Old blokes, bikes and injuries

[Nobody]

iMad,

When it comes to bike fit, it would be worth your while to read Steve Hogg's fitting site. He is considered to be an expert in the field of bike fit.

[ColinOldnCranky]

As a general prncipoal Plantar Faciitis is usual for the pain to be before activity with it reducing as you go about your business. Perhaps worth getting it diagnosed profesionally if it hasn't been.

On the hands, and even with gloves, I found I had to experiment with bar-positioning and even then had to buy a second set of bars to get it right. Bars can be little like seats in that regard I suppose.

Good luck.

[iMad]

As a general prncipoal Plantar Faciitis is usual for the pain to be before activity with it reducing as you go about your business. Perhaps worth getting it diagnosed profesionally if it hasn't been.

On the hands, and even with gloves, I found I had to experiment with bar-positioning and even then had to buy a second set of bars to get it right. Bars can be little like seats in that regard I suppose.

Good luck.

Thanks Colin, the PF isn't a problem at all when I cycle or in fact after I return when I'm warmed up. It kicks in later in the day and particularly later in the arvo if I've been on my feet a bit.
The shoulder thing is with my most of the time (like now) and it worries me most on rides when my hands ache and get pins and needles.

[jimreddyhough]

I am 79, but I still cycled regularly until about five years ago. The reason why I had to stop was that I had stiffness, numbness and pain in my hands, which was worse when I cycled. My GP diagnosed it to be Peripheral Neuropathy, while I thought it was Carpal Tunnel Syndrome. She sent me to various neurologists, but they did not test for CTS because she must have told them that I had PN. I wanted to have the operation for CTS, in order to either cure the problem, or rule it out. In the end I had to change my GP. The new one diagnosed CTS straight away, and I had both wrist operated on, and both elbows to free the Median and Ulnar nerves.
The numbness did not go away, however, and my hands have become permanently numb and clumsy. I have great difficulty in picking up and manipulating small things. Recently my right hand has become deformed, and I cannot use chopsticks any more. I was anxious to do something about this, so I asked my GP to refer me to an Occupational Therapist. This was last week, and I was fitted with a spaghetti brace and a thumb strap. My hand is feeling better now, but the OT told me that I may have Guyon's Canal Syndrome, which is caused by a narrowing of the Guyon canal in the wrist, which also pinches the ulnar nerve. I went back to my GP, but she was not inclined to refer me to anyone, perhaps because she did not know of anyone who could help.
I went on the internet, and found that GCS is often referred to as Handlebar Palsy, as it is so common among cyclists, and I believe that I contracted it by cycling. With this in mind, I am posting this reply in the hope that other cyclists who have had similar problems will write in, as there must be many who have had this problem. Is there anyone who has had a successful operation for Guyon's canal syndrome?
Regards,
Jim Reddyhough.

[tallywhacker]

I had the operation about 4 years ago. I had no feeling in the outer 3 fingers of the left hand and had about 30% of the strength of my right hand. The surgeon also did an ulnar nerve transposition, not sure if this was a standard part of the operation for Guyon's Canal Syndrome. Feeling is back with just a little bit of tingling in the fingers and strength in the hand is almost 100% (this could be due to breaking the wrist and a couple of fingers last time I was hit). Your gp should be able to refer you to an orthopedic surgeon specialising in hand/wrist problems.

[jimreddyhough]

Hello Tallywhacker. thanks for the information. I feel inclined to have the operation, rather than put up with the incapacity in my hand. I am in Perth. My previous neural surgeon passed away, so I will have to find another one. Regards, Jim.

[toofat]

in my own experience my Plantar facitis was caused and agravated by being overweight ,acording to my gp
he offered 2 solutions
cortizone injections( only temporary relief)
or loose lots of weight
because the foot was very painfull the excersise options were swimming or cycling
i am 22kg down from the most i weighed and only get the odd twinge now
i dont know if circulation has anything to do with it but mine has improved vastly as i gave up smoking at the same time
perhaps the facitis developed while you were overweight, once you get comfortable on the bike try doubling your milage and see if that helps
drop bars will give yor more hand positions which helps in that area

[Crittski]

For plantar fasciitis, spend some more time stretching your calves which will have tightened up with your recent increase in cycling activity. In my experience in treating others PF, stretching the calf muscles makes a bigger difference than any other intervention I tried. Also when it is sore, avoid footwear that has little to no heel as this increases the pull on the heel attachment of the plantar fascia, via tension through the calf muscles.

Make sure that it isn't something else though when you get the other issues checked...

[coffeeandwine]

It's funny but I somehow felt the seat was too far forward for my liking but (my logic) said that if I move it back I'll make it worse. I'll try it.
The shoulder thing is an issue. It doesn't feel like a muscular thing somehow. The pain is way too sharp, like a hot needle being stuck into the rear of my shoulder. It might be a nerve thing and that's why I wondered is the pins and needles in the hands had anything to do with it. Has anyone else experienced this?

The pins and needles in the hands and the pain in the shoulder might have a common cause. My guess is that you could be supporting too much weight on your hands, which transfers the load to your arms & shoulders as well. As the others have pointed out, getting a good "bike fit" done will probably solve a lot of the issues. The correct seat position will allow some of the load to be transferred from your wrists and arms to your lower back muscles.

If the seat feels that it's too far forward, seat height might be an issue too. You can't get the proper leg extension if the seat is too low. Sometimes people try to address this by pushing their seat too far back. This allows them to straighten their legs a little more, but it can create other problems.

If your seat is at the right height, then you should be able to (just) place the heel of your bike shoe on the pedal with your leg straight, when the pedal is at the bottom of the down stroke. That way, when you place your foot in the correct position for pedalling, your leg will be just slightly bent.

With the seat at the right height you can then slide the seat forwards or backwards so that it's comfortably under your "sit bones" when you're grasping the 'bars. The correct position will make it easier to ride with "light hands".

Hi imad,
Taking one thing at a time...

Plantar fasciitis will be a result of foot position on pedals, runners with soft sole and poor arch support will aggravate condition, I think best to get advice from a podiatrist, your physio should be able to recommend one that is in to sports medicine. Orthotics will probably fix the cause of the problem. Shoes with a solid sole ie road shoes would give more support. Search for info on Steve hog bike fit, position of foot on pedals can be altered with wedges etc that will help allevite the cause of the problem also.

Re the hand and shoulder problems, most certainly related, your physio should really help with this, problem is probably due to (not quite right) bike fit. See previous comments about saddle height and handle bars, gloves are probably a good quick thing to do and not expensive.

Well done on the -20kg great effort, don't let a couple of niggles get in the way

Cheers

[Baalzamon]

Hands and sore shoulders
Simple answer
Recumbent bike or trike and no more sore butt either as it's a lounge chair on wheels

[Ken Ho]

I get the same burn and deep itch under my shoulder blade that you get. Mne is a result of a head first into a sandbar surfing accident. I get ant crawling too. You probably have somemdisc degeneratation in your thoracic spine.
Mine subsides with NSAIDs. I live on em.

[V17L]

Hi Imad
Congrats, massive effort losing the 20kg.

I purchased a go fast bike to replace the 20yo bike I had had been using. With the go fast bike, I was getting numb hands and a sore neck and shoulders. I looked at what some of the touring bike guys were using, and purchased a flat bar bike.

I am 52yo and found that I am not as flexible as I use to be, and have raised my handle bars to be above the seat height by about an 1". More relaxed position. Puts more weight on my behind and legs, and I purchased a brooks B67 saddle to help in that direction. By doing this I found my neck pain and shoulder pain went away. I also get up on the pedals every 15 to 20mins to give the behind a bit of a rest.

I replaced the bar grips with these http://www.wiggle.co.uk/ergon-gc3-handlebar-grips/ very easy to fit. I can move my hand grip to multiple positions. I wear padded gloves all the time (cheap ones from Anaconda), no problems now with the hands, but have to keep remembering to move my hands regularly.

I used runners as it was easy to go for a ride, just change into knicks and off I went, but I noticed I was geting sore feet. I switched to cycling shoes and the problem has gone away. Runners do not give your feet the mechanical strength around your foot, and cause you to bend and flex your feet to much when pedalling. The shop should help you fit the cleats to your shoes and watch you from behind to make sure the cleats are aligned correctly.

Change only one thing at a time, and try it for a while, when changing your bike fit. I have toyed with the idea of getting a bike fit from Steve Hogg, but this will have to wait until I have a chance to go to Sydney.

Hope this helps
steve

[jimreddyhough]

Hi Steve.
A good posting, but your link; http://www.wiggle.co.uk/ergon-gc3-handlebar-grips did not work. I would really like to see those grips.
Regards,
Jim.

[Nobody]

Link works for me. Just Google it.
http://www.google.com.au/search?hl=en&a ... as_rights=

[V17L]

Hi Jim
Just following up if you got my PM. If not I will post it here for you.
cheers
steve

[jimreddyhough]

Hi Steve. I got your PM; thanks. The bar grips look good. My Occupational Therapist made me a hand splint out of thermo- plastic, and my fingers are not so deformed now, and I can use my hand better. She thinks that another operation on my wrist and hand will help to free the Median and ulnar nerves. Regards, Jim.

[petie]

As a general prncipoal Plantar Faciitis is usual for the pain to be before activity with it reducing as you go about your business. Perhaps worth getting it diagnosed profesionally if it hasn't been.

On the hands, and even with gloves, I found I had to experiment with bar-positioning and even then had to buy a second set of bars to get it right. Bars can be little like seats in that regard I suppose.

Good luck.

Thanks Colin, the PF isn't a problem at all when I cycle or in fact after I return when I'm warmed up. It kicks in later in the day and particularly later in the arvo if I've been on my feet a bit.
The shoulder thing is with my most of the time (like now) and it worries me most on rides when my hands ache and get pins and needles.

Just another 10 cents on the shoulder and hands problem. I think it probably is a "bike fit" problem, but thats pretty broad...

The nerves to your hands come from your spine, through your shoulder and down you arm. These same nerves are the ones sending the messed up (numb) signals to your brain. As your GP has said, it could be your neck, or as Jim said, it could be your elbow or wrist. Odds are that it is some kind of nerve compression in your shoulder (nowhere specific, just between your humerus and spine) as thats where you have some pain. Everyones anatomy is different unfortunately so it will be difficult for anyone to say exactly where the problem lies. Isolating a particular nerve or branch of nerves from the areas that are numb may help to start sorting out the issues.

Anyway, the reason for explaining all that was to give a bit of background. By changing the position of your back/neck/shoulder/arm on the bike you are aiming to free up that little nerve so it stops causing as much of a problem. These are all big guesses from here on in, but I am thinking you might be slouching forward and putting a bit of weight onto the handlebars through your arms. After having lost alot of weight (AWESOME job by the way, would be great if everyone was as enthusiastic as you) you lose alot of the mass that previously helped to support various body parts. So the muscles that will hold everything in the correct functional position are weaker and need some time to strengthen up again. This means that somewhere along the nerve there is some compression which is then causing you these problems. So fit will help alleviate the problems in the interim, but some more strengthening work is in order. Maybe try to do a few situps or pushups every second day to try to build up a bit of that strength, or get your physio to give you some more specific exercises?

Hope that helps a little?