Handlebars and tennis elbow

Ryan.P

Ryan.P

Well-Known Member
Team MTBNJ Halter's
This past year I've been struggling with tennis elbow flare ups and finally found the culprit . Carbon handlebars. Since switching back to aluminum bars I'm finally riding pain free and without annoying compression straps around my forearm elbow area.
 
Ryan.P said:
This past year I've been struggling with tennis elbow flare ups and finally found the culprit . Carbon handlebars. Since switching back to aluminum bars I'm finally riding pain free and without annoying compression straps around my forearm elbow area.
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any theories on that?
 
This seems odd but go with it. Sometimes it's a mental thing.
When I cut sugar and low carb my hand numbness subdued along with tennis elbow. So diet does have a hand in pain also.
 
mattybfat said:
This seems odd but go with it. Sometimes it's a mental thing.
When I cut sugar and low carb my hand numbness subdued along with tennis elbow. So diet does have a hand in pain also.
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I used to always get numbness riding rigid and now it doesn’t happen, even at CR. Adaptation? Don’t think so because my road bike was off and on with numbness. I’ve had saddles affect the weirdest things as well.
 
mattybfat said:
This seems odd but go with it. Sometimes it's a mental thing.
When I cut sugar and low carb my hand numbness subdued along with tennis elbow. So diet does have a hand in pain also.
Click to expand...

Definitely not mental, a friend of mine I was riding blue mtn with all weekend had the same experience. There's a bike check with cedric gracia online were he mentions the same thing
 
On my DH Bike my hands would go numb with alloy bars, but this went away when I switched to carbon Enve bars.

This may not be from more or less vibration, but rather a very specific change in the frequency of vibration.

I have an electric weed wacker that causes numbness in my hands while the gas version does not. The electric seems way smoother to the touch, yet my hands react poorly to it. Weird.
 
Soooo oddball theory here.....

What if the increased buzzing felt through the alloy Handlebar is subconsciously forcing you to relax your grip...just a touch, whereby decreasing strain on the forearm/elbow area......
 
I've been having the same problem lately - on my left arm, not at the pointy part of the elbow, but rather the tip of the bone just below that on the inside. I have a wide carbon bar but I think it's most likely by caused pulling up on the bars when I'm climbing because after I do that and then sit back down is when it really hurts the most. Last night, I finished a ride and could barely straighten my arm. The climbing is how it manifests, but I think the main culprit may just be age. I'm just completely falling apart physically now and it's probably because I am still doing the same things I was doing 20 years ago. You know when you are young and people tell you that you're going to regret doing certain things when you get older? I'm a walking testimonial to that, only I'm still doing those things now. Over the past year or two, I've had so much stupid old person shit happening - knees, back, forearms and now elbows. I figure it's working it's way up and by early next year, my head is going to fall off mid-ride.
 
1speed said:
I'm just completely falling apart physically now and it's probably because I am still doing the same things I was doing 20 years ago. You know when you are young and people tell you that you're going to regret doing certain things when you get older? I'm a walking testimonial to that, only I'm still doing those things now. Over the past year or two, I've had so much stupid old person shit happening - knees, back, forearms and now elbows. I figure it's working it's way up and by early next year, my head is going to fall off mid-ride.
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Yup. It's one reason why I don't ride a hardtail very often. Yes - I can. Yes - it's still fun. But my body just can't take the beatings like it used to, so I mostly stick to my full-squish bikes. Hell... I keep hoping a good full-squish road bike will get designed some day. I care less about speed and more about all-day comfort. Although I'll admit the short rides I've had on a gravel bike were nice until the bar shape killed my hands (who da fuq decided flared bars were a good idea and put them on every damn gravel bike?).
 
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