Wrist Pain!?

[Foster]

Over the last month I have had wrist pain in now both wrists.  It is that kind of annoying pain that just bugs you, but over the last week it has gotten worse.  I have a feeling its from overuse on the mountain bike.  Maybe carpel tunnel?  For anyone that has had wrist pain issues is there another way to deal with this without taking time off?

Eric

[Done]

Over the past three years, I've become a huge believer in the effectiveness of icing to help heal over-training injuries. If anything hurts, even slightly, I ice it for 30-60 minutes immediately after exercising. I keep doing this for a week or so after the pain is gone. I keep about six gel packs in the freezer, as I don't think that peas, etc. actually hold the cold very well--and they get stiff and blocky rather quickly. Seems to work well for me, and I've managed to work though a number of injuries that would have sidelined me in years past.

[nick]

Not knowing your set up or you, I'll give you my opinion. I happen to know, unfortunately quite a bit on this subject. I broke many bones over the years and had my fair share of injuries. I find that pain, wherever it is, is usually caused by more than one thing. Old injuries is usually where you start, did you ever injure that area? If so, most of the time it's about strength and flexibility. Bike set up is an other major factor. Are you using a rigid fork? How about your brake levers, how are they adjusted? That can have a major effect on your wrists and hands. The bike as a whole, how does it fit? So many possible causes, but if it's a fairly recent thing, I can't see it being that hard to fix.

[sunset1123]

I was a long time sufferer of RSI from computer related profession, musical hobbies, and extensive mountain biking. I started switching it up equipment-wise starting with the grips. Went to Ergon grips and that alone made a big difference, but didn't eliminate the lingering nerve pain or numbness on long trips. From that point on, I probably went through 20 different shapes of handlebars, varying degrees of rise, sweep, etc... and I finally found a bar shape that: 1) offered more than one usable hand position, 2) kept my wrists neutral in both positions, 3) eliminated all the pain, numbness and pressure points while giving increased control of the bike. I settled on flared drops. Currently using the Soma Junebug bars, but there are several different styles out there (Woodchipper, Midge, Gary, etc).

Look into it... there are some technical setup issues, but well worth the effort. That has been the one change that has kept me on any of my bikes (mountain, road, cross, fixie) for rides longer than a few hours.

If you want to keep a flat bar setup, look into a bar with a decent amount of sweep, and Ergon grips. Given the rocky terrain around Flag, they'll tend to leave these lovely little callouses on your hands, but your wrists will feel better.

Good luck!

ps: how's the riding this year in Flag? We lived there for a few years... heard about some pretty massive fires and weather related trail damage recently.

[Foster]

Thanks for all the advice.  Looking at my bike last night I was looking for anything that might be off that could be causing my wrist problems.  I think I may have found the problem...  I did buy ergo grips for my bike a couple of months ago which I really like.  But the last month or 2 I have been doing a huge amount of rocky downhill trails on mount elden here in flagstaff.  When riding downhill I noticed that my wrists while riding are bent because I have gotten used to resting my palms on the ergo grips for more support. The punding and big hits that my wrists have been taking with them bent is definitely what is causing the problem.  Don't get me wrong, the ergo grips are great but not for downhilling.  I switched them out for now with regular grips to see if this eases the pain.

Eric

[Schwizzle]

Ergon grips and a riser bar will definitely help take some of the stress off your wrists.

[sunset1123]

When riding downhill I noticed that my wrists while riding are bent because I have gotten used to resting my palms on the ergo grips for more support. The punding and big hits that my wrists have been taking with them bent is definitely what is causing the problem.

My experience with ergons was that they are very sensitive to angle with regard to comfort. There is a sweet spot between "bent wrists" and "pressure points on the palm" and that has to be hit dead on before they are truly comfortable to ride in technical terrain. Usually the flats of the grips end up being a lot more parallel to the ground than one would initially think.

[Foster]

Yeah I totally know what you mean by sweet spot.  I adjusted them for a long ride today and they worked great and didn't bother my wrists at all.  Before they were too horizontal.  But doing anything technical with them in the position I had today was not feasible for more technical downhill riding, I don't get enough grip for all the rock drops.  I have a separate bar now for the ergo grips when I ride long distances and the standard grips that I use for more downhillish stuff now.  I think this will prove a good idea since i only own one bike that I use for everything right now.

btw pretty much all the good mountain biking trails on Elden except for little bear and sections of the Elden loop and sandy canton survived.  Waterline road is completely obliterated. 

Also I already have a riser bar on the bike, came with it.  I really think that the problem was the typ of riding that I was engaging in and the angle at which I had the ergo grips on my bar.

[sunset1123]

btw pretty much all the good mountain biking trails on Elden except for little bear and sections of the Elden loop and sandy canton survived.  Waterline road is completely obliterated.

Sad to hear about Waterline. One of our last trips with the kids was riding up to Lockett and then down Waterline through the golden aspens back to Schultz. Beautiful.

Good to hear you got it sorted. Wrist pain is just no good at all.