Just like your feet and buttocks, your hands have to bear a lot of weight in a small area when riding a road bike. With these four tips, you can counteract wrist pain and prevent overloading.
1. more upholstery
Use thicker pads on gloves or handlebars. Even double-wrapped handlebar tape is more comfortable and easier on the wrists. Some companies offer gel pads that are attached under the handlebar tape. Inexpensive alternative: stick strips of handlebar tape cut to size under the actual handlebar tape at the neuralgic points. However, thicker is not always better: thicker padded gloves must fit snugly on the hand and not pinch. So be sure to try them on before buying!
2. core training
With well-developed upper body muscles, the hands do not have to absorb as much weight in the racing bike position and are therefore relieved. Many professional time trial specialists rely on sling training to improve their body tension and thus take pressure off their hands and wrists.
3. regripping
Feel free to change your grip position more often so that you don't put one-sided strain on your wrist. If your fingers become numb anyway, shake them briefly - this stimulates blood circulation. Simple but helpful: first clench your fist, then release it again. The alternation of tension and release stimulates muscles and nerves.
4. pain in the wrist: changing tyres
With more tyre volume and less air pressure, the ride is more comfortable. If you are riding a 23 millimetre wide tyre with eight bars of air pressure, you can switch to a 25 or 28 millimetre wide tyre with significantly lower pressure - provided there is enough space on the bike for wider tyres in the fork and rear triangle. Lower air pressure allows wider tyres to bounce better, and the wrist then also has to absorb fewer impacts.
Expert advice on overloading the wrist
Pain in the wrist due to overloading when cycling is annoying. Sports physician Dr Christian Merkl explains how to get to grips with it.
Question from TOUR reader Manuel S.: I train three to five times a week on my racing bike and mountain bike. However, for the last three weeks I've had pain on the top of my wrists. The doctor I went to told me that it wasn't tendonitis, but overloading of the joints through training. He prescribed me painkillers (Voltaren), which I have now been taking for ten days. During this time, I have not trained on the bike. But the pain is still the same. It's not a constant pain, but it comes and goes when I put pressure on my joints at work or in everyday life. Where could this pain be coming from and what can I do about it?
Answer from Dr Christian Merkl: In addition to its mobility, our wrist also has the ability to transmit large forces in any position. This is primarily ensured by the anatomical structure of many small carpal bones, which are formed and fixed by the joint surfaces and ligament structures. Repeated trauma, for example when mountain biking, can often lead to a structural disruption and loosening of the ligament structures. Occasionally, however, individual loose movements such as shaking hands are also the cause of a dysfunction of individual joint partners.
As we know from the spine, a joint in the hand can also "pop out". These disorders can often only be detected by exact palpation findings (precise palpation) with provocation tests. Once the disorder has been localised, targeted infiltration (with local anaesthetic and cortisone mixture) into the disrupted joint can confirm the diagnosis and restore function at the same time. Manual therapy mobilisation measures are often also helpful. Short-term immobilisation with a wrist bandage can support the healing process.
