Wrist pain??

[young4133]

I love my new road bike but am having some terrible wrist pain. My LBS fit me, but not a complete fit like my husband got. We did tilt my seat a smidge forward to help with some pain I was having from the saddle. I am heavy on top, so I think that might be contributing to the pain.
I rode 18 miles last time with just a small amount of discomfort, now it was unbearable within the 1st mile (only made it 15). I felt like my legs could have kept going another 10, but my wrist and elbow pain was unbearable. Its just strange b/c the bike was the same for both rides.
Any ideas what might be causing this?? Any suggestions??

 

[matagi]

Is the bike a flat bar or a drop bar?

Flat bars are notorious for causing pain because the position of your hand is wrong and unless you move your hands around a bit, you can end up with wrist pain. If you have a flat bar, you really need to concentrate on keeping your wrists neutral rather than extended.

It could also be that you are putting too much weight on your hands, moving the seat back a touch should help if that is the problem.

If you and your husband are not confident about analysing and changing your bike setup, then you need a return visit to the LBS.

 

[Laterider1958]

I too experienced similar wrist pain. Found that I was holding my wrists down, instead of on top of the flat bars, which meant they were bearing lots of weight. Also I seemed to be gripping the bar too tightly, and extending my fingers to rest on the brake levers. (Novice rider and ever ready for the quick stop!) Now, when riding, I move my hands every so often and am conscious of how hard I am holding on. It also helped to rotate the bar forward a tad, so even if I still extend my fingers to rest on the brakes the angle of my wrist is less acute.

 

[young4133]

Its a drop bar. Giant OCR3w

 

[KellyT]

I love my new road bike but am having some terrible wrist pain. My LBS fit me, but not a complete fit like my husband got. We did tilt my seat a smidge forward to help with some pain I was having from the saddle. I am heavy on top, so I think that might be contributing to the pain.
I rode 18 miles last time with just a small amount of discomfort, now it was unbearable within the 1st mile (only made it 15). I felt like my legs could have kept going another 10, but my wrist and elbow pain was unbearable. Its just strange b/c the bike was the same for both rides.
Any ideas what might be causing this?? Any suggestions??

Pretty obviously, your balance is putting too much weight onto your wrists, for you to bear comfortably.

You could put a shorter, or lifting type, stem onto the bars to make you more upright. That would move a little weight off your hands, onto your behind. Might make the saddle pain more of a problem!

Or perhaps (tougher option this) do some sit ups / crunches, to strengthen your abdominal muscles, which would then share a little of the weight which is always having to be pitched forward.

Tilting the saddle forward is quite likely to cause at least part of the problem you experienced though, as you are pushing yourself into the bars, and increasing the pressure on your wrists. I might tend to start by making the saddle totally level again, and then trying to sort the saddle pain without causing a problem somewhere else. Maybe thicker padded shorts, or padded undershorts below your normal shorts.

Failing all else, try another make of saddle, with a pronounced anatomical cut out. This way lies madness though, since I must have bought half a dozen types of saddle before finding one that actually fits well ...