Conference noted::bicycle

3109.0. "Sore elbow" by NETCAD::BRANAM (Steve, Hub Products Engineering, LKG2-2, DTN 226-6043) Tue Jun 25 1996 16:46

I have an elbow problem that I wonder if anyone has any experience with. It is
sort of the opposite of tennis elbow, where the muscle on the underside of my
forearm is sore near where it attaches to the joint. A 45-minute ride with my
hands on the brake hoods really aggravates it. I first noticed it swimming, when
pulling my arm through a stroke.

I attributed it as an overuse injury from swimming (I do 90-100 laps 2-3 times a
week, with about a third of it just arm pulls, no kicking). However, my wife is
a surgical nurse at Emerson Hospital in Concord. She mentioned it to one of the
orthopedists, and he said it is medial epichon-something-or-other; he also said
it is a common problem among cyclists, and can be taken care of with either
physical therapy or cortisone shots. I'll skip the steroids, thank you, but a
little PT sounds fine. When I developed tennis elbow (actually, snow-shovel
elbow) three years ago in the same arm, I noticed that very light weight work
seemed to help.

Does this sound familiar to anyone? What did you do about it? I guess this is
old age coming home to roost, every time I try to increase my exercise regimen,
I get a sore joint somewhere, in the knee, the ankle, the elbow. Never serious,
but enough to remind me I'm mere flesh and blood.

It's hard to tell. We would need to know your position on the
bike... Maybe a saddle/stem adjustment might help. 

You should be riding with relaxed arms and they should be bent
slightly. This can be a difficult thing to master. As Andy Hampsten
says. You should relax your upper body as much as possible. You
should have your hands on the basr as if you were playing a piano.

Chip