Wednesday How to Tip - Reducing ARM PUMP.. 
by Mike Fraser
05 May 2004

Dealing with and winning the battle against arm pump.

Kingston was a great day of racing. Good weather, excellent track conditions, and lots of competition and loads of fans. As I had a chance to talk to many of the racers of the day, I kept hearing the same thing over and over from almost everyone I talked to. It would go something like this:

The track is great and the racing is awesome, but MAN AM I EVER GETTING ARM PUMP!

I think that was the most common complaint I heard from everyone. So I figured I would write an article to address what exactly arm pump is, what are other causes of forearm fatigue, and what you can do to reduce if not totally prevent arm pump from happening.

So let’s get started.

Severe arm pump can ruin any riders day. A racer may prepare his bike, spend thousands of dollars on equipment, practice for hours on end and feel as though he/she is ready, only to have his forearms pump up mid-way through a moto. All that money, time and effort cannot stop your hands from becoming useless.

Before we dive into this subject, please note that I am not a doctor and the information found in the article is not intended to replace the opinions and recommendations of a trained physician or medical professional. The information and opinions are those founded through research from sources such as the internet, medical journals, and medical web sites.

What is arm pump?

Arm pump can actually be different symptoms on different people. Real arm pump is known as Chronic Exertional Compartment Syndrome of the Forearm (CECSF).

First lets start with how the forearm is constructed. The forearm has two main sets of muscles. Those on the back side of your arm (dorsal side) and those on the lower side (volar). When you grab your bars, notice how the muscles on both sides of the forearm tighten. The palm muscles are bending your fingers to grip the bars and the backside muscles are holding your wrist stable.
The muscles in your forearms are wrapped up in layers of what is called fascia. This is a thin, but strong, white layer that wraps the muscles into compartments. The fascia is not elastic, therefore it will not stretch. Your muscles are wrapped in this stuff to keep them in form and shape. Otherwise your arms would be very lumpy if there was nothing holding the muscles in wrapped tight cords as they are.

Since fascia is not stretchy, any increase in volume of blood flow will lead to a sense of increased pressure in and around those muscles. As more and more blood flows into the arms the volume of the blood in the muscles causes an expansion and makes your arms feel as hard as rocks.
If the pressure in the fascial compartments rises high enough, blood vessels can collapse, which restricts or stops the flow through that vessel. Veins, with their low pressure and thin walls, collapse earlier than high-pressure, thick-walled arteries. When veinous flow reduces, arterial blood continues to enter the fascial compartment but is restricted from leaving. This restricted outflow further increases the pressure within the fascia compartment. If the compartment pressure rises higher than the pressure in the capillaries, or even the arteries, then these vessels may collapse, resulting in "muscle ischemia"—a painful condition of oxygen deprivation. (Jondy L. Cohen, M.D.)

Ok, enough with the medical stuff. Motocrosser are very susceptible to arm pump because blood flow only happens in the forearms when the arms are relaxed. So in between motos your arms are getting lots of in and out blood flow. When you arms contract the blood flow out become restricted. During a moto your arms do not tend to relax enough to allow for blood flow out of the arms and the blood coming in to feed the working muscles with oxygen accumulate and cause PUMP! If your PUMP does not go away between motos I strongly suggest you consult your family doctor, you may have something more severe known as Acute Compartment Syndrome, which I will not be getting into today.

There can be other causes of arm pump or arm fatigue; arthritis, carpal tunnel syndrom, fractures, under developed muscles, neck problems, the list goes on and on. So how do you deal with it, reduce it, or eliminate it?

One of the best ways to reduce arm pump is to know how to properly position your weight on the bike. When you are riding ALL of your weight should be either located in one of two spots: the pegs or the seat. If you are weighting the bars you will have a natural tendency to grip harder as well as you arms are going to have to absorb the shock of bumps that your legs should be taking. Next time you are out practicing be aware of where you weight is. If you find you have a weighted pressure in your palms you are probably putting too much weight forward on the bars. You can prevent this by gripping the bike harder with your legs and relaxing your grip on the bars some.

Another great way to help with blood flow in the arms is through stretching. There are several ways to stretch out the forearms. I have found that the stretching exercises practiced in the martial art of Aikido (think Steven Segal) are excellent for conditioning your forearms and wrists. Here is a link to a page that illustrates these stretches.
Aikido Wrist Stretches and Conditioning


Other things you can do are:
1. Make sure your clutch is working properly. Nothing pumps up the left arm faster than a hard to pull clutch.
2. Drink lots of water during race day. Keeping your self hydrated dramatically reduces muscle fatigue.
3. Avoid junk food. Proper diet and nutrition are vital if you want to be a competitive athlete.
4. Get proper amounts of sleep. If you body is tired your muscles will tire faster.
5. When riding don’t ride for extremely long periods. Ride for 10 - 15 minutes, then take a break. Recover and then go back at it.
6. Try weight training with light weights and high reps doing wrist curls for endurance.
7. If you lift weights, don’t train with heavy weights. Train light and high reps for endurance.
8. Bike Set up - try a different bar bend, different grip compounds, a gripper seat, grip tape on your air box, alter your lever positions, steering dampers..all these can help
9. Take an aspirin for blood thinning. Doctors recommend that you take one a day to reduce risk of heart attack and stroke, so why not for ARM PUMP.
10. Most importantly, STAY RELAXED on the bike. A death grip will ensure ARM PUMP faster than anything.

Hope this helps some. Riding in sand like Kingston is always hard, but you can get arm pump in just about any conditions. Try some of these tips and see how much they help.

Til next week....

Mike