# Thumb Pain!!



## ETETET (Oct 30, 2006)

I ride a singlespeed with a RF XC carbon low rise bar. During and after each ride, both of my thumb joints hurt like hell. When I climb, I put my thumbs over the bar to avoid the pain. After the ride, the pain will follow me for about 3 to 4 days. Feels like my thumbs are sprained. It hurts the most when I try to curl out my thumbs with my index finger (from the same hand) pushing down on the back of my thumb nail. The pain is at the joints. Anyone has any idea as to why this is happening. Should the riser be installed flat, facing up or down? Thanks.


----------



## mlepito (May 1, 2007)

How old are you? It sounds like you may be getting some arthritis in the thumbs. The problem with thumb injuries is that they take forever to heal because we use them all the time.


----------



## ETETET (Oct 30, 2006)

*Young 34*

I'm a young 34 yr dude. I'm pretty fit for my age. I bike, run and I lift weights. I am starting to worry about my hands though. For the past year, my hands have started to give me problems. I lost a good amount of strength on my fingers. I'm guessing from the roughing it took from moving heavy objects. Then I endoed and landed on my hand, and now I have a slight bulge on my right palm. It's there and hurts when I push down on it. Now this... Gotta take better care of my hands... Thanks for your feedback.


----------



## Nostromo (Sep 22, 2005)

Yeah I get thumb joint pain, but its more stiffness and a bit sore, not really as bad as you describe.
I had double jointed thumbs as a kid, I'm sure it wasn't good for them. Like you I rest my thumbs on the top of the grip a lot of the time for a bit of relief.
I also find riding with thinner grips is a lot better as it's just easier on my hands to hold something that's not as big around. I also find more backsweep puts my wrists in a more neutral position, I'm thinking about trying some OnOne Mary bars at some point.
Maybe you should see a doc, I haven't yet.


----------



## hkmeup (Dec 30, 2006)

If you ride with the brake levers pointing down too much this could be a problem. Your hands will have to rotate forwards too much when you brake and you can't support yourself with your palms. Basically, the bars end up trying to rip your thumbs off as you slam through the rough stuff.


----------



## ETETET (Oct 30, 2006)

*Gotta Adjust*

Thanks for pointing out. That's what it feels like, my thumbs being ripped off. I'll definitely try repositioning the levers and see if this improves.


----------



## chopperguth (Sep 26, 2003)

ET.....I had the same issues It wasn't until I switched to Ergon grips that the problem vanished. I actually put them on all my rides and couldn't be happier! They don't look the greatest but they do work. Since I have small hands I opted for the lady version...Here is the link with more info. Hope this helps and your back to enjoying the ride!

http://www.ergon-bike.com/us/grips/gp1.html

P.S.-
If you ride bar ends they have them in that version also.


----------



## RacerX.29 (May 14, 2007)

chopperguth said:


> ET.....I had the same issues It wasn't until I switched to Ergon grips that the problem vanished. I actually put them on all my rides and couldn't be happier! They don't look the greatest but they do work. Since I have small hands I opted for the lady version...Here is the link with more info. Hope this helps and your back to enjoying the ride!
> 
> http://www.ergon-bike.com/us/grips/gp1.html
> 
> ...


Has anyone tried Ergon's with low rise carbon bars? How did it work out?


----------



## K-rider (Apr 10, 2007)

I also had thumb pain after riding. I blamed it on the thumb shifters but after riding single speed, I still had the resulting pain. I tried the post's suggestion and repositioned the brake levers upward putting more support on my palms and it has really helped. Thanks


----------



## ETETET (Oct 30, 2006)

*Thanks for the Input*

Hey everyone, thanks for the input. I've adjusted my brake levers as mentioned, and riser bar position so it points upward. This has helped alot, but my thumbs are still slightly sore afterwards. I think I'm going to try out the ergo grips and see how it goes. Seems like sore thumbs are pretty common around here...


----------



## mlepito (May 1, 2007)

Thumb injuries take a while to heal, because we use them all the time. Kinda like TMJ.


----------



## ERGON (Nov 9, 2006)

RacerX.29 said:


> Has anyone tried Ergon's with low rise carbon bars? How did it work out?


Personally, I have not, as I run a flat bar. But I can confirm that Dave Wiens runs this set up. I also know a lot of folks also run Ergon grips with the Easton & FSA carbon riser bars.



Jeff
Ergon USA


----------



## chopperguth (Sep 26, 2003)

Ergon......Any plans in the work to make them in colors other than the Team Green & the standard Black and grey?


----------



## ERGON (Nov 9, 2006)

chopperguth said:


> Ergon......Any plans in the work to make them in colors other than the Team Green & the standard Black and grey?


Right now, the 'wing' style grips only come in black and team green. We have a few other grips that are also offered in white.

GE1

GA1

Jeff
Ergon USA


----------



## MoE79 (Apr 2, 2008)

I am having the exact same pain that ETETET is having. I have messed with some brake lever adjustments and shifter adjustments, but nothing has helped yet. Mine is only my right thumb though. I was thinking it was because I use it much more than the left thumb for shifting. I have even kicked the idea around of buying a twist shifter set and only installing the right side to try to prevent the thumb pain. I hate twist shifters though. I am riding with OURY grips right now and may switch to something different. Have you fixed the problem or had any luck with any of the suggestions??
Thanks,


----------



## drain bamage (Nov 24, 2008)

Same here Im not quite sure where it is hurting my thumb but I think it is on the joint. I am very young and did a long ride requiring lots of hard braking and I am not sure that is why. But I will try angling the brake levers up more especially because I am small. I am pretty sure it is not from shifting because I dont shift that much I stay in the chain ring 2 most of the time. It hurts when I even land a wheelie.


----------



## Thermo1 (Jul 19, 2007)

ERGON said:


> Personally, I have not, as I run a flat bar. But I can confirm that Dave Wiens runs this set up. I also know a lot of folks also run Ergon grips with the Easton & FSA carbon riser bars.
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Good to see Dave rocking bar ends on risers :thumbsup:

Are there any gotchas with running a carbon bar and Ergon grips?


----------



## MoE79 (Apr 2, 2008)

I too am not very old (29) and think arthritis would be out of the question. I installed some smaller diameter grips, repositioned my shifters, and adjusted the angle of my brake levers. I am running mechanical disc and am thinking that maybe having to use two fingers and squeeze fairly hard to keep the bike at a controllable pace while encountering rough downhill sections may be causing me to support too much weight on my thumbs. Maybe some nice hydro brakes would help too? Or am I just looking for an excuse to drop some more cash on my bike.... I haven't got a chance to ride again since the grip change. I will post up if they make any difference.


----------



## MoE79 (Apr 2, 2008)

I went for a ride last night and I'm not sure which change helped the most or if it was a combination of all three, but the thumb is considerably better after riding than it was previously. There is still a slight bit of stiffness when I use my index and middle finger to push my thumb into my palm, but other than that, all is good. I guess I just need to fine tune the brake and shifter location to see if I can get it a little better. Apparently the huge soft grips weren't helping me any.


----------



## ERGON (Nov 9, 2006)

Thermo1 said:


> Are there any gotchas with running a carbon bar and Ergon grips?


No, there is not. But, keep in mind to follow all torque specs for the bar and Ergon grips. If you are running our barend grips we suggest using a barend reinforcement plug.

Jeff
Ergon USA


----------



## Cayenne_Pepa (Dec 18, 2007)

It's not your bars- it is the brake lever position. If your brake levers are hanging straight down......there is your problem. When we ride- we often keep one or two fingers on the brakes. If the levers are nearly vertical, that means your thumbs are the ONLY things keeping both hands on the bars. Your entire body is supported by two thumbs draped over your bars.....NOT GOOD. If you ever collided with something at full speed- both thumbs will be popped out of their sockets, and busted. Re-position both brake levers, so more of your palms are in contact with the bars. Just turn both brake levers more horizontally, and see more comfort, without putting all the burden on the thumbs.


----------



## coil-n-oil (Jun 22, 2008)

*I feel your pain*

I struggled with thumb joint pain over the past couple years with it finally getting so bad last fall that I had to cut back on my riding and avoid using my right thumb for anything, even turning the car keys in the ignition and using the space bar on the keyboard! This was quite the stealth injury and snuck up slowly over time. My riding is probably about 50% Downhill and 50% XC. The conclusion that I came to after much investigation, reflection, and experimentation, was that the majority of my injury was caused by 2 years of downhilling with full finger gloves that were too small. The glove material was too short in the web of my hand and every impact I took there, the glove would pull back on my thumb in a jamming fashion (the end if the glove is against the end of the thumb and pulling back every impact). A couple other contributing factors were grips that were slightly too big that caused the thumb to be stretched away from the hand ever so slightly (ODI Rogue), and brake lever position. I don't think these would have been as big of a deal if my thumb wasn't already injured from the glove problem. They merely kept aggravating it. After getting different gloves, modifying my grips, and babying my thumb for the past 6-8 months (riding with thumbs on top of bar, minimal DH), my thumb is ALMOST back to normal. Yes, expect your thumb to take a LONG time to heal, and expect a lot of things in your daily life to keep it aggravated unless you pay attention.

Here is my recommendation on things to check:

1. Full finger gloves that are too small, causing a jamming of the thumb as I explained above.

2. Grips that are too big and cause "tweaking" of your thumb, esp. when climbing. I did one DH run with small diameter grips and my thumbs felt great, but palms felt battered. I ended up keeping my large diameter ODI Rogues since I need the palm padding for DH, but I shaved down an area under the thumb all the way down to the plastic (~4mm removed). This provided all the relief I needed, and I kept the padding for my palms. It also made a big difference when climing during XC rides, although I still climb with my thumbs on top of the bar sometimes. If you only ride XC, you could probably just use smaller grips and be fine.

3. Brake lever and hand position. If your levers are pointed too far down, your thumb will be in a bad position and will be taking direct impacts rather than the palm of your hand. The effect here is similar to grips that are too large: a tweaking of the thumb in a unnatural direction. I will also add that I highly doubt that shifters are causing anybody problems. Even when my thumbs were still hurting, shifting didn't cause much aggravation even when I was expecting it to. Examine the direction of force on your thumb from using the shifter and then from handlebar push/impact and you'll see what I'm talking about. The shifter pushes back in a straight direction with respect to the thumb while the bar pushens the thumb at an unnatural 90 degree angle.

If you have thumb pain and are reading this, don't expect any of these changes to drastically improve your pain right away. Troubleshooting my problem was difficult because my injured thumb was irritated by just about ANYTHING, including riding with what I now know is a properly tuned setup. Keep babying it and get your setup dialed as best as you can, and it will start feeling better eventually.


----------



## singer (Sep 21, 2008)

thumb pain sucks !!!! 
While I can see you were riding SS and is obviously not your issue, I got it from SRAM shifters. The throw was way too long from my creepy small chick hands. Add too that much more tension vs the XTR shifter click (I needed to press way harder) ... and a couple of 24s.... I had months of pain. Took months to go away too - but swapping back to XTRs solved the problem for me. 
New bike - I'm trying grip shifts....


----------



## coil-n-oil (Jun 22, 2008)

singer said:


> thumb pain sucks !!!!
> While I can see you were riding SS and is obviously not your issue, I got it from SRAM shifters. The throw was way too long from my creepy small chick hands. Add too that much more tension vs the XTR shifter click (I needed to press way harder) ... and a couple of 24s.... I had months of pain. Took months to go away too - but swapping back to XTRs solved the problem for me.
> New bike - I'm trying grip shifts....


I'm glad you got your problem fixed! I guess I shouldn't have been so quick to discount shifters as a possible problem for others.

I run SRAM X7shifters and derailleurs on both my DH and XC bikes, and it was my right thumb that was injured. No problems in my situation. SRAM does feature quite a long throw, so I can see how that would be a problem for small hands. I have regular size man-hands and I have to rotate my wrist sometimes to get a full push.


----------



## pulpwoody (Jan 31, 2006)

bump for this thread. I've been suffering from the same thing on my left hand. It's an older thing, mostly from basketball, but I noticed that after I used the Ergon All-Mountain grips, my thumb felt much worse. Stopped using those guys.

I'll also try the brake lever position.


----------



## edubfromktown (Sep 7, 2010)

Thread bump...

For the first time ever, I started noticing mild thumb basal joint pain the past few months that appeared to occur no matter which of 3 bikes I rode. After reading through this thread I decided to rotate my brake levers clockwise (maybe 10 degrees or so) and it worked.


----------



## warmonkey (Nov 8, 2005)

I've been having basal joint pain in my left hand occasionally for the last year, pretty steadily for the last six months. I just noticed the beginnings of it in my right. I've been riding mtb's for twenty years with no problems. Changes to my setup in the last year have been larger diameter lock-on grips and wide bars. I've noticed that unless you're riding in the exaggerated-wide bar-aggro-position all the weight is on the base of your thumbs. I'm going to check the brake lever setup first but I think I'm also going try switching one bike back to regular width bars with regular (read thin) grips and see what happens.


----------



## pulpwoody (Jan 31, 2006)

Please keep us posted. I can't pinpoint any of my thumb pain to wide bars thought.


----------



## tweasol (Mar 20, 2009)

Any update? I'm suffering the same basal joint pain in my right thumb. I injured it playing soccer three years ago but MTB is aggravating it. I'm barely 22, so there is no way it's arthritis.

The information here is 10 times better than everything my doctor told me, so I'd really like to hear what you guys discovered.

About an hour ago I found this:









It's basically thumb-on-metal. I definitely think this is because my brakes are too low. I'm going to fix that as soon as I write this. If you guys see this, please share what worked for you.

Also, if anyone could recommend some grips, that would be awesome.

Thanks!!


----------



## edubfromktown (Sep 7, 2010)

tweasol said:


> Any update? I'm suffering the same basal joint pain in my right thumb. I injured it playing soccer three years ago but MTB is aggravating it. I'm barely 22, so there is no way it's arthritis.
> 
> The information here is 10 times better than everything my doctor told me, so I'd really like to hear what you guys discovered.
> 
> ...


Looks as though you should replace those grips and I'd rotate your brake lever forward ~5-10 degrees and see if it makes any difference.

I'm partial to Lizard Skin, ODI and Oury's. Pricepoint has a decent price on the latter... there are knock offs sold on eBay for a bit less but I'd get the real ones for a few $$$ more.

Oury Lock-On Grips with Clamps | Oury | Brand | www.PricePoint.com


----------



## deepwat3r (Aug 20, 2013)

coil-n-oil said:


> 1. Full finger gloves that are too small, causing a jamming of the thumb as I explained above.


Yup! This is how it started for me, I rode just twice with gloves that were too small and now, months later I'm still trying to get my thumbs to heal up. Using the ESI chunky grips at the moment, going to try shaving down a spot for my thumb on the underside as you suggest and see if it helps.


----------



## Doublebase (Aug 29, 2015)

Glad I found this thread, I've been riding for years and just recently I started to get thumb pain...didn't know what the hell was going on...mostly right hand. Then it started on my left as well. This is so bad that I can barely flip a burger on the grill now, it's driving me nuts. 

I've tried ice, ibuprofen, etc. It does help, but as soon as I ride or lift weights...right back and it doesn't really go away either (so I guess it's good to hear it takes a lot of time to heal and I'm not alone).

I'll buy some ergonomical grips, I used to ride a Specialized and I loved it's grips - probably the best part of that bike - so I'll give that a shot while rotating my brake levers down a bit. I ride a Santa Cruz 5010 size large and the bike may be a bit too small for me, but then again I rode it last year with no problems and I'm hoping the adjustments will help because this sucks. I never imagined thumb joints could cause so much pain...I'm finding myself not wanting to ride and I never thought that would happen. Can barely lift my bike to put it on the rack after a ride. I hope these tips help.


----------



## 11053 (Sep 19, 2009)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gamekeeper's_thumb
Dr. Google will also show Skier's thumb.
Lots of rehab options.
Easy to continue to prolong injury doing daily things like gripping the steering wheel in your car in a manner that strains the thumb.
Amazon.com : ESI Chunky MTB Grip (Black) : Bike Grips And Accessories : Sports & Outdoors


----------



## Doublebase (Aug 29, 2015)

Well I went out and bought some new ergonomical grips, moved my brake levers and watched about 30 minutes worth of physical therapy videos. Looks like rest is number one, they can't stress enough not to use your thumb, ice, then exercises when it calms down. Sucks but I'll make some adjustments...hopefully the grips and brake lever reposition will help.


----------



## Maizie88 (Apr 29, 2014)

Pain by the thumb can also be De-Quervains. You could try taping the hand/thumb before a ride to help prevent over-extension.


----------



## Doublebase (Aug 29, 2015)

Well this thread helped me out a lot, buying different grips and constantly adjusting my hand position finally relieved my thumb joint pain. At one point prior it became so bad that I couldn't pick my bike up to put it on my rack after my ride. I could barely shift...everything was a struggle. It took some time but the pain finally went away.


----------



## daledenton (May 26, 2018)

ETETET said:


> I'm a young 34 yr dude. I'm pretty fit for my age. I bike, run and I lift weights. I am starting to worry about my hands though. For the past year, my hands have started to give me problems. I lost a good amount of strength on my fingers. I'm guessing from the roughing it took from moving heavy objects. Then I endoed and landed on my hand, and now I have a slight bulge on my right palm. It's there and hurts when I push down on it. Now this... Gotta take better care of my hands... Thanks for your feedback.


So now you're a 45 year old dude, and I find myself at 34. What have you learned in the decade since making this post? Dropper levers weren't a thing then, but using mine (with a wolftooth remote) has REALLY flared up my left thumb. Ice and Ibuprofen seem no help.


----------



## mattmania (Jan 16, 2009)

*2 Thumbs up!*

I have come to some of the same conclusions. I cut fingers off thumbs on my gloves, and got rid of my extra-thick grips. I still have pain in my thumbs, but it's not as bad - but I have been diagnosed with osteoarthritis in my shoulders, and I turn 60 next year. It's really still only a problem on rides over 10 miles. If only I would lay off enough to give them a chance to heal up, but repairs take longer after you hit 55 or so....



coil-n-oil said:


> I struggled with thumb joint pain over the past couple years with it finally getting so bad last fall that I had to cut back on my riding and avoid using my right thumb for anything, even turning the car keys in the ignition and using the space bar on the keyboard! This was quite the stealth injury and snuck up slowly over time. My riding is probably about 50% Downhill and 50% XC. The conclusion that I came to after much investigation, reflection, and experimentation, was that the majority of my injury was caused by 2 years of downhilling with full finger gloves that were too small. The glove material was too short in the web of my hand and every impact I took there, the glove would pull back on my thumb in a jamming fashion (the end if the glove is against the end of the thumb and pulling back every impact). A couple other contributing factors were grips that were slightly too big that caused the thumb to be stretched away from the hand ever so slightly (ODI Rogue), and brake lever position. I don't think these would have been as big of a deal if my thumb wasn't already injured from the glove problem. They merely kept aggravating it. After getting different gloves, modifying my grips, and babying my thumb for the past 6-8 months (riding with thumbs on top of bar, minimal DH), my thumb is ALMOST back to normal. Yes, expect your thumb to take a LONG time to heal, and expect a lot of things in your daily life to keep it aggravated unless you pay attention.
> 
> Here is my recommendation on things to check:
> 
> ...


----------



## SDMTB'er (Feb 11, 2014)

ETETET said:


> I ride a singlespeed with a RF XC carbon low rise bar. During and after each ride, both of my thumb joints hurt like hell. When I climb, I put my thumbs over the bar to avoid the pain. After the ride, the pain will follow me for about 3 to 4 days. Feels like my thumbs are sprained. It hurts the most when I try to curl out my thumbs with my index finger (from the same hand) pushing down on the back of my thumb nail. The pain is at the joints. Anyone has any idea as to why this is happening. Should the riser be installed flat, facing up or down? Thanks.


I had this problem too on a new Hightower. I replaced the stock 800 bars with Renthal carbon bars and trimmed them down to 780. The Renthal bars also have less back sweep. I solved my problem.

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk


----------



## maynard (Jan 15, 2004)

Sounds like you have de quarvians diseseas, not really a disease at all. ice the **** out of your thumbs, look for a 10 degree plus ben handle bar, play around with roll if you can, and length...if you can. find someone local who does graston or shockwave treatment. i have had great results with both on my patients and suffer from wrst/thumb pain myself.

heres ome info on the thumb injury it might be:
https://glenabbeychiro.com/blog/de-quervains-disease/


----------



## daledenton (May 26, 2018)

MRI says UCL rupture. Having surgery in two weeks. Thank you to all the armchair doctors out there for trying.


----------



## lanoued (Dec 3, 2019)

daledenton said:


> MRI says UCL rupture. Having surgery in two weeks. Thank you to all the armchair doctors out there for trying.


UCL rupture for me too after a fall off my MTB in early December, surgery scheduled next week.

Sent from my SM-T813 using Tapatalk


----------



## djska (Jan 30, 2005)

I took a fall and sprained my thumb in July and though it didn't seem that bad and did not hurt that much, it kept on bugging me. Holding the bar initially hurt my thumb and I couldn't downshift and instead resorted to pushing the lever with my wrist. The joint itself was swollen a bit and was painful when pressing on it, so probably inflamed. I taped it for weeks, tried to give it full rest (including stopping my other big hobby for a while, playing drums, have no bandrehearsals nor gigs anyway due to Corona). Still could do strength exercises like deadlifts, pull-ups and push-ups, but no standing- or bench press, as the weight then rests against the thumb.
I used some of the tips here:
- like adjusting the levers more horizontal
- not wearing (pretty stiff) gloves when riding cause the resistance hurt my thumb.
- I got a specific brace, just fabric, sort of a reminder to not try opening a bottle, but the brace kinda pressed on the (slighty) swollen joint, so I figured, that's not good.
- Also tried taking Ibuprofen for 3-4 days, that reduced the pain of course, but did not resolve the inflamation.
Since it was taking worrying long, looked into supplements:
- Glucosamine: already used this, didn't help
+ A complete Collagen: I used this for like 2 weeks, when at some point I noticed the pain was almost completely gone. Can't say for sure of course, but after months of lingering pain, and it suddenly healing, I believe the Collagen did the trick.
- BPC-157 peptides: I ordered tablets, but they arrived after my thumb was already much better. Not cheap stuff, so I will use up one strip, and then save the remaining tablets for the next injury 

(edit: forgot to mention I tried Ibuprofen)


----------



## jimPacNW (Feb 26, 2013)

- add me to the list of riders with thumb joint pain, mine is the joint closest to the wrist on my left hand, it is consistent with De Quervain's. It started in summer a couple of months ago (I think I originally strained it 'thumbing' a tight beaded tire onto a rim), got a little better but lingered, and recently got worse. I'm only riding the trainer indoors for a while, I'm 8 days off riding outside and it's a fair bit better, but still 'lingering' discomfort. A few weeks ago I put on larger grips (Fat Paws) that had previously helped with a crash injury on the other hand, but the larger round grips don't seem to help at all with this. I'll try some more 'ergo' grips, and rotate my brakes a little to see if that helps, and stay off the rougher-riding 26er shed/winter bike. CBD gel might be helping, along with rest, ice, and ibuprofen. 
I got a pretty decent wrist&thumb brace from WalMart for under $10, a friend in the medical field thought it was better than what they give out, - at the very least the brace is a reminder to not use that thumb as though it were ok, the thumb/wrist brace is not comfortable to ride with, but is good for driving and other stuff.


----------



## jimPacNW (Feb 26, 2013)

Update: I've been getting DC shock therapy treatments from a local PT (apparently that's the latest thing, I can't remember the exact name). It's slowly getting better, but I get fatigue from typing and daily stuff. Ergon grips do seem to help on the bike, I've got the GA3 on 2 bikes, and I think I'm going to order a 3rd set, the cheap knock offs don't have the same padding.


----------



## djska (Jan 30, 2005)

Perhaps give supplements I suggested a go?


----------



## Twan (7 mo ago)

Looks like this was almost 12 years ago but I am having similar issues now - very similar to what you describe where it was definitely small tears over time and not an acute injury. I think I did the most damage last summer doing alot of downhill - I definitely had some ill-fitting gloves and in retrospect can imagine my thumbs taking alot of the load. Very bumpy and a good amount of drops too.

Anything else over the years that has helped with this issue? Has it ever come back for you (hope it hasnt)?

Thanks!





coil-n-oil said:


> *I feel your pain*
> 
> I struggled with thumb joint pain over the past couple years with it finally getting so bad last fall that I had to cut back on my riding and avoid using my right thumb for anything, even turning the car keys in the ignition and using the space bar on the keyboard! This was quite the stealth injury and snuck up slowly over time. My riding is probably about 50% Downhill and 50% XC. The conclusion that I came to after much investigation, reflection, and experimentation, was that the majority of my injury was caused by 2 years of downhilling with full finger gloves that were too small. The glove material was too short in the web of my hand and every impact I took there, the glove would pull back on my thumb in a jamming fashion (the end if the glove is against the end of the thumb and pulling back every impact). A couple other contributing factors were grips that were slightly too big that caused the thumb to be stretched away from the hand ever so slightly (ODI Rogue), and brake lever position. I don't think these would have been as big of a deal if my thumb wasn't already injured from the glove problem. They merely kept aggravating it. After getting different gloves, modifying my grips, and babying my thumb for the past 6-8 months (riding with thumbs on top of bar, minimal DH), my thumb is ALMOST back to normal. Yes, expect your thumb to take a LONG time to heal, and expect a lot of things in your daily life to keep it aggravated unless you pay attention.
> 
> ...


----------

