Elbow Pain

[BlueVet11]

I'm having some trouble with my right elbow while I'm on the road. I don't go on very long rides (I am up to ~20miles give or take depending on the ride). The rides are fairly hilly. Mostly up or down, not a lot of flat (N. Ga).

I don't feel any muscle soreness/tenseness in my shoulders or my arms and I do not grip my handlebars too tightly (as my husband tells me I am everytime I ask him about the elbow issue). I know this because most of the time my fingers are just relaxed and I'm not even gripping at my hoods at all. I don't go in my drops but I do alternate between the straight part and my hoods. I shake my hands out and I wear gloves. It is only my right elbow.

It was so painful on my last ride I could not even bend my right arm to stretch it out. It hurts in the groove between the bony parts.

Am I leaning too much on my arms? I don't feel this way on my MTB at all and I have no problem with my arms on it.

Is it a fit problem? Form problem? Everytime I ask my husband, or his brothers (all 3 are roadies) they pretty much tell me it has to be form since I'm a beginner, I must be too tense, it must be me gripping the handlebars too tightly. (They may very well be right, they are all very experienced, just looking for another POV) But I think I'd have some muscle soreness/tightness if I was too tense. I relax my elbows and my hands (I am also a longtime horseback rider... tense=bad on a horse!).

So long story short, any other experiences with unilateral elbow pain and what could it be?

[BleeckerSt_Girl]

Yes, I had extreme elbow pain in only my left elbow every time I rode more than 10 miles or so. It would get worse with distance. Never hurt any other time but riding my one bike. It was in fact the only real acute PAIN I had while biking. Tried all kinds of different fixes- stems, bars, saddle positions. And I never rode with my elbows straight locked or tense. I tried to ride relaxed. The pain was the same as yours- if I didn't keep shaking my arm out and bending my elbow every couple of minutes, the pain would be so bad that I felt I couldn't bend it. Oddly, no major trouble with the other elbow.
The problem i DID have with that bike is that it was designed for a man and had a top tube that was too long for me, plus my weight was centered too far over the crank and onto my hands. No matter what we tweaked and no matter how much my core muscles improved over the thousands of miles and 2 years, I always felt like my weight was falling forward too much and always had the awful one-elbow pain.
Finally I ordered a custom bike made to my body measurements. My weight is balanced nicely further back, and I don't feel like I'm falling forward anymore. I can even ride no-handed now that I'm not having to hold myself up with my hands.
When I first rode my new bike, the elbow pain seemed less. Now, after 500 miles on my custom bike, the elbow pain has slowly faded away and is now gone. What a huge relief!
Hope this proves helpful in some way.

[mudmucker]

Last year I had left elbow pain. It was fine in the beginning of the season and crept up at the end. I don't know what really caused it but I'll list off some observations. I don't have it this year, because I paid attention to my observations and was able to resolve it.

As my core strengthens more through the season I may change out a stem or tweak the saddle a little. If I feel a glitch or pain I'll tweak, so adjustments won't be the same from the beginning of the season to the end. But with each tweak for the good, there may be an unknown other repercussion that doesn't show up till later. I think I also have a leg length discrepancy that I have not professionally addressed. I think it causes me to adjust my torso or hips so that they might be twisted in some way, which you can imagine can cause other things to be mis-aligned. But I had slightly moved my saddle to the left in the middle of last season to adjust for back pain, pedal efficiency, and saddle soreness which I think was a result of the leg length difference. The adjustment worked fine for these ailments but I noticed my left elbow hurting. This season as I started out, the saddle was in the same position and my left elbow began to hurt again. I moved the saddle back so the nose was completely in line with the top tube and the elbow pain went away. I never did get those other ailments back either. So, check your saddle alignment - even a few mm makes a difference. I suspect that my torso/body was forced out of alignment causing me to lean on that side. If your saddle is straight, you still could have uneven torso alignment due to other things I suppose, like the saddle being a little too high, or one leg longer than the other or a weak core. You could be so slightly out of alignment that you might not notice it on the bike, but so slight can still have dramatic results.

I also suspected my handlebars were too wide causing my arms to be at an awkward angle. I swapped out my 40's for 38's and all is good.

I got a longer stem. This put me at a different angle where my weight was displaced a little more to the rear, and less on the front.

Also, I am right side dominant and my left is weaker.

I also injured my left wrist a few years ago. It has healed and although it seems to be fine, it could very well be weak even though I don't notice it.

[OakLeaf]

I'm not sure exactly where you're describing the pain, but it sounds like tennis elbow (lateral epicondylitis)?

Definitely track down and eliminate what's causing it. I don't have anything to add to what Lisa and Mudmucker said or what you've already tried. I assume that by saying your elbows are relaxed, you mean they're not locked and you're absorbing any vibration in your triceps, pecs and spinal muscles.

But in the meantime, try stretching the forearm by holding the arm straight out from the shoulder, extending the wrist and pulling back on the fingers, then flexing the wrist and doing the same. Massage down the whole length of the flexor muscles on the top of the forearm is good, too. And epsom salt soaks (although it was a challenge for me to find a tub big enough to accommodate my forearm, hand and elbow but small enough to fit on the arm of a chair).

[Grog]

I think this was just discussed a few days ago, you might want to search the forums. (Upper right of your screen for the search button.)

Spontaneously, my answer is : reach (handlebars too far).

[BlueVet11]

Thanks guys! And this is my second time replying (stupid internet) so I hope I cover everything!

Oakleaf- yes, it would be what I would consider to be tennis elbow, although I only have the issue when riding, not any other activity. I do have a shoulder issue (right shoulder) from an old injury. I fractured my humerus when I was 12, but no soft tissue issues were ever addressed. I have rotator cuff-type issues, but thats self Dx, not MD Dx'ed! Funny though, my shoulder doesn't bother me at all on the bike. And yes, when I say relaxed, I mean I do not lock my elbows and absorb shock through muscles. Even over rough spots in the road I totally jello out my arms. I grew up retraining racehorses, so I understand how to relax my body yet stay balanced. (thats not meant to be snarky :))

As far as mudmuckers experience- I had my bike fitted by the LBS (awesome guys) and the guy who fitted me said my left leg is longer than the right, so he fitted between the two. I know he is spot on since I have always had an issue with stirrup length riding horses. My stirrups are always about 1/2 inch off of each other. I have no other (to the best of my knowledge) fit issues though, no saddle problems, no cramping, uneven muscle soreness. So maybe this is an issue similar to yours with the uneven legs, which transfers to hips, and so on. I just don't ride enough miles to get the other problems...

Pretty sure my bike is a WSD... http://rideblue.com/bikearchive.php?state=rc4al size 54 (Med). I am 5'8''

Only other thing I can think of is my handlebars are tilted slightly up from when I first started back riding and I was uncomfortable leaning down for the handlebars (unless this indicates my tube is in fact too long).

And I don't know how wide my handlebars are either.

Thanks for the stretching exercise as well Oakleaf.

I DO know that I need to work on my standing form... lol... knew nickname is praying mantis. But I'm pretty sure the elbow is unrelated to my praying mantis tendencies since I rarely stand anyway. But you never know. Thats why I'm trying to learn :)

[BlueVet11]

Sorry Grog... I did try searching, but not just before posting the new thread. I know how irritating that is. I promise I did do a search a few weeks ago when the problem was getting worse.

[mudmucker]

Interesting. My left leg is longer too. I neglected to say which leg is longer. If I have any pain on the bike, it's always on the left. Elbow, knee, forearm. Sigh, now that I'm reading about what I just wrote, maybe it's high time I address it.

[Grog]

Sorry Grog... I did try searching, but not just before posting the new thread. I know how irritating that is. I promise I did do a search a few weeks ago when the problem was getting worse.

No worries, it's just that you'll find a lot more information on that topic. Good luck!! It's a recurrent problem for many riders, women at least.

[tulip]

Strengthening your core (through Pilates or whatever works for you) should help. Even though your elbows are bent and relaxed, if your body is not strong enough to hold you up properly, it'll show in different aches and pains.

[amy]

My elbow pain was fixed with narrower handlebars and a new stem.

I am tall and don't really fit a women's specific bike, but the men's bike in my size always has really wide handlebars.

I had a professional fitting and lots of tweeking.

Now, I'm having right hand pain but I discovered it is the saddle that is killing me and I'm trying to fix it by bearing weight through my right arm... new saddle is on the way. :)

[BlueVet11]

Thank you guys for all your input. I will look into each of your ideas.

I do some core work (1-2 times a week)... planks, sit ups, knee ups. I may need to give it some more time to build that strength (patience!), plus I tend to be bad and not do it at all some weeks ;)

I'll try and get another fitting too, do some tweaking if necessary.

Thanks again!