I'll elaborate further on the locked elbows things. The handlebars transmit a lot of vibration from the front wheel. If your elbows are locked so your arms are straight, the vibration goes right on up through your arms to your shoulders. The soft tissue controlling the elbows also are additionally stressed to combat the vibration.'

By keeping the elbows bent, and using your strengthened core muscles to support you more, the vibrations through the handlebars are better dampened by the arms. The ligaments and muscles that control your elbows aren't so stressed -- the move instead of trying to maintain one position.

Effectively, when in your normal riding position, you should have almost no pressure on your hands as they control the bars. Some people compensate by altering their position so they sit more upright -- they have to change saddles to accommodate the additional pressure on their butt flesh, and they raise their handlebars up much higher.

There is nothing necessarily wrong with this position, for rides up to around 10 miles. Beyond that, it becomes somewhat uncomfortable. It's also a low-speed position because the aerodynamics are somewhat compromised.

If you have a flat bar bike, some of the issue might be how the hands and wrists are cocked. Flat-bar bikes often are delivered with the brake levers horizontal, and that causes havoc with wrists and elbows. The first thing I do when I see this is get an allen key out and rotate the levers downward so they fall more naturally to the fingers; the angle may be between 30 and 45 degrees from horizontal.

Another issue with flat bars in keeping your hands in a position that isn't really natural that also stresses the tendons in the arm. Using bar extensions, or using the flats and hoods and drops on road bars helps alleviate these sorts of issues resulting from a static hand position.