Dealing with a duff elbow

[beatlejuice]

I have manage to break my left elbow 14 yrs ago and 10 months ago I had a spiral fracture of my upper left arm. Now my left arm no longer extends to the same degree has my right. After about 20 miles it becomes very uncomfortable. I have tried various approaches to solving this. I have a stem raiser and brought the bar nearer me. I was fiddling with my current set up for the umpteenth time and I put the handle bars on but being in a rush i didn't put them on straight. They were slightly offset, only by a few degrees. The plan was take multitool with me on my next few rides and tweak it. However I found that he slight offset has reduced the discomfort. What have been the approaches other people with an arm that no longer fully extend employed to make their cycling more comfortable?

 

[Drago]

A dubious welcome to my world.

Broke mine 11 years ago when I was assaulted at work. 2 operations, it's still not right and never will be. Grip in that hand has gone, the elbow itself is constantly tender and sensitive to being tapped, and I've no feeling in my 3rd and 4th fingers. To add to my woes, about 3 years ago a started 3xperiwncing shoulder problems, apparently a "compensatory effect" of not using my right arm properly for all those years, and had to have an operation on that, with another possible op on the horizon.

Once the injury had settled down it took a couple of years of fine tuning my position to get comfy, and this last year I've had to tweak it slightly again, doubtless due to physiological changes wrought by ageing.

I can fully expend my arm, but to grip hard is painful, and any rapid movement can be breathtakingly painful.

I did have a bike fit, but they went by the book. Unfortunately, the book doesn't cover someone with no bursa, nerve damage, and an arm full of titanium, so I went back to my own settings. Generally speaking I'm a touch higher on the bars, the bars are rotated back slightly more than the norm, and I have the seat a fraction further forward than before. Being blessed with long orangutang arms has minimised the fiddling I've need to do.

Your impairment different to mine. You're going to have to fiddle and see, depending on how bad it is maybe even try a different style of bike. Recumbent, perhaps?

 

[beatlejuice]

Thanks Grago for your post. My situation is different, but I can relate to numb 3rd and 4th fingers, they managed to damage my ulnar nerve while they were trying to screw it back together. I still have grip but have lost some strength. If I went for a bicycle fit I would like to find somebody that deals with non-standard bodies like ours not just perfectly fit racing snakes types.

I am realising that a more ‘sit up and beg’ riding position does help. However unlike you’re good self I was blessed with foreshortened arms. It doesn’t help!

 

[Heltor Chasca]

Not sure if this will help but it’s good to talk. I managed to break my elbow throwing a javelin. Instead of having my hands perfectly horizontal (on flatbars) or perfectly vertical (thumb up on drops) I find the most comfortable is on flared drops. Effectively my wrist is at a 45 degree angle. Can you do something similar with bar ends, butterfly bars or Surly bars?

 

[Drago]

Fair point Mr Chasca. I've got North Road bars on one of my MTB's, and the loom daft but really do take the stress off the limbs.