Carpal Tunnel

[BD73]

Does anyone have any tips or tricks on how to deal with carpal tunnel when you're riding? I can't felt my left hand after about 10 minutes on the track or any hard riding.

[Padilen]

Have you seen a doctor and been diagnosed? I was told I had carpal tunnel and wore the wrist braces for over a year. Then I was told I didn't ! Then I was given another diagnosis! I now have a 3rd & 4th, conflicting diagnoses. I have and appointment Thursday, to go over all test results and diagnoses. Hopefully to have a definite answer and solution.

See a doctor if you haven't and good luck.

Edited January 24, 2017 by Padilen

[mikerides33]

Take this for what it's worth.

I have dealt with it for years. I am very comfortable on a mx bike....you must ride loose and you must have insane cardio and be very strong.

I cycle a bunch and I work out at the gym although much of the time is spent stretching and doing pull ups and pull backs....tons of core. I limit the time I spend with heavy weight resting in my palms- for example instead of doing 70lb dumbell presses I grab the 40s and do what you see Eli doing in the vid that Bryan posted......in fact I do everything that I have seen him do.

I spent years logging and beating the shit out of myself running saws all damn day....my feet and hands are compressed.... but the object now is to be strong so you can flick the bike around w your hands just guiding it like a fine woman.

I am 6'1 and this morning weighed 173......I will see mid 60s in the summer. I'm 38.

In my 20s I was more like 190 trying to pull chicks and the arm pump and carpal tunnel really set in. I feel like they are connected....for me anyway.

This will sound bad but the last buke I had bad carpal tunnel on was my 11 KTM 350. The forks sucked and I death gripped it.

Sorry for the long post but I have experienced it and really figured out how to get around it. I can remember racing Southwick and after the first lap not being able to feel my left hand.

Now I can mountain bike, train and rail 125s and I don't feel it.

You WILL figure it out.......oh yeah I also got the tests and they wanted to operate but I couldn't go through with it.

Lots of luck.

Edited January 26, 2017 by mikerides33

[Turtleracer64]

Get checked out by a specialist. I found ways to deal with it for years. I finally got the surgery if I would have known it was that easy and made it that much better I would have done it years ago.

[BD73]

Thanks for the input. It used to be mild in my late 30's. I'm 43 now and at about 41 it started to get worse. I'll ride until I lose control of my hand. At least it's my left. I ride a 125 so there's lots of clutch work.

That's it! I need a new bike! That will make it all better. Or maybe get suspension work. It's really rough. That's actually happening before March. The suspension that is.

We're doing a hare scramble on Feb 8th I think. I'm going to try taping my wrist. I'll let you know how that works. I've been told to take ibuprofen before ride. My dad said to quit riding dirt and get a street bike to ride with him. My 14 yr old son said I need a bigger bike so I don't have to ride as hard. I'll take my chances on the dirt trying to keep up with my son who can out ride me now.

I wonder if some tiger balm before I ride would help.

Anyway, I'll let you know if anything helps.

[BD73]

Get checked out by a specialist. I found ways to deal with it for years. I finally got the surgery if I would have known it was that easy and made it that much better I would have done it years ago.

My sister finally had it done too. Maybe one day.

[Manitoba_Menno]

Take this for what it's worth:

I was a welder for a few years awhile back and after months and months of serious production MIG welding my right arm developed tendinitis and tingling numbness in my fingers. This was due to the constant pressure I applied to the MIG gun. The position my hand had was not unlike holding on to the handlebars.

I solved the issue by repeatedly doing sets of low-rep fingertip push-ups. The idea was to never do these to exhaustion, but rather to strengthen the connective tissue by keeping the blood flowing. 3-5 reps per set throughout the evening every evening until after a month or so the symptoms began to disappear.

I continue to this day doing fingertip push-ups and have greatly benefited from this practise. That said, this worked for me. I'm not a doctor and I'm not recommending this to anyone as it may do further damage. Please exercise caution.

Good luck.

[BTD123]

Bought some simple wrist wraps that have a hole in them that hooks around the thumb wraps around and secured with velcro. The first time I use them was for a two-hour Hare Scramble. It helped. The numbness was still there some but not as drastic as before. I used to have to pull off after about 10 minutes of hard riding on a track to let my hands cool off but it was not a factor in that race. And that stinks to I have nobody to blame but myself for getting my butt kicked that day. I think I crashed 12 times. The third tree broke my Fender anyway I think keeping the constant pressure was definitely helpful . Little hard to get the gloves but so what my hands were much better.

[NoFiddyPilot]

What's helped me:

1. Arthroscopic CT release on my dominant hand.

2. Tumeric and Ginger Root supplements 2X day to fight inflammation (works).

3. Periodicforearm deep tissue massage and release.

4. Stretching.

5. Proper ergonomics at the keyboard.

6. Did some wrist splinting at night, but not longer.

So, not one thing, but the sum total worked.