pain in wrists??

knob scortcher

Likes Dirt
While doing long ride my wrists ( mainly my right hand one) tend to get aches and pains. 2 years ago I fractured my right wrist almost was a complete break.

I'm wondering what could I do to help stop or limit the pains I may get. should i look into some different grips?
 

SummitFever

Eats Squid
New grips may help. Cheap option is to get some foam grips like Titec pork rinds or XXF foam grips. Cheap at about $10 a pair and good at shock absorbtion.

You should also try rotating your bars so the back sweep is in the same plane as your forearms. Most people have their bars rotated too far backwards, rotating them forward can help alleviate wrist pain.

If you get pain on the inside of your wrist then a bar with less sweep may help. Outside then try a bar with more sweep or a narrower bar.
 

harmonix1234

Eats Squid
*edit ^^^ beat me to it haha

Have you tried loosening your stem faceplate bolts a little, and rotating the bars either forward or backward just a little?

Sounds odd but just I used to get pain in my right wrist (also broke it) and someone told me to do this (whilst sitting on bike leaning against a wall) and rolled the bars back/down about a 16th of a turn. Pain went away.

I also found that big grips like ourys actually made it worse. I have small hands. The ESI silicone helped.
 

driftking

Wheel size expert
+1 Grips
Also make sure your set up for rising position, for instance dh levers tend to be angled down to compensate for the steep terrain. So revisit your set up. Also lever position make sure they are nice and close and comfortable, brakes should be comfortable to pull. You want to get a natural position no excessive reaching of contraction.

Think about bar widths as well wider bars will give more stability and less force back through the wrist. (Obviously keep the bars comfortable don't change them purely for the wrist)

Carbon bars take out some of that small vibration, some people have had pain ease or subside by switching to carbon.

You can get wrist braces too that are light but helps support the wrist.
Gloves with some good padding or some increased dampening too might be worth looking at.
 

MrZ32

Likes Dirt
Another for the carbon bars making a big difference. .. They soak up all that small chatter that the shocks can struggle to absorb.
 

Hugor

Likes Dirt
I have the same problem which is also after a break.
I use the Ergo grips and have found it better with bars with greater backsweep.
The ergo grips prevent my wrists dropping when I get tired during long rides.
Greater sweep allows your wrist to adopt a more natural ulnar deviated position.
 

knob scortcher

Likes Dirt
thanks for all that :) ill try some carbon bars that i have here, ill probably look into getting some comfortable grips soon.
 

neo_vitamin

Likes Dirt
I used a wrist guard (661) for a year after a wrist fracture. Didn't alter my riding at all, just took the pain out of my wrist. Don't need it any more, but now my knuckle hurts as I just got the splint off my new finger fracture.
 

Mywifesirrational

I however am very normal. Trust me.
Another thing to consider if your bars are are too wide they can cause a little more pressure on to the lateral (thumb) side of the wrist, as you need more lateral deviation at the wrist to hang on.

I get pain from this on long rides (2+ hours, with not much body movement) with 780mm bars - but with 711mm bars no pain at all.
 

agentninety3

Likes Dirt
Couple of suggestions:

1. Make sure you're not gripping the bars too tight.

2. Make sure your wrists aren't bent in your normal riding position. Similar to using a computers keyboard, if you have your wrist bent constantly whilst using it you will end up with pain after a while. You may need to adjust your cockpit setup to deal with this.
 

Sic

Likes Dirt
Someone with a user name knob scortcher starts a thread about wrist pain and all you guys give him is actual advice without any innuendo?

Rotorburners I am very disappointed in you.
 

markusm

Likes Bikes
I was once told having your seat pointed towards the ground forces more weight onto the handlebars. Maybe try repositioning your seat a little and see if that helps along with the advice from others.
 
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