Thumb pain?

OK, I feel really silly for asking this but both of my thumbs have been
both weak and sore. If I do not ride for a few days (out of town on
business), it goes away. It seems to me that there is something wrong
with the way that I am riding or with my bike fit. I checked the site
mentioned earlier (http://www.sheldonbrown.com/pain.html) but did not
see this mentioned. Any suggestions would be appreciated.

Do you wear gloves?

"jmk" wrote in message
...
OK, I feel really silly for asking this but both of my thumbs have been
both weak and sore. If I do not ride for a few days (out of town on
business), it goes away. It seems to me that there is something wrong
with the way that I am riding or with my bike fit. I checked the site
mentioned earlier (http://www.sheldonbrown.com/pain.html) but did not
see this mentioned. Any suggestions would be appreciated.

jmk wrote:
: OK, I feel really silly for asking this but both of my thumbs have been
: both weak and sore. If I do not ride for a few days (out of town on
: business), it goes away. It seems to me that there is something wrong
: with the way that I am riding or with my bike fit. I checked the site
: mentioned earlier (http://www.sheldonbrown.com/pain.html) but did not
: see this mentioned. Any suggestions would be appreciated.

One suggestion is to move your hands to different positions on the bars
every 10 minutes or so. On drop bars there are these options in order:

- either side of the stem
- bit further out
- on the first bend
- straight bit just before levers
- on the hoods
- on bottom section of the down curve
- fully on the drops

Just make sure that you aren't hanging on grimly - it helps to have
a light touch. Also, the rule of 'thumb' (sorry about the pun) is
to have your upper body weight evenly distributed between your butt
and hands. Measure this by gauging how difficult it is to sit up
into a no-hands position from the bars. The right balance is when
it takes a bit of a shove from your hands. Any more than that
means that the bars are too low in relation to the seat height and
you would have too much weight on your arms, wrists and hands.

I find it helps a lot for my comfort if I also have a slight bend
in my arms - not having elbows locked. This seems to absorb road
shock and gives my neck and shoulders an easier time of it.

Hope this helps, cheerz,

Lynzz

Yes, I do wear gloves. I think that they are Performance Elites.

In the Raleigh area it seems that very few places carry women's
clothing. My choices are pretty much REI (Pearl Izumi doesn't fit me so
it's not really a choice since that's mostly what they carry) and
Performance.

Paul Bielec wrote:
Do you wear gloves?

"jmk" wrote in message
...

OK, I feel really silly for asking this but both of my thumbs have been
both weak and sore. If I do not ride for a few days (out of town on
business), it goes away. It seems to me that there is something wrong
with the way that I am riding or with my bike fit. I checked the site
mentioned earlier (http://www.sheldonbrown.com/pain.html) but did not
see this mentioned. Any suggestions would be appreciated.

x-no-archive:yes

: OK, I feel really silly for asking this but both of my thumbs have
been
: both weak and sore. If I do not ride for a few days (out of town on
: business), it goes away. It seems to me that there is something wrong
: with the way that I am riding or with my bike fit. I checked the site
: mentioned earlier (http://www.sheldonbrown.com/pain.html) but did not
: see this mentioned. Any suggestions would be appreciated.


If you are riding a mountain bike, go out and get some of those short
add-ons for the handlebars that make your bike look like it has antlers.
These are great for shifting your hands around to different positions.

Pat in TX

What kind of gloves to you wear? Would you mind sharing the brand name?
I'd love to give them a try. Thanks!

Also, this is sounding more like a hand position problem than a fit
problem? Do you agree?

James Hodson wrote:
On Mon, 21 Jul 2003 16:29:23 -0400, "Paul Bielec" wrote:


Do you wear gloves?



I need to wear padded gloves to prevent cramp in my hands and all
sorts of pain in the upper joint of my thumbs. Non-padded gloves don't
work for me.

Also, I used to suffer from a similar proiblem when I used to ski.

James

On Wed, 23 Jul 2003 07:23:34 -0400, jmk
wrote:

What kind of gloves to you wear? Would you mind sharing the brand name?
I'd love to give them a try. Thanks!

Also, this is sounding more like a hand position problem than a fit
problem? Do you agree?


I certainly agree that it is a hand or thumb problem and had nothig
top to with the fit. I can comfortably ride with non-padded gloves for
a distance but eventually I end up getting cramp in my hands and
problems with my thumb joints.

The make? Trek. I'm quite sure that other makes of padded mits would
work just as well but as I live quite close to a Trek dealer that's
the type I buy. Some time ago I lost an old pair of Trek padded
gloves. The replacement set felt quite strange for a few days but I
soon got used to them.

The gloves cost in the region of £20.00 to £25.00 over here (UK). I've
no idea about the prices elsewhere in the world - probably cheaper.

James

--
http://homepage.ntlworld.com/c.butty/Larrau.jpg

jmk wrote:

Thanks. I do try to move my hands around but I will work on it more.

Lindsay Rowlands wrote:
jmk wrote:
: OK, I feel really silly for asking this but both of my thumbs have been
: both weak and sore. If I do not ride for a few days (out of town on
: business), it goes away. It seems to me that there is something wrong
: with the way that I am riding or with my bike fit. I checked the site
: mentioned earlier (http://www.sheldonbrown.com/pain.html) but did not
: see this mentioned. Any suggestions would be appreciated.

One suggestion is to move your hands to different positions on the bars
every 10 minutes or so. On drop bars there are these options in order:

- either side of the stem
- bit further out
- on the first bend
- straight bit just before levers
- on the hoods
- on bottom section of the down curve
- fully on the drops

Just make sure that you aren't hanging on grimly - it helps to have
a light touch. Also, the rule of 'thumb' (sorry about the pun) is
to have your upper body weight evenly distributed between your butt
and hands. Measure this by gauging how difficult it is to sit up
into a no-hands position from the bars. The right balance is when
it takes a bit of a shove from your hands. Any more than that
means that the bars are too low in relation to the seat height and
you would have too much weight on your arms, wrists and hands.

I find it helps a lot for my comfort if I also have a slight bend
in my arms - not having elbows locked. This seems to absorb road
shock and gives my neck and shoulders an easier time of it.

Hope this helps, cheerz,

Lynzz

as mentioned, light touch & good body position. or like some of us idiots (
look ma no hands)

If you have a MTB or a hybrid, you could consider adding bar ends.
This would allow you to vary your hands position.

"jmk" wrote in message
...
OK, I feel really silly for asking this but both of my thumbs have been
both weak and sore. If I do not ride for a few days (out of town on
business), it goes away. It seems to me that there is something wrong
with the way that I am riding or with my bike fit. I checked the site
mentioned earlier (http://www.sheldonbrown.com/pain.html) but did not
see this mentioned. Any suggestions would be appreciated.