Training & Nutrition - Numbness in Hands

Anyone else have numbness in your hands while riding? This is another problem that Im having about half way through my 5 mile bike ride my right hand will get numb or as some have said go to sleep or feels like ants crawling all over my hand. But It stops as soon as I quit riding. Anyone else suffer from this?

Do you put alot of pressure on your hands? do you
move your hands around (different positions) while
riding. alot of times numb hands is a symptom of a poor
fitting frame, if too cramped put lots of stress on your
hands.
Do a search on numb hands here, there are plenty
of posts about that subject.

Marty

I was getting numb hands mountain biking, and wearing good padded gloves solved it. Good luck,
D Mclean

How tight are you gripping the bars?

A very common mistake by newbies is to hold the handlebars in a death grip. Your hands should rest lightly on the bars - just enough to maintain control.

Then, you need to vary your hand positions regularly. My wife lets go with one hand and shakes it out every now and then. Those with mtn bikes generally add "bar ends" for more hand positions.

Padded gloves work with some folks, not all. I have rather big "muscular" hands, already well padded, and well-padded gloves makes it a whole lot worse - in fact, the pain is unbearable. They increase the pressure for me.

This is a common problem, generally easily solved.

Cool! Thanks for the info.

How tight are you gripping the bars?

A very common mistake by newbies is to hold the handlebars in a death grip. Your hands should rest lightly on the bars - just enough to maintain control.

That was my mistake when I first started cycling too.

also check to see if your bars have moved. Over time, mine rotate a little down, that extends me forward and thus I put more weight on my hands. I started noticing some numbness, then I did a check of my bike. Small adjustments, and I can feel my hands again.

No matter what, don't forget to move them around. Make fists, hld them up, stretch them back, ... All helps.

You have to make sure your riding with out locking out your elbows. When you ride make sure to change your riding position on the bars often,and of coarse wear padded gel gloves.

Later,
Robin

There finally was a question that I could answer and you guys already had it answered. Oh well, another will come up someday. Keep it up, I enjoy hearing different ways of looking at and solving cycling problems.

Also, you may want to try and tilt your saddle up a little @ the nose. This will take some weight off your hands. This worked for my hand issue. Experiment with saddle tilt, and dial in what works best for you.

Good luck!