Hyper

Hey guys,

Lately whenever I ride trails with my mountain bike my left hand starts to hurt (sometimes my right one does the same thing, but not lately) This is usually after a few miles in to the ride and during a downhil (bumpy) part.

The part of my hand that hurts is around my ring and pinky fingers. These fingers start to hurt a lot near the knuckle and then my knuckle starts to hurt.

At first I thought I was using the wrong gloves. So I swithced from my fingerless PIs to my BMX Fox gloves. Same issue.

Then I thought it was the ammount of bumpage I get from riding on heavily rooted trails. I checked my tire pressure and my front fork and realized that they are on a very low setting. The tires are at 35psi, and the fork is very bouncable.

Whenever I ride my road bike and my BMX I have no problem with my hands. I have ridden my mountain bike for over a year now, and this issue only came about 50 miles ago (beginning of this seaseon), despite the bike having over 300 miles on it.

Does anyone know why my knuckle is hurting after a mountain bike ride?

Any thoughts and suggestions are welcomed.

Regards,
~Z

C Law

just a couple of quick thoughts........maybe you have a death grip on the bars? It tends to happen without thought sometimes.

Also, what types of grips do you run?

The other thought would be that maybe you have too much weight on your hands in your normal riding position.

Pheard

Me too, but it hurts for me in my wrist after the downhill bumpy parts.

cyccommute 

Look at your brake lever set up. If your levers are too flat, you may be bending your wrist upward too much. Move the levers so that your wrist are just about straight as you sit with your hands on the bar. The levers will be almost perpendicular to the ground.

cyccommute 

You are probably compressing the ulnar nerve. It's fairly typical in bicycling. Looking at your bike on your website, I'd say that part of the problem is with position. If you lean too much on your palm, you compress the nerve and it leads to 'tingly' fingers - usually ring and pinky. And it happens to lots of people, even after years of riding. The fix is to move your hands around more. Try turning the barends down so that they are just slightly angled and use the bars while climbing or cruising the flats. Also try shaking your hands when they start to tingle.

Hyper

Thanks on the thoughts and suggestions ... will try this out and report back ...

mlh122

I get the same thing, I'm going to try some Ergo Grips and if that doesn't work, a shorter stem, my seat is already pretty far forward. You could move your seat forward a bit to allow you to sit back more and relieve some pressure off your hands, but not so far that you mess up your fore/aft position (knee to pedal spindle in forward position)

MillCreek

The above poster is most likely correct. This sounds like a classic case of ulnar neuropathy, also known as 'cyclist's palsy' or 'handlebar palsy'. If you do a Google using the terms 'ulnar neuropathy bicycling' you will get some good information. Padded gloves, moving the hand position frequently, and avoiding undue bending of the wrist are all things you can do on the bike. Off the bike, taking some anti-inflammatories and using a carpal tunnel wrist brace while you sleep is a good idea. You should probably stay off the bike for a week or two until it heals.

iamthetas

ERGON grips. under $22 at Performance bikes. you can get away with a lot more technique errors with these babies too. I swear by them now along with my Ergo control bar ends for lots of options on long rides

Pheard

Im so dumb, in my ride today I noticed when I reached up to grab the levers and the handlebars at the same time on the downhill, thats when my wrists started to hurt.

Hank Rearden

We agree!

You can lead a horse to water but you can't make it drink.

From 3/30/06:

https://bikeforums.net/showthread.php...41#post2355741

Pheard

I'll go fix them now, totally forgot that you suggested I change them. Hopefully reducing some of the wrist pain, of course the lack of a good fork will still cause some pain in my wrists.

iamthetas

nah, its just builds muscle and character

mtnbiker66

Riding with no hands will keep them form hurting.

FF 6800

good one

Hyper

I do that when I'm vacationing



mountain bike + road tires + 5 miles without touching the handlebars = lots of people looking and saying "showoff"

BoSoxYacht

Having your hands removed sounds a bit extreme to me .

wheelhot

Hmm, ok you guys got wrist problem, I got butt hurt when sit on a wooden or plastic chair, anyone knows why? My mom says cause its from cycling, she said there is soo many bumps on the road it the chair hits my butt a lot of time until nowadays I cant sit on a wooden or plastic chair cause when I stand up I will feel very painfull Anyone knows why?

cyccommute 

Ever broken your tailbone? Or fallen on it. I've broken mine about 5 times and it hurts like that all the time.

wheelhot

tailbone? whats a tailbone, im not such a medical person, lol

Ludovico

If you had broken your tailbone, you would know

blue_neon

Haha nice call

BoSoxYacht

I got thrown into a pool and bruised my coccyx when i was in high school(over 20 years ago) . I thought that was painful , untill I herniated 3 discs in my back . 3 years later , to the day , and I still have the walk of an 80 year old man when it acts up . Luckily cycling helps it, instead of hurting me.

cyccommute 

It's the tip on a bit of spine that extends past your hip girdle. It's also called a coccyx. It is a vestigial tail and it is easily broken during a fall. Look here for information. I've injured mine several times and the dull pain from sitting in hard chairs just never goes away.

wheelhot

I think I DID broke my coccyx, cause i tried putting pressure on the sitbone and it hurts, hmm how to cure it faster? I STILL want to cycle though. Suggestions?