Specialty Brake Hoods?

[Andrea]

I have been having some problems with arthritis in my left thumb joint (the one at the base of the thumb where it joins the hand). It bothers me most when I ride with my hands on my brake hoods. I added some padding to the area by pulling the hood back and stuffing in some of the dense foam removed from the palms of old gloves, but I'm looking for a more aesthetic and permanent fix.

Have any of you ever heard of "orthopedic" replacement brake hoods? I just need something that is fatter and a little softer than the typical brake hood, and I'm perfectly comfortable.

P.S. My bike is a perfect fit to me, so the pain is not being caused by improper handlebar adjustments, etc. The joint hurts doing other stuff, but riding my bike is the activity I'm concerned with most!

[spokewench]

Hi Andrea - I have the same problems with my thumb joints as you do. I have instability there so the bones rub on each other - anyway, I will not opt for the surgery, so I deal with it. Sorry, I do not know of any way to permanently beef up your hoods, but there is a brace you can wear for your thumb problem. You might want to try that.

spoke

[pll]

I have never seen an real ergonomic/orthopedic set of hoods, and I really hope the PTs in the board chime in. Perhaps a starting point would be to check the position of your hands on the hoods... I think your wrist should be in neutral position (middle finger / 3rd metacarpal aligned with the radius bone?) to put the least amount of stress on your hand.

[KnottedYet]

I haven't heard of any specialty hoods, but I do know that my Campy Athena hoods are very wide and flat and comfy. My Shimano brake-only hoods are very narrow with a nice offset so I'm not weighbearing on that joint at all, and they are also very comfy.

Two ends of the hood spectrum, and both feel great to me. I used to have a lot of trouble with that joint in both thumbs, so I do try to be careful. Splints and thumb exercises made a huge difference for my left thumb, but my right is still fussy sometimes. My thumbs love me more when the bars are rotated up and the hoods are nearly horizontal and even with the forward curve of the bar. (so the whole top section is flat: bars and hoods)

Maybe go to a shop and ride on a few bikes with different hoods?

[Tuckervill]

You could just tape over the hoods and build them up bigger, like we used to do with our boyfriend's class ring. :)

I have carpal tunnel syndrome and I usually have to make things like paintbrush handles bigger with duct tape so I can go for the long haul. It bothers me some on the bike, but I take B6 and it helps. If I were doing longer distances, I'd build up the hoods with bar tape to make them cushier and bigger.

Karen

[SouthernBelle]

How wide are your bars? If your bars are too wide, your arms end up splayed out throwing your weight forward onto your hands. So it may not be the hoods but the bars.