Hi folks. Anyone else struggle a bit with shoulder pain when using their DD? I am fine for days or weeks then I get an injury from use or over use and have to stop racing for a week or two. I go from no pain to injury.
I know the Sport isn’t the most hardcore of DDs, and I run it mostly in iracing with a ratio that’s probably equivalent to 30% Wheelbase to Max Force. But in the three months I’ve owned it I have injured my shoulder twice, taking me out for a week (more this time).
Not sure if it’s the static force (I am now running 20% reduction) or the spikes from kerbs and such - I was running TCR at Zolder the week (which is quite spikey) when I was injured again, so I now have added more damping and inertia (and some more friction) in my profile to tame those a little. I’m still too injured to test the new settings properly - I built them as I was starting to feel pain before I stopped racing. I can see me also dropping the forces on the TD to 12nm from 17nm, maybe even lower, to further reduce spikes.
Hello.
As a Physical Education professional, I can give you a suggestion that will not only help with shoulder pain, but will also bring you quality of life and well-being.
It’s a very small overload to be feeling such an injury.
Enroll in a bodybuilding gym and do some muscle-strengthening work.
Good luck.
Hi, I am a fit gym-guy, but still sometimes suffer tender rotator-cuffs myself due to the shock load coming from the wheel during violent crash-events etc,
The one thing that has helped is proper filter-setup that would add some damping, friction and inertia to reduce sharp spikes, as such, big and powerful direction-changes during crashes. These will typically hit the shoulders hard,
Admittedly, I am running with higher ffb than probably everyone else, but I am also a 105kg gym-fit guy.
You will be far more knowledgeable, but I will anyway want to have a look at his settings, as well as possibly seating-position and posture, these things can and often does play a big role in facilitating injuries.
When I see how quick F1 drivers can countersteer, using not much force at all, how Fe Hamilton drove over the curbs at Miami in practically all the 57 laps, then you maybe use too much gain and torque (whatever car class it is). Unless you have to take your hands off (huge accident/crash), hold the steering wheel with real firm grip.
I’m pretty confident that the bulk of my injury came from the TCR on Zolder. To be competitive there you need to take the kerb on the first nasty chicane pretty aggressively, and it’s a big curb that puts a sharpnjolt through the wheels. By the end of the week when I’d started to feel that pain beginning in my shoulder I set the damping and inertia up and the slew rate down to soften the impact. But I do think I’m going to just drop the force in the Base in TD to 10 to 12nm too, and adjust iracing to suit. This might reduce such spikes further. I can’t recall my settings for TCR and P Cup, but for GT3 I’m at 55 - 60nm max force (depending on car) with a wheel force of 17nm and as I say I may change the wheel force in iracing and TD to 12nm for a while to see how my shoulder copes.
I’m fairly fit. Regular road and mtb cycling. Don’t do a lot of gym work but am planning to start doing the Spartan Series workout again at home. I have the exercises TTR posted on his YouTube channel for recovery but shoulder still a bit too tender. I think, being over 50, maybe I just need to treat my shoulders better. Never had an issue with the CSL DD but I never raced so much back then.
Take into consideration your seating position and your seat.
I suffer some shoulder pain when using a round barebone wheel (no buttons plate) and no spacer, so the wheel was too far compared to my formula wheel that dictates my seating position.
Pain was only on left shoulder because driving manual left handed cars on BeamNG was asking too much for my body/shoulder
Yeah. This is likely also a culprit. I’m still on a desk chair that swivels. It’s locked to my pedal tray so it can’t move back, but I suspect there’s some rotation when driving. I plan to get a rig to mount it all, but it’s not going to happen til later in the year. But yes, support could also be an issue.
I’ll share my filter setup later, but I suspect it’s already where you will suggest. The inertia and damping would have been lower when I injured myself, and the slew a bit higher.
Here’s where I got to the night before I woke up in pain. I think this is a pretty good balance. As I say, I’m going to run a lower FFB strength for a while once I can drive again.
Yep, that was similar to what I was going to suggest, Mate. I’m mid 50’s myself and do feel it a bit more than when I started out with DD wheels 8 years ago.
You don’t have to mention something so obvious, Phillip. The picture speaks for itself: a handsome, muscular top athlete, no doubt about it. I can’t believe you are in the mid fifties, no way:weight_lifting_man:🤾:basketball_man:🤾:snowboarder:
One thing though, I don’t really know how to say it, is a bit questionable:
Your face on the picture is not so… defined… it’s not shaped as your sculpture like body. So 105kg sure was the figure where the tendency to gain weight turned into a strong trend, I assume.
Nevertheless, always nice to know how people look… yea…
You got me there, Clay, But more seriously though, been training my whole life, always doing sport and very active. Last few years though mostly doing 6- times per week weights, just to stay mostly fit and supple.
And yes, using big Bogeyman dd requires strength training, that’s for sure- otherwise I cannot mount and dismount 25kg servo, haha
I guess we get older, but if you are in that sort of fitness mindset your whole life, it slows down aging a bit. And it is really good for mental health. But no snowboarding here! Last time around I went with GD guys on frozen lake and almost broke myself in few pieces, sigh
PS: I think that Beano face in your reply anyway more handsome than I am, lols
with sometimes similar issues (not only sim racing, i’m a Chauffeur jobwise for two decades now) i want only to ad to all very helpful posts above that a proper warmup before enter a cockpit help me a lot…get well soon!
I would check your driving position… as it can place undue stress on your joints at times… It can be hard to find but the easy way to figure out where your driving position issue is it that when you get sore. actually turn off the wheel and then go through the motions of driving and extreme motion positions… With that you should feel the soreness when you get to certain positions… When you feel this soreness THAT is where your seating position issues are…
For me in the past it was the binding of my wrist in my lap on sharper turns… Once I figured it out I was able to re-orient the wheel base to eliminate the binding and I have never been sore since.
You can move a bit closer, and don’t flare out your elbows when turning the wheel, keep them down, use pull/push motion with one arm pulling and another pushing at the same time.
Hope this painful problem will soon be sorted out.
But more seriously though, been training my whole life, always doing sport and very active. Last few years though mostly doing 6- times per week weights, just to stay mostly fit and supple.
