Sore wrist's and arms

B

bamctaggart

Likes Bikes
Gday all,

My wife has recently gotten into mtb and after a ride today (27km on trails) the main complaint was that her wrists and arms are feeling jarred. I have never experienced sore arms or wrists from ridding so im unsure why this would happen?

The bike is sized perfectly for her, we even had it measured with the gadgets at the shop, all i can think is maybe the stem is to long, or the seat was too high causing her to lean on her arms/wrist's?

Any help is appreciated.

Cheers
Brad
 
teK--

teK--

Eats Squid
If fit is OK it may be due to technique or lack of strength/conditioning. If she's just starting out it's worthwhile to do a introduction MTB skills session where an experienced coach can identify what she might be doing wrong before it becomes habit or she gets discouraged from riding anymore.
 
natskis

natskis

Likes Bikes
When I was starting I found I was getting sore arms from a few things.

1. Gripping too hard subconsciously. Needed to remind myself to stop doing this.
2. Brake lever positioning. Adjusted them down so that it was a much more natural position and that helped.

Could try that to start off with.
 
D

driftking

Wheel size expert
natskis said:
When I was starting I found I was getting sore arms from a few things.

1. Gripping too hard subconsciously. Needed to remind myself to stop doing this.
2. Brake lever positioning. Adjusted them down so that it was a much more natural position and that helped.

Could try that to start off with.
Click to expand...
+1

Not just brakes though make sure everything on the bars are easy to reach, gears, droppers, timers anything as. You want everything to be naturally feeling no excessive stretching and no excessive contraction. Some people set everything up so the brakes pull to the bar which personal is just as annoying and strains the hand.

Secondly arm position she should have a good wrist position and angle, you want a straight wrist to the hand or as straight as practical. Any bending at the wrist will put the pressure into the wrist.

Thirdy along with the death grip issue she may benefit from either thinner grips (if current grips are too large for her to grab comfortably. The flip side thicker grips might suit her hands more.

Finally once set up (including grip diameter) and riding position is adressed you can look at softer grips to help take out some of the force and trail vibration also gloves with gel in them to again help negate the feedback may help. Equally carbon bars are said to help with the vibration and has reduced pain for people.

Start with the major causes and set up and than move to reducing vibration and force last.
 
The Reverend

The Reverend

Likes Bikes and Dirt
Obviously it's hard to diagnose without really seeing her ride but I'd imagine it was a combination of things.
If she's tense riding then as said before she'll possibly be gripping the bars for all she's worth. End result - tired arms.

Does she spend much time seated or standing? That might make her place more weight on her hands too.

Maybe reduce the riding distance and increase the frequency so that she builds up arm / hand strength?

Hope she gets it sorted.
 
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