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Trying to keep this brief
I currently have a recently dislocated and remaining torn ligament situation on my left thumb
Itching to get back on a bike while I wait for the mandatory 4 week healing period to pass, I’m wondering if I can take any precautions to prevent further damage when I’m able to ride again
Should I get over my impatience and wait it out longer until everything feels normal again? Try and ride with a splint still on, find some sort of hand support?
Anyone that’s had this kind of thing, what did you do?
Any advice greatly appreciated as I’m dying to pedal again but don’t want to do something that’ll make the wait longer
Which ligaments are torn, how torn are they, how did you do it and what sort of riding are you hoping to get back to?
Maybe check out Chelsea Kimball on Instagram? She's been nursing a thumb injury for ages and ended up having surgery on it having re-injured it a few times. Quite a few people gave her feedback on their thumb injuries and attempts at riding with splints etc in the comments sections.
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Oof, sounds nasty, you have my sympathy. I would have thought patience is your friend here, I'm afraid.
Not directly comparable, but a series of unrelated events led me to acquire two sprained thumbs and left wrist a couple of months ago. I then managed to slice through the top of one of my finger joints (MCP) with a Stanley blade.
Anything other than gentle riding is currently quite painful and a recent trip to the FOD seems to have set me back weeks, frustratingly. Your injury is way more severe, so I would give it all the time it needs to heal properly before chucking yourself down anything terrifying. IANAD.
Which ligaments are torn, how torn are they, how did you do it and what sort of riding are you hoping to get back to?
the ligaments that are on the joint from my thumb to my hand if that makes any sense, not sure what they’re called
“I don’t think it’s bad enough to warrant surgery, it might be ready to go after 5-6 weeks, ” (doctors words, not mine)
Caused by coming off my commuter bike going too fast, through a sharp bend, on a main road hill last week, the various cuts, scrapes and gouges (I’ve somehow got a near perfect chainring shaped gouge on my left shin)are healing up nice and quick but the splinted thumb, that looks very much like a bruised and swollen toe, currently, is still…very toe like
I’ll accept I’m not going to be tearing up the singletrack anytime soon without pain but I’d be glad for even a gentle bimble on or off road (bridleways, footpaths, unpaved sea wall that sort of thing)
Obviously, being a thumb, it’s somewhat of a pivot point on the bars to a certain extent so Trying to work out if I can do something, anything, on a bike without causing further damage that prevents me riding even longer
@stwhannah thanks for the link, will check that out and see what I can take from it
If you are looking for a dropper lever with thumb-knack I can highly recommend the Yep Components JoyStick.
I broke a finger in a race crash a few years back and carried on riding for months afterwards. I have no idea if you can or should do similar, but I found the Ergon grips very good for riding with a trashed hand.
I guess it depends on the amount of damage and the type of riding you do. Suspect you don't want to run the risk of further damage...
So you could maybe ride with thumb braces to support the joint, or you could just do some easy stuff where you can rest your left hand on top of the bars, don't need to grip hard or even use your thumb at all. Maybe just use front brake.
Discretion might be the the wiser option tho cos if it goes tits again it'll take much longer to get back
No direct experience but my instinct would be to strap the thumb up to your hand and bimble around without using it as a separate entity. No so easy if you have a thumb shifter perhaps. I wouldn’t expect to be doing any proper MTBing, it sounds like it would be very easy to strain it further.
Thanks for the suggestions, all
Some thing to chew on definitely, I had considered easy stuff with hand resting on top of bars but hadn’t thought about thumb braces so that’s something to look into
Starting to get some movement back despite the soreness which I suspect is mostly bruising at this stage, think I’ll give it another couple of days and head out for a gentle bimble and see where the land lies (also have to wait for my new lid to arrive in the post)
The only thumb shifter I have on the left is for my dropper so not a huge obstacle if I’m taking it easy
Christ on a bike?
You don't want to prolong the recovery, so maybe take a little time off the bike. You could always walk/run instead for a bit. Let it heal and return to the bike when it's strong again.
Christ on a bike?
You don’t want to prolong the recovery, so maybe take a little time off the bike. You could always walk/run instead for a bit. Let it heal and return to the bike when it’s strong again.
Ha ha That’s the sensible option certainly, I’m sure, like many of the STW population, I’m being a bit hasty due to the need to be out on a bike so looking to cheat the system as it were, realistically, you can’t cheat injury, just have to wade it out but trying to avoid the harm in trying ha ha
I am in the same position, I had a huge otb 2 weeks ago and hurt my right thumb. Initially I was worried that I'd broken it, but I now have full movement although my Mcp joint still hurts alot. I bought a thumb splint and rode Llandegla last Friday. Climbing and flat ground was not a real problem, but anything downhill with braking really hurt. When braking, the bar sits in the crook between thumb and finger which hurts. I also found I was getting hand cramp as I was holding the bar differently to minimise the pain.
If you are happy riding xc//road where braking can be minimised, then riding with a splint should be fine. However, if the aim is to mtb as normal with a damaged thumb, you'll quickly find that you can't.