Riding A Bicycle With A Broken Wrist

About a year ago I decided to sell my 20 year old car and bike and walk as my main means of transportation. The small town where I live has a Dollar General now. We have a pharmacy, a feed store and a few other small stores and businesses. I had my bike outfitted with lots of baskets for in town errands, and I catch a ride into the next town to go to the grocery store a couple of times a month. All-in-all it has worked out very well until I broke my wrist.

I have still been able to run my in-town errands with the help of my garden cart, but I have really missed riding my bike. After I got out of my cast, I tried riding but it was painful to my wrist. I couldn't hold the handlebar and resting my hand on the handlebar was painful. I came up with an idea to pad the handlebar, and it has really helped.

I used items I had on hand. I keep vet wrap and disposable diapers to make hoof boots for my mule (more about that in another article) and I had some paper medical tape on hand as well.

When I had baskets put on my bike, I also got spiffy new hand grips. I didn't want to get sticky tape residue on them, so I decided to use an easy-off paper medical tape (as opposed to duct tape or some such) to secure a disposable diaper to the hand grip. This is not the strongest bond possible, but I am a fairly tame cyclist. If I tended to jump curbs or pop wheelies, I might choose a stronger base for my hand rest.

I actually padded the right hand grip because I broke my right wrist, but I took these pictures after the fact. I started by simply taping one end of a disposable diaper to the hand grip with one piece of tape.

By the way, I happen to have bunches of disposable diapers on hand. I did notice that they are available in packs of just a few for a couple of dollars at the Dollar General, though.

I wrapped the diaper around the hand grip pretty tightly. I thought this would help it hold the tape in place and prevent it from slipping.

I just put one piece of tape on the outer edge to hold it in place. I also put a piece of tape over the end of the hand grip to hold the edges of the diaper together.

Once that was done, I got a roll of vet wrap and taped the corner down to the metal part of the handlebar. This positioning allowed me to wrap at an angle.

I wrapped at an angle to the end of the hand grip then wrapped around the hand-grip and back again so that the whole diaper was completely covered. Once I got back to the metal part of the handlebar, I wrapped over the paper tape entirely. The vet wrap clings very securely to itself, so it holds everything in place. This hand rest is very secure and does not slip at all.

Here's my swollen hand resting on the hand rest. It is quite comfortable, and I am able to guide my bike somewhat with my right hand. I think it's good therapy for my hand and wrist as well. The more I use it now that the bone is growing back together, the better and more flexible it becomes.

A few months ago, I found this lightweight bicycle lying by the side of the road. The chain and chain guard were badly damaged, and it seemed to be abandoned. I left it where it was for a week, but no one ever came to get it. When it started raining I brought it inside and kept it. I've had the chain adjusted and chain guard replaced, and it's nice to have for just zipping around town!

Securing the diaper to the hand grip was pretty much the same as with my cargo bike, except I was not able to secure the edge of the diaper over the end of the hand grip because of the bar ends. For this reason, the rest is not as secure and slips a bit.

The diaper just barely fits into the hand grip area on this bike, and what with cables and brake levers and whatnot, it was hard to overlap the vet wrap onto the handle bars. I ended up having to wrap from one end to the other three times instead of two in order to get the diaper fairly securely in place.

It was hard to get enough angle with the limited space, and there was not room for much overlap of the vet wrap at the edges of the diaper, so this hand rest does slip a bit. Since I just cruise around at a leisurely pace on flat streets with very little traffic, it's fine for me. I wouldn't recommend this for a teenager or any other rider who is at all more adventurous than I!

I did find that with this bike, it is also comfortable to hook my thumb on the bar end, and that gives me a little more control. It's not really possible to "steer" with this adaptation. It just provides a place to rest my hand. I also feel more balanced riding with two hands than one, even if I am not doing much with my right hand at this point.

I am not able to brake with my right hand, but I can use the front brakes gently with my left hand. I am careful not to apply my brakes suddenly. I certainly wouldn't want to go flying over the handlebars and break my wrist!

Copyright:SuzanneBennett:March 14, 2015