Modern Vespa

I use my scooter for around the town riding. I feel like my body is falling apart! I first developed tendonitis in my right wrist and now I have aches and pains in my shoulders. Are there some tips someone can give me to prevent these "pains?" I really like riding my scooter, but I think I need to take a break and drive the car until I feel better. What do you all think?

It does make me ache at times, especially my back (scoliosis). So, I try to alternate car driving and scooter riding and not overdo the scooting. One of the reasons I sold my GTS, as it was too easy to take it anywhere and everywhere.

I had a lot of trouble with my arms and especially my shoulders when I was first riding

In my case, it was just from trying to push my 300+ lb GT around on my steep driveway
It was often quite a struggle to keep it from tipping over, so I often strained muscles while preventing that (or sometimes, while not preventing it)

Once I developed more upper body strength, that problem went away

It may be as simple as relaxing while riding. Some people tense up, tighten their shoulders, grip the handlebars too hard etc.

It's also possible that you may also not be a good fit for your bike. Or perhaps you are just falling apart

Nervousness or cold can make shoulders tense - I suffer from this quite a bit. Try flapping your arms loosely, as though doing a chicken impression, to loosen up (really works!).

+1 As I posted previously, my old flight surgeon, a long term biker, attributed a variety of riding pain to tension, particularly gripping the handles too tight.

Al

[quote="Aviator47"] +1 As I posted previously, my old flight surgeon, a long term biker, attributed a variety of riding pain to tension, particularly gripping the handles too tight.

Al[/quote


+1 here
when speaking with the cannonballers, I believe that I was chatting with "Biohazard" and he said that the key is being able to relax while riding...
I don't mean let your guard down mentally, no, but to relax your arms and shoulders etc... it is a great feeling when you just ride as opposed to holding on tight and "Bro Handling it"<<<"Joel"

Tip - stick your tongue out. You can't be tense with your tongue out without biting it off...

Another one going along with this.

At times when I am riding I know that I am too tensed up and gripping the handlebars too tightly, and that my arms and shoulders are really stiff. (In my defense this is usually during rush hour when I am very aware of the speeding traffic all around me).

I mentally force myself to relax and let go of the death grip, and from that point on I find I ride a lot better and get home in a better frame of mind - and my shoulders and arms don't hurt either. I am guessing that as time goes on and I ride more I will be more relaxed without having to think about doing it.

I've got a bottom of left shoulder blade problem. It's my #6 rib going into my spine apparently. Had it since a kid playing (US) football, sandlot tackle with no equipment.

I saw a chiropractor who rides motorbikes. First he gave me an exam. Then he watched me ride around in the parking lot.

We got it down to my not lifting my left arm up as much as my right. This squeezed the rib into it's socket. Rotated the ribs/shoulder blade counterclockwise as viewed from the back.

Not having a shifter on the left grip like on my Stella is one reason. But the mirrors are adjusted so (and habit is) that I use the left one more. And I had been dropping my left arm so I could see behind me. On my Stella I added bicycle mirrors to the originals, and they stuck out way farther.

Chiropractor's are sometimes covered by insurance.

It may help. I think tensing up can be an issue too, but until you have someone else watching you ride, you really don't notice other stuff you might be doing. And a chiropractor studies this kind of stuff.

I rode straight for about a month 80 miles a day everyday and begun getting heavy pain in my knuckles wrists and elbows so I took a week long break from the scoot and the pain was gone. I find I tense up a bit when on the freeway so Im trying to ease up a bit. So far so good.

i tried this but no matter how fast i rode, and how hard i flapped, i just could get further than a few inches off the ground.

We have a local chiropractor who rides - goes by the name "Doc Wong" - and he gives a rider ergonomics course. He said the biggest problem is that many riders use a death grip, which causes fatigue and other issues for the hands, wrists, and shoulders. You get not only the general tension issues but also all the road surface vibration is transmitted to your wrists, shoulders, etc.

His advice is to have an "attack position" while riding where you're hunched over a bit using your stomach muscles rather than your back muscles to hold the upper body. The wrists and forearms should be fairly parallel with the ground and the grip should be tight enough to control the bike/scooter but only just. You don't want to be riding with your wrists bent like a bicyclist riding down on the drops.

A looser grip and reminding yourself to release tension also helps a lot in the wind.

You might also look into grip puppies or gloves with gel in the palms. Every little bit helps!

QuipMC's original post on Doc Wong can be found in this thread:

New rider, numb and tingly hands?

Reading that helped ease a lot of pain I had in my wrist and around my thumbs.

interesting thread. I commute every day (25 mile round-trip) and had a constant headache come on about a month after getting my scooter. Was wondering if I had a brain tumor and then I had to leave the scooter home for a couple of days and it magically went away. I think it was all the looking over my shoulder head turns I did at 50mph. Can't avoid those, but now I make sure to relax my neck muscles when doing it.

The problem now is my lower back. I stressed it doing some work on my roof a few weeks ago and I feel like all the scooter riding is preventing it from fully healing. Not sure though cause I'm not willing to take a break from riding to find out.

You've been diagnosed by a licensed physician as having tendonitis brought on by scootering? Put the scooter thing down for a while, let your wrist heal, then try to learn to ride relaxed. This isn't as easy as it sounds. You may need to look around and find somebody who can teach you a relaxation technique that works for you. It would be great if you could find somebody who rides to teach you how to ride relaxed. If that doesn't work out, find another hobby. There is life after scootering, after all.

Try adjusting your shocks, as well.

I found I had a much smoother lower impact ride when I changed mine.

You may be needlessly beating yourself up over less-than-smooth surfaces.

Are you living on your scoot?!!
Arithritis pains and other kinds of muscle soreness require a lot more
different kinds of exercise than just scooter riding!

Also daily doses of Vit D, and Condrioten-Glucosmine, help greatly!

I agree with loosening your grip and trying to relax your shoulders a bit. Riding a mountain bike will teach you how tightening your grip affects you. If you ride all tense and stiff you will hurt yourself. Just try to relax and maybe even take a tylenol or something like that to help with joint pain.

Wrist pain related to carpal tunal(??spelling) happens over years not in a few months.

Still a bit new here, but I've noticed that shock absorber adjustment can have an effect on how I may be feeling after riding. This is especially true when I ride two-up and set the shocks to "4" on my GTV.

It may be that carrying the extra weight of a passenger contributes as much to this phenomenon as the adjustment of the shocks, but I don't believe anyone addressed this point and it may be worth considering.

All very good points about the tensing up and I think this is why your are having pains. But here is what I have noticed. I sometimes tense up my legs as I am riding, I can be relaxed in my upper body but catch myself pushing against the floor board of the scoot, with no reason why. If I don't catch it soon enough I hurt like the old man I am when I get off the scoot. So don't just try to relax your arms and shoulders. Coil your mind to be on full alert but relax your body. 8) A relaxed body responds to your mind faster than a tense one will. 8) I have been trying to remember to keep relaxed even in the busy rush hour traffic.
I have been riding along and suddenly noticing a feeling of floating along on the road riding in a relaxed state while still maintaining a firm grip on the handle grips. These times feel great and are the funnest part of why we all like to ride. Granted this only happens on the few smooth (aka newly paved) sections of streets but when they do I really enjoy the feeling of freedom you get. 8)

If you take Tia Chi it will help. However, I think my helmet is too heavy to wear for longer (over an hour) trips.

I only do a short 10 minute ride to work in London but find if I do longer trips around town, more than half an hour I get pain in my lower back. I'll be at traffic lights stretching and massaging my back with my knuckles. I'm not sure why as before I got my scoot I would happily cycle for hours without the same problem. Maybe as others said it might be because I'm a bit tense and hyper alert when I'm on my scoot. I can't do the bolt-upright riding position, I prefer to slouch

About this advice to stick your tongue out...Potholes happen.

Relax and you might spot them in good time...

Stress kills....

Stress on a scooter hurts you, then kills....painfully....

Pain sucks, in my experience.......

Riding a scooter should feel like resting.

Resting is good....

Riding a scooter should feel like sitting on a stool.......you should feel 'at ease'.......

I have done 17 hours on a bike and felt like dancing when I got off....

okay, slow dancing....

R



8)

Some one has Scooter Cramps , Eat some banannas

I get really bad diarrhea and my left knee hurts from riding my scooter. You have to take the good with the bad.

Hm, I can relate to the odd aches & pains peeps are talking about, but diarrhea from scooting? I definitely cannot relate to that...however, sometimes, after eating spicy Indian food...I CAN relate!

what about that green stuff that leaks from your finger nails is that normal?