Tingling Hands

Do you wear gloves? When I first started riding, I was convinced I was doing something disastrously wrong. Had tingling in my hands no matter what I did. Ended up buying a set of fingerless gloves with pads in the palm and heel of hand and haven"t had a single tingle since - including rides up to 35 miles.

I don't ride with gloves right now but they are on my list to get, like tomorrow. I am completely new to this so I don't have all the gear I need ( or really know what gear I need). Thanks for the suggestion!!

I don't ride with gloves right now but they are on my list to get, like tomorrow. I am completely new to this so I don't have all the gear I need ( or really know what gear I need). Thanks for the suggestion!!

Most common things I see are keeping your wrists bent while putting pressure on the handle bars. This will get the median nerve and get the thumb and long finger. Putting pressure on the outside of your wrist (away from the thumb) will get the ulnar nerve and cause numbness on the little and ring finger. Being in an aero position and putting weight on your elbow may also get your ulnar nerve and give you numbness on the out side of your hand. Holding your shoulders in a protracted position ( that is forward of your chest) puts a little pressure on the the thoracic outlet and usually makes the outside of your hand numb. Cervical disk disease with neuroforaminal stenosis can put pressure on the C6 or C7 nerve roots causing numbness in your hands. Central canal stenosis in your neck with your neck in a slightly extended position can put pressure on the nerve.

Gloves will help quite a bit. Keeping the muscles that you're not propelling yourself with relaxed can be helpful to. Proper position plays a role. Pay close attention to when the numbness first happens then try to adjust the position your in slightly to see what effect it has. It's not usually too serious.

This happened to me also. I just adjusted my seat and that fixed it.

Thanks for the tips!

This happened to me when I first started. It got a bit better after a year of riding but didn't go away. It does help if I try to relax my arms and shoulders. Alternately, I take one hand off the handles and swing it around for a few seconds. What cured it in the end was getting aero bars where I'm resting on my elbows rather than my hands.

One other thing that you can do: Retape your handle bars leaving the old tape on. That gives you a little bit more padding.

Cervical rad and carpal tunnel syndrome together is often times referred to as a double crunch. Poor nerve gets beaten up twice.

I had a lot of trouble with numb hands when I started riding last spring, even on a mountain bike. I tried gloves, fancy wing grips, bar ends, etc. Each gave some, but not total, relief. Things weren't any better when I switched to a road bike. Fast forward to this spring after having done 6 months of intense swim training through the fall and winter. No more tingly hands on either bike. Why? I speculate it's because of the substantially better core strength I got from the swimming. I'm no longer putting all my upper body weight on my wrists while on the bike; my abs are providing much more support. That's my theory, anyway.

Edited by gary p 2015-08-19 4:23 PM

Same issue. Gloves help. Also purposefully remember to take your hands off the bars every mile or so and make a fist, spin your wrist and curl your arm.

Even witih super heavy gloves and all that, I have issues. Funny thing is that it happens for miles 10-30 and then it goes away after mile 30. No idea why!

So this is a totally common thing in the bike world. Even happens to the pros. Watch them during the TdF and you see riders regularly shaking out their arms and legs (numb feet). It gets better with more time on the bike. Gloves can help, but can also make it worse. Fit helps a lot. How your body circulates blood plays a major role, so everyone will be different.

Change up your bike position every once in a while. Take your arms off the bike and shake them out. Nothing to be too worried about, unless it gets worse.

I also have to remind myself to not lock my elbows. It's something I do without realizing it, and one of the things I suspect caused the same problem in me. Cycling gloves (padded) also helped. You can get a cheap pair (or three) on Ebay that work pretty well. I get the cheap ones there, cause my dog likes to steal them and carry them around (she likes the smell or the salt, I guess, lol). Look under the Ebay "Daily Deals," they always have some listed.


Edited by dpd3672 2015-08-20 12:25 PM