Hand numbness from cycling...need advice!!

Gel gloves?

I deal with fairly severe hand numbness on just about every ride I do.  Here are some of the ideas and/or suggestions that I've tried -

Gel-padded gloves...currently I'm wearing a pair of Spenco Ironman Elite T.2 gloves.  Nice gloves, high price tag.  I felt an immediate difference when I first got these, but now that I've worn them for a year, I think the padding is starting to go.  Time for a new pair. 

Changing hand positions frequently...like every few minutes or so.  On the brake hoods, is when most of my numbness kicks in.  So I have to move my hands around all over the bars...but the biggest relief I get is when I drop down onto my aerobars (I ride a road bike with clip-ons).  I can almost instantly feel the blood rushing back into my fingertips, after just a few minutes in aero.

My riding buddy suggested that I add some wrist curls (with a very light dumbell) into my lifting routine, to strengthen my wrists.  This makes sense, because my wrists have always been on the weak side, and I have a tendency to place them in some unnatural positions (I curl my wrists inward while sleeping), which causes a lot of strain.  I've even thought about wearing some kind of flexible wrist brace while riding, but have yet to find one that isn't totally rigid. 

I'm also considering going back to my bike fitter, and having him re-fit me in a much less aggressive riding position.  Right now, my position is fairly aggressive and racey. At the time of my fitting, that was what I was aiming for, but now my needs have changed somewhat...and I don't feel the aggressive position is working well for me. 

It wouldn't surprise me at all, if I was told that I had carpal tunnel or arthritis forming in my wrists.   Anyway....these are some of the things I've been doing to combat the hand numbness.  Hope it was of some help to you.  

I'm on a roadie and dealing with this. I moved the bars up more so the top of them is almost dead-on level. I'm still playing with it, but that definitely seems to have helped.

I had the same numbness in both hands- Specialized BG Gel gloves really helped. Now no problems even after the longest ride.

It's funny, those gloves actually made me go numb faster.  Are yours the old (3+ years ago) design or the newer ones?

I'd be interested in the answer to this, as well...as I've been eyeing up the BG Gel gloves as my next pair.  Since the BG Gel gloves didn't work for you...which gloves did you end up going with?  I've heard varying stories about excessively padded gloves...some say it definitely helps combat hand numbness, and others say it makes it worse.  Since I've had good results with the Spenco Ironman T.2 Elite gloves, I'm guessing that I'm one of the people that actually benefits from the gel-padded gloves.  I'm just trying to figure out if there is a better glove out there, and the only one that seems to come close is the BG Gel. 

I have BG in Full finger & No finger.  Like'em.  No numbness

I wound up with gel bar tape and no gloves.  When I do wear a glove in the winter, I prefer a basic leather palmed with no padding.

Gloves seem to be love 'em or hate 'em 100% of the time.  I pay a premium to buy stuff like that at REI now because of the return policy...