Medical Q

[FastBoy]

What exactly is the dreaded "arm pump" thing I hear racers sometimes get?

[sdiver68]

Here, experience it for yourself.

Using both hands, start making a waving motion keeping the forearm steady, just with the wrists, full up and full down.  Now, as they are going up and down, start making fists and releasing to open hand.

Do this for about 30 seconds and feel the forarm burn.

Arm pump!

[FastBoy]

oktay nowq I    cant tipew,,,

Just kidding....

So what does "arm pump" surgery do to correct this? It seems to me to be a normal physilogical occurrance yet I know Curtis Roberts had it done last year.

[sdiver68]

http://www.motocross.is/greinar/2002/armpumpa.htm

Here's a good article on it.

[GSXR RACER MIKE]

   I use to get arm-pump somewhat often till I read some info on what can cause it to happen while racing. From what I read they described it like your overworking the muscles in the forearm and not giving them enough time to recouperate. What they suggested to help reduce strain on the muscles was to only grip when truely needed.
   This may sound odd, but you don't actually need to grip the handlebars while braking! Other than the pressure needed to squeeze the brake lever and operate the clutch you should be able to hold onto the handlebars by 'crotching' the grips with the thumb and palm of your hand and leave your fingers loose (like pushing the handlebars away from you without gripping). You can feel the difference just by sitting on your bike and pushing forward on the grips, try it while squeezing the grips and then not squeezing.
   I think a reason this is often a problem with amateur riders is that they are transmitting so much of their weight thru the handlebars while braking due to improper suspension set-up and over-braking and end up feeling that they need to grip the handlebars tightly when they don't. Scoot all the way back on the seat and grip the gas tank with your knees to help reduce the amount of weight transfer thru your arms into the handlebars. This should help ease your mind from wanting to grip the handlebars so tightly by reducing the amount of body weight being thrust forward thru your arms (having been greatly reduced by gripping the tank with your knees at a much lower point on the bike). As for advanced riders with properly set-up bikes it may still be a problem with gripping excessively hard constantly and not relaxing your grip when you could be.
   The combination of these things should help if you encounter arm pumping. This may not be the cure-all remedy, but it helped me.

[tshort]

A buddy of mine who raced a lot keeps telling me to take a short length of broom stick, a couple/three feet of stout twine, and a weight.  Hang the weight off the broom stick, and then hold the stick with your arms out in front, and using only your wrists, wind up the string onto the stick.  

This is allegedly a good way to strengthen the forearms and wrists.  Not sure whether it will address the arm pump issue or not, and I have no idea whether this is a medically "safe" thing to do or not - but it sounds reasonable to me.  YMMV....

[the_weggie_man]

The broomstick thing works.  I had my son do this when he was racing and complaining about his forearms, it helped immediately.

Very little weight is needed to get results as you will find out.  I suggest starting with a 1lb or 2 lb weight then working up if you feel the need.

The reason you need such little weight is because you're using muscles in a different way than normal and they are not used to the exertion.

[roadracer797]

This works no matter what type of rod you are holding in front of you and it doesn't have to have a lot of weight either. Because of me being a mechanic I don't get the arm pump because of turning screwdrivers is the same thing.

[Jeff]

I have never had the traditional "arm pump", as I'm *very* light on the bars.  However, I did have some problems with hand strength since I only brake with 1 finger.

My solution?  Simple...  $.89 worth of silly-putty.  I squeeze that crap until my arms ache, back and forth between hands a few times a day while at work...

Helps prevent the ole carpal-tunnel while banging on the keyboard too...

It's worked for me :-)

[Eric Kelcher]

The silly putty is real good the best stuff I have is from physcical therapy silly putty in different stiffness. I would think you could go in and buy some but it is not cheap they charged like $30 for amount about double a silly putty egg.

Prior to getting this stuff I used the simple spring loaded hand squeeze thing (the black one which I think is the strongest spring)I have no idea what it is called but Oshman's or Academy. I still carry it in the truck with me and used to do reps of 500 but now spring is pretty worn and it is real soft.

[Litespeed]

I had pretty good luck with the gyro-ball you can buy at any sports place.  Get the ball spinning a little and then start working your wrist in a circular motion.  It will cause the ball to increase speed and results in more resistance.  If you do it right, you will get arm pump in about 1 minute but as you use it more it willstart to take longer, indicating the muscles are less susceptible to it.

[Eric Kelcher]

Yeah that gyro ball is pretty cool they had one at the bike shop I used to race out of. Only problem was I think we were a little ham fisted as the thing exploded at about 100,000 RPM. Pretty expensive for about 4 hours of play time.