wrist pain/ thumb numbness

[zilaniz]

So my left wrist has been painfull for about a month now and last week my thumb went numb. Well that got me concerned so i went to see the doctor and I ethier have carpal tunnel or a pinched nerve somewhere. The doctor said it could be the combinatio of work (office) and the mototrcycle from the pressure on the wrists and the clutch use. He told me to were a wrist splint at night and during the day when possible and take some sort of anti inflammatory pain reliever and take it easy with the motorcycle and maybe even dont ride it for a month! This has got me pretty depressed since I love riding and its the peak of the season.

Has anyone else expereinced a lot of wrist pain and/or numbess and did it work itself out/how did you cope with it? I'm pretty bummed out since I dont want to make it worse and wind up getting some sort of nerve damage. I just dont know how I will be able to resist the urge to ride, or just get some nice padded gloves and go on shorter trips like once a week.

[Flashmonkey]

Don't force it. If it's bad enough for your doctor to classify it as 'carpal tunnel' then it could be fairly serious and become worse if you push your luck. Take it easy for a bit and when the pain goes away I recommend you look into weight lifting. It doesn't have to be anything drastic....but a rehabilitation/prehabilitation focused routine could help eliminate that issue altogether...and future weight lifting endeavours could help you prevent it from coming back.

If you're unsure about that, seeking the recommendation of a rehab professional wouldn't be a bad idea either.

[backinthesaddleagain]

Not to go against your doctor but can changing your riding position help? Maybe rotate your levers to be in line with the angle of your arms or direct more of your upper body weight to your abs/back?

This message is not FDA approved, nor do I represent myself as a doctor, lawyer, or Indian chief. However I did once replay a major league baseball telecast without the express written consent of the commissioner.

[CC Cowboy]

If you have to take a month off from riding, do it this winter. If you can't wait, get ape hangers.

[tjkamper]

Take an easy. Give the bike a break, while you recover. Good luck. While the bike is up it might be a good time to do some mods.

[2WheelGuy]

It very well could be caused by the bike. I ride a lot and have experienced numbness from riding.

Back in the 80's I did a 1 hour endurance race on my 250 Ninja (it was 115 degrees in Arizona). Afterward the inside half of my thumb was numb (no feeling at all). It took over 6 months before any feeling came back.

Make sure that your levers are adjusted properly. Most bikes I ride have the levers too high causing an unnatural bend in the wrist, especially if you ride covering the brake lever as I do. If you go on long rides get a Throttlemeister so that you can take your right hand of the bar once and a while. Try to relax and avoid having a Death Grip on the bars.

[noche_caliente]

do you still have the stock levers? I had a lot of trouble with my wrist/thumb with the stockers - replaced them with the pazzos and haven't had any trouble since... see the wiki article...

[rage42]

Originally Posted by zilaniz

Has anyone else expereinced a lot of wrist pain and/or numbess and did it work itself out/how did you cope with it? I'm pretty bummed out since I dont want to make it worse and wind up getting some sort of nerve damage. I just dont know how I will be able to resist the urge to ride, or just get some nice padded gloves and go on shorter trips like once a week.

2 years ago..before i started riding, I got hit with De Quervain's tenosynovitis. I don't know if you can compare it to carpals, but it's an inflamation around the thumb tendon. You can feel the tendon where you wrist and hand meet. Well, something was severely inflamed that clamped down on the tendon. All from either an intense rock band drumming session, and sleeping on it really badly all in 1 night.

It got so bad that I couldn't physically move my thumb for a thumbs up pose or anything.

I was put on motrin to try making the inflamation go away, when that didn't work, I got a steroid shot right in to the wrist. 4 months of physical therapy to try to loosen it up...and after they gave up, one more steroid shot, with some self-stretching it just popped loose all of a sudden.

The pain was really bad if my wrist or thumb even moved, kept it in a custom molded brace..ugh. We talked about surgery if it didn't pop loose, which would have sucked, and delayed my first ride.

The last couple months of this is when I got the bike, it was doing better at that point, but I still wore the brace. For my problem, the wrist and thumb position was pretty natural to the throttle, so I rode...Maybe it helped vibrate the tendon loose, who knows.

[BlueRaven]

I bought a crampbuster for $10. I have carpal tunnel and this little gadget works great.

[Ramen]

Cervical MRI, stat.

[Cedilla]

My wrist was hurting pretty bad yesterday afternoon. My car had been broke down for the past 3 weeks and I was riding my motorcycle everywhere, but I don't think that is what caused it, because I rode way more last summer.

[Momaru]

I'd definitely look into your riding position. I'm a fencer so I use my right hand/wrist pretty extensively and take a lot of hits there on a regular basis. As such I've almost always got a pinched nerve or a stretched tendon, something wrong. But all that aside I find if I lean forward and put too much weight on my wrists not only do they ache in weird places that are really hard to stretch right, but they also start going to sleep. Usually happens from the outside in for me, pinky progressing to ring finger, etc. A few rides it'd gotten to my middle finger before I really noticed it and it took weeks before it felt right again.

Might also make sure your gloves aren't too tight, either in the fingers or at the wrist. This can impair circulation, again causing some pretty bad discomfort and 'falling asleep'. Ask me how I know...

[SteveL]

I know it might sound strange but I have a pair of gloves that after a time riding they move into a position where they strangle my thumbs and make them go numb. I readjust them at a red light or stop and they are OK again for a while.

Steve

[zilaniz]

I took the bike out a few times this weekend and adjusted my riding position and it was worlds better. I usually put a lot of my weight on my wrists, especially when stopping/slowing down. Now I really grip the tank with my legs when slowing down/stopping and it eased all the pressure of of my wrists.

I'm also going to get some pazzo levers so I can bring the clutch lever in a little closer which should help out too.

[Ken08Ninja]

Originally Posted by noche_caliente

do you still have the stock levers? I had a lot of trouble with my wrist/thumb with the stockers - replaced them with the pazzos and haven't had any trouble since... see the wiki article...

My left thumb would start hurting after riding for extended periods, and most of the time my hand was not even on the bar. After switching to the Pazzo levers and adjusting the reach it's been fine.