Elbow pain?

When you ride to you lock your elbows, or do you leave them relaxed, with a slight bend? Elbow pain can also be a sign of a bad fit on the bike, with too much weight on your arms.

gbsbrad said:

I new to cycling and I've experienced pain in both elbows after 20-30 mile rides. Is it my age (44) or indicative of some other problem? I'm currently taking a supplement that helps joints which has done a good jobs w/ a problem knee but the elbow pain concerns me. Perhaps it's something that will diminish as I get more time on the bike. Any answers or experience w/ this?

A bad fit may indeed be the problem ...

Regardless, if you keep your hands locked in one place on the handlebars then you will probably exacerbate any underlying conditions which you may have ...

That is, if you had elbow/joint pain BEFORE you started riding, then riding (i.e., leaning on the handlebars) will probably not mitigate the pain regardless of the fit ...
[INDENT]Does your bike have FLAT Bars or DROP Bars?
[/INDENT]FYI. Switching to a RECUMBENT should remove most of the stress on your elbows.

BTW. Is the pain actually "in both elbows" or in the surrounding connective tissue?
[INDENT]If the pain you are experiencing is actually a tendonitis type pain, then try wearing those "bands" which Tennis players use.

If your pre-existing condition is arthritis related, then try doing as they suggest in the TV commercials & take an "Aleve" (or, equivalent) tablet.
[/INDENT]Of course, you may want to consult a physician.

alienator said:

When you ride to you lock your elbows, or do you leave them relaxed, with a slight bend? Elbow pain can also be a sign of a bad fit on the bike, with too much weight on your arms.

I do ride w/ a slight bend in my elbows. Now I'm concerned if its a bad fit. My local bike shop said the bike fit me and obviously I believed their expertise.

alfeng said:

A bad fit may indeed be the problem ...

Regardless, if you keep your hands locked in one place on the handlebars then you will probably exacerbate any underlying conditions which you may have ...

That is, if you had elbow/joint pain BEFORE you started riding, then riding (i.e., leaning on the handlebars) will probably not mitigate the pain regardless of the fit ...
[INDENT]Does your bike have FLAT Bars or DROP Bars?
[/INDENT]FYI. Switching to a RECUMBENT should remove most of the stress on your elbows.

BTW. Is the pain actually "in both elbows" or in the surrounding connective tissue?
[INDENT]If the pain you are experiencing is actually a tendonitis type pain, then try wearing those "bands" which Tennis players use.

If your pre-existing condition is arthritis related, then try doing as they suggest in the TV commercials & take an "Aleve" (or, equivalent) tablet.
[/INDENT]Of course, you may want to consult a physician.

The pain is actually surrounding both of my "funny bones". I did have an elbow issue in my right elbow before I started riding but the pain in my left didn't start until I started riding. Ihave drop bars.

What is RECUMBENT? Again, I'm new to the sport and so far I love it and I want to continue to ride. I hope it has nothing to do w/ the bike fit. My local shop said it fit and I had to believe them since I knew nothing about road bikes.

I appreciate your advice!

gbsbrad said:

What is RECUMBENT?

This is a recumbent, one of many styles available. All of mine (this is one of four) have what are called 'hamster bars.' If you put your elbows at your sides and bent them 90 degrees, then move your hands together so they're 6" apart, that's where the bars are. There are also 'tweener bars,' which place the grips in front of each shoulder, with the elbows bent 30 degrees from straight. There is also underseat steering; but if some recumbent riders can be said to do so through a need to be different, the ones who ride underseat steering must have a need to be space aliens. I got my first 'bent for comfort, but subsequent ones have been for speed. This one is faster than stink and climbs with the top 10% of uprights in my club - if they're anywhere near when I'm climbing.

Been there, but not with both at the same time. Can't tell you it was the same as what you are feeling, but mine felt very much like tennis elbow (back of elbow) and was pretty tender. Having had tennis elbow many times when I was younger and playing religiously, I figured the bike related pain was similar. Decided to suffer through for a while and see how things went.

The roads I was riding were pretty rough and I was getting a lot of pounding/vibration. I had trained the same roads with a flat bar MTB conversion last year (~3,500 miles) and never had the problem, but when I switched to a road bike with drop bars, that's when it developed. I ride in the drops about 85-90% of the time.

I recall that I had it in my left elbow for a short period after one particularly rough ride. Was painful, but started to subside so I ignored it. Shortly after it switched to right elbow and was constant. After 3-4 weeks with no change, I decided to try something different and narrowed my bars from 44cm to 42cm. My hands are now "inside" of where I am comfortable holding my elbows. Instead of my wrists and elbows being parallel with the direction of travel, my forearms are now form a slight "V".

Not sure if it was the change in bar width or coincidence, but not too long after that I noticed the pain was not as intense. After a few weeks it was completely gone and hasn't returned.

Could be my arms finally assimilated to new stresses encountered with drop bars, or the new bars deflected the forces in a different way. The bars were identical in bend, drop, and reach - just narrower. They are aluminum, but fork and steerer is carbon so theoretically that takes out some of the road noise. Thinking about carbon bars, but still not sure I've got the bend and drop that I want.

You may want to hunt eBay for cheap bars and see if you find a config that brings some relief. That or work with your LBS and demo bars. Best of luck!

Thank you for your advice! Any is desperately welcomed.

I get the same thing a lot as well. I've never had elbow pain, but I started to get it since I started riding road bikes. I actually get the pain on the inside of my right elbow, more towards the surrounding tissue.

I get it on my left elbow too, but not as badly.

Would you recommend that I switch to narrower bars?

Without seeing you on the bike riding I'm going to venture a guess and say that while riding your elbows are more locked than you you think they are. IF that's the problem a narrower bar won't do you a bit of good. As a reference (starting) point the next time you ride your bike put you hands on the hoods and look at your front hub, the handlebar should be obscuring the front hub axle, if the handlebar instead is forward of the hub than I'm pretty sure you're riding more straight armed than you think, thus what you need is a shorter stem reach. Some people have extremely short torsos so those people will actually be using a handle bar that is behind the front axle.

If this all a bit intimidating to do then find a fitter...but the cost of the fitter will be around $250 plus parts.

Pain in the elbows. Now isn't that an odd one. Seems like maybe you are just not use to the position of riding a bike. There is no real strain on the elbows but if you are not use to it. This could cause some discomfort. It should have gone away by now. She's now 49. If she kept it up. Probably if it was a touring bike this would happen. A mountain bike your arms are resting up higher.

That doesn't sound like a very serious problem, so I wouldn't worry that much. Give it some time, maybe it is a matter of getting used to a new bike or something. Maybe you should try readjusting your bike's stem and handle bars if possible.

There is this ailment called tennis elbow which can attack you without notice. Sometimes it is there, sometimes it wouldn't manifest even if your routine was the same as when it appeared. One of my brother was afflicted with severe arthritis that started from that tennis elbow until it graduated to the hands where his fingers got swollen. I hope that's not your case.

Arthritis. I've got it in my left elbow too. :-(