Numb Hand During Bike Ride

Okay so it is just something to deal with, huh? Crazy ... but doable

I did wear gloves (Pearl Izumi) with the little padding in the key places (not the gel).

Think about it.  When you scratch your face, adjust your sunglasses, wipe your nose, grab your water bottle, etc. what hand do you use?  I don't know about you, but I personally use my right hand way more often than my left.

Thus, even though they're positioned the same way on the handle bars, the lucky right hand gets to move around more, while the left hand stays put.  And goes numb.

I try to remember to move my left hand around.  I try to remember to use it to scratch or wipe or whatever.  But it still goes numb.  So I have to shake it out every so often. 

It sucks. 
 

I've had this problem with my right hand....and I'm left handed.

My hands were going numb on longer rides and then my right hand would stay number for days afterward. I applied ice packs and took anti-inflammatories.  My doctor thinks I was compressing the the ulnar nerve.  He told me to add more padding to the handlebars and bend my elbows to improve my form and not put so much stress on my hands.

Since I got better gloves, added padded tape to my handlebars and improved my form, I haven't had any more problems.

I DID notice a few times I lean forward and bent my elbows more the numbness decresed.

I'll try to pay attention more when I ride next time - probably Saturday morning since the Terminix folks aren't coming out.

just curious, but have you had a proper fit on the bike?  When I first started riding, I had a similar issue.  On one group ride, one of the guys on the team who was a cat A racer and had been riding since he was 12, asked me if I was having trouble with numbness.  I had no clue how he knew, then he offered to make some tweaks to my fit.  Sure enough, after that and a few pointers on technique, the numbness was gone.

What was happening was that my fit was forcing me to support my upper body with my arms.  In reality, 90% of your body should be suppored by your abs and lower back.  Your hands are there to steer.  If you can't take one hand off the bars without shifting your weight, or changing position, then you are supporting too much with your arms.  Once I figured this trick out, riding with bent arms was naturally the most comfortable position.  I was also riding with more of my weight in the saddle, which assisted with spinning and all kinds of other balance related issues.

Hi Matt,

I was fitted at the store when I bought my bike, however; somewhere in the ride I DID think I should go back again to double check.

I have noticed myself shifting my lower body around a good bit - especially yesterday. When I was busy pushing it up a hill, I would probably sit correctly, because I wouldn't have pressure on my arms &  hands.  I felt it while riding on flats, or downhill. Those are when I struggled to keep balance, especially when I wanted to grab my bottle for a quick drink.

Sigh - okay I'll go back to the store - hopefully we can have this taken care of, as I do like  riding.

(OT) - I just hooope I don't see the lady there who is a chatterbox - my goodness. She talked soo much, I felt like the old lady on the movie Airplane. When Ted Striker was telling his story, she started heaving, and by the time he was done, she was a skeleton. That is how that lady made me feel - I was seriously beginning to feel ill while she was talking.

I 2nd vortmax's statement about to much weight on the wrists...I too used to get this numb feeling in my right hand as well.

Only other thing to get that numbness to go away besides wearing gloves was...somebody told me to hold he handle bars like you would hold a pistol...so a pistol grip.  What I was doing was cocking my wrists up and putting a lot of weight on the bas of my palm.  Rotate the wrists out a little (which will lower your posture and bend the arms) and grab it like your gonna shoot it.

Once you're sure your fit is fine, try to ride with loose hands.  That is don't grip the bars tightly.  Just hold them enough to maintain control, but see if you can grip them so that bumps in the road allow the bars to vibrate in your hands and not actually vibrate your hands.  That lightness of grip is what you are after. 

My hands went numb last year a lot.  I was worried.  Then I got some advice from a more experienced rider, hi said I should not be putting a lot of pressure down on the bars as that takes extra energy and causes some numbness.  I also got properly fit since then as well. 

Your hands on the bike handlebars should be mostly for balance and steering you should be able to move your fingers easily as there should not be some much weight bearing down from your upper body.

My $.02 

Just to add to the chorus...

proper fit

strong core - you can't maintain good riding form for an extended time without it

padded gloves

My hands go numb for the first few rides after I've been away from my bike for a long time.  I've discovered that is related to the way I hold my handlebars, because on the bike I'm holding my hands in a position that is not at all normal.  This is especially true if I'm riding my mountain bike (which I usually am) because I hold my hand open enough to wrap my thumbs around the brake levers.  When I notice the numbness setting in, it helps to release the thumbs and just rest my hands on top of the handles.

Strong core - so....what strengthening exercises do I need to do?

well... there are a bunch of them.  I took pilates for a while, which built up my core and improved my flexibility and balance.

also check out this link:

http://www.d3multisport.com/articles.php

in the right column are links to about 5 pages worth of core workouts.

Ok, it's not like I'm riding centuries or anything, but I've done a number of 40 mile rides this spring, still consider myself very much a beginner and I've never had numb hands.  I can only imagine this is because I spend about 90% of the rides in aero position.  I love the aero positions, I'm so comfortable in it I think I could nap like that (with a floor stand, of course).

I guess it depends on what type of riding you are likely to do.  My point is that if you are like me and pretty much all the riding you will be doing will be geared toward tri training and racing this may not be as big of an issue as you think. 

Note:  I am NOT trying to say you don't need to be properly fit to your bike or you should ignore the pain.  I'm just saying you may go through all of this only to slap on aerobars and need to be refit and go through a whole new process of building up the proper muscles to ride in aero.  The core strengthening will help with both positions.  Just don't let this frustrate you or make biking become a burden.