[Closed] Returning to riding after hand injury

Ergon grips?

http://www.ergon-bike.com/us/en/home

Broke some bones which has left me with a pinkie and ring finger with limited movement & grip. This can be a pain on long downhills and lots of hard braking, seems as if I'm only using thumb and braking finger at times! Biggest issue is loss of concentration on where you are riding whilst trying to concentrate getting the hand to work!! I also find my other hand sometimes mirroring what the other is doing!!......
Like any injury it'll take time to heal. I really suffer from an old collar bone break on long rides, the weight/pressure from backpack added to hand pain added to back and knee pain means I am a wreck after a long ride.
The bone breaks are both cycle related. The back ache is probably from farm work as a kid and then wrestling with car & Landrover gearboxes and engines! Knees are a combination of them all + 30yrs of squash, working and playing through all injuries.

Mary bars helped with a wrist issue

cheaper than a physio visit so well worth trying

I think I braked with only my right hand for years

Do everything you can with suspension and tyre pressure to keep it comfy

Best of luck

If doesn't work out look at a recumbent

Highly recommend an nst gyro ball for physio hand/arm injury

Was involved in rtc with van last year and found it very good after coming out of plaster.

Thanks for the input guys, I have a gyro ball so will give it try and see what happens with that.

I have ergons on my mtb, so might use that for commuting to see if I can hold them for longer, its gripping for prolonged time that's causing the problem (i believe)

Mrs Mcobie is a Physio who specialises in hand/arm injury. If you want to email me with exactly what you did and the resulting injury she may be able to give you some pointers...email in profile.

You getting decent physio? NHS physio is very basic and doesn't often help much.

Hard to say with your injury as I know nothing about that kind. All I can offer is I bust a couple of finger bones and really it's been constant exercises to get them moving as much as possible and riding loads as fingers get exercised a lot on the levers and brakes. Main thing I found was the ligaments & tendons take a lot longer to sort out than the bones.

As for the pins and needles. I had that prior to busting up my hands, back in the early days taking up MTB. I did try the Ergon grips, but I felt they were dangerous when it came to steep stuff. The palms kept slipping forward and I'd lose my hand off them. I reverted to regular grips and strangely I wasn't getting pins and needles any more anyway. I think just riding more and adjusting position on the bike, levers more raised, helped far more than the grips. Single finger braking also helped a lot in that it helps stop you "death grip" and keeps you sharp on the brakes, able to feather them better and not need to yank hard to brake.

I smashed my hand up a few years ago, right hand. Little finger almost no use, next one in about 50%, can't make a fist or grip properly due to the scar tissue.

It is surprising how well you adapt. I can't carry a full kettle of water but can ride a motorbike.

For the mountainbike, I have an ergon grip on backwards, so the sticky outy bit is out the front, made a huge difference, my hand rests much more neatly, and has a nice gentle hold on the bars. It seems to make my position straighter on the bike.

It does get pretty tired on long descents but that is rarely an issue, I have even done a couple of Enduros. I will never be Tracy Moseley, but then I never was before the damage so just happy I can ride the bike.

(and I have the brake adjusted right in on the motorbike, is only a wee bike anyway I could probably stop it by putting both feet down)

Broke my wrist twice rather than hand. First good news it does get better. Now the bad, it's never the same again. Hand strength is not too bad but as the human body is all connected my arm and elbow can get tired and ache in compensation. Good luck. yours sounds nastier than mine :-/

Thanks mcobie, very much appreciated. I have a good physio i'll be seeing at some point soon.

I was lucky in terms of no bone damage. But the cutter effectively took a deep groove down to the bone. So all that is there in terms of tissue is gone. Nicely healing and i'll still have some feeling from undamaged nerves.

I'll have to try a few things and see what works.

Excuse to buy various handlebars i guess 🙂

How long since the injury?

Not a hand but I broke my wrist 7 months ago and it's still quite sore and stiff. All the ligaments and tendons take ages to get better apparently. I've found drop bars ok but mtb not (Carnegie bars in my case, like Marys) so for the moment I'm sticking to drops. I appreciate yours is different but it's worth experimenting.

Good luck.

Every injury is different so you have to figure out what works for you, I smashed my wrist and hand and suffered nerve damage to my fingers at the same time, 15 months later MTB is OK, road is time limited as I can't deal with the drops for more than an hour . . took what seemed like forever to get enough strength to use the brakes, but that's the thing, it takes time . . just enjoy what you can and it'll get better. All my metalwork is sore every day, worse in the cold, but such is life . . you get used to it 😉

Physio, physio, physio

Do you have any damage to ligaments/tendons etc.

I still have some issues with road bars after a prolonged time due to breaking my thumb and something isn't sitting right, did a lot of strengthening work but still get some numbness. Take the bike to the physio if you want but I'd do that before trying loads of bar combos that may be worse.