low so I can go faster. And about every 10-12 miles I shake my hands out really well.

This has helped 80% of my wrist pain and finger numbness. My next step is to get a saddle that I sit square on. My Terry Liberator isn't flat across the top and I tend to roll down off my sit bones into the valley, even with the nose a little higher.

RB1-luvr,

Are you a man or a woman? Or more precisely, do you have small hands?

There are exceptions of course, but generally speaking, people with smaller or more delicate hands are better served with a smaller grip than those with large hands. Now lies the other problem: how to offer adequate padding to people with small hands without increasing too much the grip diametre.

Regards,

I've found laening over the handlebars and letting my wrists dangle o freely that wrist pain is not a problem. It takes time to master this method, and it can be done on both a MTB and a roadie.

It seems if I bend my thumb back, it will pop at the joint an relieve the pain/discomfort.

This problem is not really that bad, I just don't want it to get worse.

Already by wednesday there was really no pain, just some discomfort, today It seem fine. Though I've poped it a few times today.