Carpal Tunnel

[seemunkee]

On Sat I went for a short ride(7-8 miles) with my wife. Since she is slower than I am I took the fixie which I just put some new Nitto track bars on that have a deeper drop than my old bars. When we got back my right forarm was hurting and I was getting shooting pains up my arm for the rest of the day. Never had that happen before. ANyone else expreience this? I was going to leave the bars with the thin tape on them but after that I'm thinking of putting on padded tape or grips.

[welshTerrier2]

1. vary your riding position

the padding might help but here are a couple of ideas that might help more:

1. if the pain is in your wrist (and radiating up your arm), it could be caused by holding on to your drops with your thumbs and keeping your middle and index finger "poised" over your brake levers ... i ride like that when i may need to brake quickly (e.g. lots of traffic or when i'm on very rough, icy or sandy roads) ... the position really puts some strain on your wrists especially when you haven't been riding much recently ...

2. the pain also could be radiating from your elbow ... if you spend all your time riding "down in the drops", make sure you keep your elbows a little bent ... straight-arm positions can lead to pain in the elbow that could easily be radiating up and down your arm ...

i guess the main advice is to vary your riding positions ... 8 miles in not that far but, at an easy pace, could keep you on your bike long enough to do some damage if you're locked into a single position for the whole ride ...

hope this helps ...

and for repair, ice, ibuprofen or naproxen (like Aleve) and a few days of rest ...

[seemunkee]

2. Pain was just above the wrist

I don't use the brake on that bike except in emergency so I don't usually have my fingers reaching out to it. I do ride in the drops a lot though.
The pain was gone on Sunday and didn't bug me while out bouldering all day.

[prolesunited]

3. Check your seat position

Mine was tilted too far forward and forcing me to put too much weight forward.

If you're positioned correctly, the majority of your weight will be on the sit bones and your arms will provide just a little support.

Since they're new bars, you might also want to check that they aren't rotated too far back or forward.

If you're equipment is set up right, riding should not be painful.