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Hand Numbness :( (advice needed)

Old 05-11-06, 10:38 AM
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Hand Numbness :( (advice needed)

Well, after last night's ride, I ended up having some severe numbness in my right hand, right on the ring and little finger. According to online diagnosis, it's probably the Ulnar nerve.

Today, the pain is almost gone, about 18 hours after the fact....but I am still going to see a doctor anyways just to be sure that it was just a temporary thing.


That said, here's the questions:

1)are there any reccomendations for good doctors for this kind of injury that are in my area?

2)any good places to find out what adjustments have to be made to my bike to keep this from happening again? (I know the bars need to go up, but any other factors would be great)

3)Any good gloves to try out? I tried out a few gloves before because I had minor aches previously: the Performance "classic" glove, and it helped only for the first few miles before getting as uncomfortable as nothing at all, Specialized BG glove...that one for some reason made the palm of my hand, right under the knuckles feel like it was going to blister. I also tried an Avenir glove at one time, which seemed OK, but the build quality was pathetic. Pretty much I just need a glove that works, and I'm tired of spending $20-40 a shot at gloves that just don't work.

4) any other misc bits of info you guys can share would be great.


This had me pretty shaken this morning...my bike is my passion, and anything that gets in my way of that scares me.


Thanks,
--Steve
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Old 05-11-06, 10:51 AM
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My dad has this problem. He even sewed magnets into some gloves, and bought super thick grips, and it didn't help. What worked for him is raising the bars and quitting wearing gloves. Gloves actually seem to restrict bloodflow, so definitely try going gloveless.
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Old 05-11-06, 12:35 PM
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I've removed the tape from the bars, wear thin mechanic gloves, and wrap my fingers around the bars instead of "sitting" on my palms.

I ride drops or bullhorns, not risers for me .. ever
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Old 05-11-06, 01:15 PM
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I had a slightly different problem when I started -- not numbness, but weakness in my hands. Gloves helped (I have a couple pair -- I don't know if brand matters all that much, so long as they protect the ulnar nerve), as did loosening my grip a bit, and changing grip positions occasionally.
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Old 05-11-06, 01:31 PM
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I've had that issue with my pointing finger.

I changed two items and it has been improving:
1) I shift my grip around more often
2) My arms were fully extended into my drops or hoods depending upon what way I was riding.
I moved by seat forward about .25" to put some flex in my arms while minimally affecting the neutral positioning of my legs to the pedal.
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Old 05-11-06, 01:37 PM
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The best basic cure is......."UP".

Yes, sit up to get the weight OFF of your arms and hands. As we age bloodflow becomes an
issue for many of us. That said it may be possible that a set of "Northroad" bars and an
adjustble stem is in your future. They have solved the "numb" hand problem for many.
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Old 05-11-06, 01:54 PM
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Yes, you're pinching a nerve or cutting off the blood-supply. The real solution is to re-position your hands so that you're not pressing on these spots. FIrst, find where you want to be supporting your weight on yoru hands. Do that by doing a couple of push-ups then hold it in the up position. Notice where the weight and pressure on your hands are resting. It's basically on the outside heel of your palm, imagine your arm-bones extending through your palms... that's where you want the weight to rest on the handlebars as well.

Simple test to see if you've got yoru hands positioned optimally, wiggle all your fingers (including the thumb)... you should be able to do it without your hands slipping off the bars.
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Old 05-11-06, 02:26 PM
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Try tipping the nose of your saddle up a little before doing anything else. This will transfer your weight bearing distrubution to your back and rear instead of your arms and hands.
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Old 05-11-06, 02:40 PM
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problem is the outside heel of my palm is the "bad spot"...everytime I put pressure on it right now, those two fingers start tingling again....maybe it's just tender from whatever I done to it yesterday.


Either way, I'm not riding my roadie for a while...I'm using my MTB until this thing gets resolved, and I get the roadie adjusted to not have this happen again.
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Old 05-11-06, 03:13 PM
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The ultimate cure is to get a recumbent. No pressure on the hands at all.
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Old 05-11-06, 03:17 PM
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I would if I had a place to keep it...those things are too big to carry down 2 flights of stairs, or take down a small elevator
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Old 05-11-06, 03:27 PM
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Originally Posted by DieselDan
Try tipping the nose of your saddle up a little before doing anything else. This will transfer your weight bearing distrubution to your back and rear instead of your arms and hands.
+1
You are supposed to have the saddle level, but I experimented with pointing the nose down just one notch, and had numbness in my left thumb, middle, and pointer finger within a few days. I put it back to level, and the problem went away within a day or two.

I also had it flare up once after a long weekend of landscaping and digging, and have had the same thing happen after rock climbing. My experience is that "pumping" your forearms has an effect on circulation and/or ulnar nerve for a period of time, as well.
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Old 05-11-06, 04:34 PM
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I would if I had a place to keep it...those things are too big to carry down 2 flights of stairs, or take down a small elevator
Mine weighs about 30 lbs and would be a bit awkward in a small elevator. You could try a one of BikeFriday's Sat'R Day Tour bikes. They are a folding recumbent. (28 lbs)
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Old 05-11-06, 04:42 PM
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Originally Posted by Michigander
He even sewed magnets into some gloves
In the 1780s, Franz Mesmer purported to be able to cure a wide variety of maladies through the use of magnets. His methods did not have any scientific validity to them, but numerous people reported remarkable results.

His name is also the root of the word "mesmerism", incidentally.

Some tricks, I suppose, never get old.
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Old 05-11-06, 04:42 PM
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Read this, it helped me.
https://sheldonbrown.com/pain.html
Prticularly see the entries titled "Fingers", "Posture" and "The Two Bump Problem"
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Old 05-11-06, 06:46 PM
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Riding a road bike with drop handlebars? Make sure you are changing hand positions enough. I can get six distinct hand position with drop 'bars.
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Old 05-11-06, 08:57 PM
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I decided to try the specialized BG gloves again, at least until I get to the doc.

I think I know when it went past aoreness to numbness...I started using the handlebars "properly" again...I used to have them tilted with the barends pointing wayyyy down, as in towards my rear deraileur. This gave me a nice flat top with how I placed by drifters on it, at the expense of not really being able to use the drops anymore. So I tilted them back to use the drops, but also put the brifters back in their "proper" place.

Maybe I need to get different bars as well as boosting the height a bit. I just got hold of a good condition Kinesis fork for cheap that I'm going to install, since my EC30 was honestly cut too short for the bar height I have it at now. That should give me a decent raise in bar height....now to find the rest of my spacers.
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Old 05-11-06, 09:11 PM
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Might it be a cervical vetebrae thing?
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Old 05-11-06, 09:42 PM
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Well, stupid me....it's too late at night to be pounding crown races in, so the roadie is out of service for a while....the MTB will take over....which I probably should be using right now anyways.
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Old 05-12-06, 12:49 AM
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Sitting up higher and closer is a strong possibility.
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Old 05-12-06, 03:03 AM
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Hand numbness is one of the reasons I switched to North Road bars. Since changing from drops and risers I never get restless hands - ever. Restless hands result from pressure. That's why folks who use drops insist that they can move their hands around to get comfortable. They have to. I no longer feel the need to hand-dance. Not even on very long day trips out to 100 miles.

It's a paradigm shift and somewhat radical in today's race concious market. Using North Roads requires a more weight-bearing saddle. I use Brooks B-67's on both my main bikes. You need not ride bolt upright. My bars are equal in height to the saddles with the grips level with the ground. There is quite a bit of forward lean.

Also, you would need to change to mtb levers like I did on my 520.

There are probably over a billion of these bars out there. Not the most fashionable, but I think they are the most comfortable for the greatest cross section of people of any type. They will start conversations among riders who are wondering why they have comfort problems and I don't.

Try losing the gloves all together. For me, 'bike' gloves made the problem worse until I went down to the workwear store and bought some cheap flaggers gloves. Tighties may be good for aerodynamics but not the hands. Loose is better. There is still a tad bit of numbness, but it goes away at about 3-5 miles.

Here's my Trek 520 (it now has SPD's, not platforms) It looks a little like those old 3-speeds that alot of people dismiss, but that's the beauty of it. The supreme comfort of a 3-speed but lighter and with more gears. What could be finah!
https://i3.tinypic.com/ziq3bb.jpg
Here's my Trek 830 mtb morphed for city use and long day trips:
https://i1.tinypic.com/ziqa34.jpg
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Old 05-12-06, 08:19 AM
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Originally Posted by catatonic
...any good places to find out what adjustments have to be made to my bike to keep this from happening again? (I know the bars need to go up, but any other factors would be great)...
Hi Steve!

I'm prone to hand numbness also. The traditional "fixes" (raising the bars, etc.) weren't much help. The ONLY thing that keeps my hands from numbness is getting the weight off of the wrists!

To do this, you'll need to do two things - (and the fit gurus won't like either of them).

First, move the seat back. If you're "balanced" on the seat, then you can ride with your hands a half-inch above the bars (not touching at all) with nothing but the SLIGHTEST tension in your lower back muscles. The standard fit puts the rider in a position where you can spin well, but your weight is too forward to be balanced on the seat. I found that moving my seat a full 1.5 inches back ( ) from the fit provided by the LBS made for much less tension on my hands.

Second, once you've moved the seat back, your stem will be way too long! You'll need to shorten the stem until you're comfy.

This fit is NOT the most efficient position on the bicycle, but it will be infinitely more comfortable once you can ride with NO tension on your wrists!

Good luck!
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Old 05-12-06, 08:53 AM
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Originally Posted by Tightwad
The best basic cure is......."UP".

Yes, sit up to get the weight OFF of your arms and hands. As we age bloodflow becomes an
issue for many of us. That said it may be possible that a set of "Northroad" bars and an
adjustble stem is in your future. They have solved the "numb" hand problem for many.
Yup. If your hands are as high as the top of the saddle, pain in the hands, wrists, neck and back become fading memories. This was the standard setup for recreational riders from around 1885 to 1995. Then, the "fashion" became for average riders to set up their bikes like those used by pros in a time trial.

But, we forget: pros are well paid to suffer great pain and their teams provide them with free surgery. The rest of us suffer pain without payment, but must pay for our own surgery.
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Old 05-12-06, 09:50 AM
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Originally Posted by catatonic
I think I know when it went past aoreness to numbness...I started using the handlebars "properly" again...I used to have them tilted with the barends pointing wayyyy down, as in towards my rear deraileur. This gave me a nice flat top with how I placed by drifters on it, at the expense of not really being able to use the drops anymore. So I tilted them back to use the drops, but also put the brifters back in their "proper" place.
Catatonic,

Have you looked at any of the Bontrager "Flat top" bars. It sounds like that may be the solution you need. It will provide a flat top like you achieved by tilting the bar, while still allowing use of the drops normally.

You may be interested in taking a look at those. Several of their bars come in the "flat top" variety.
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Old 05-12-06, 10:52 AM
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Originally Posted by jcm
Hand numbness is one of the reasons I switched to North Road bars. Since changing from drops and risers I never get restless hands - ever. Restless hands result from pressure. That's why folks who use drops insist that they can move their hands around to get comfortable. They have to. I no longer feel the need to hand-dance. Not even on very long day trips out to 100 miles.

It's a paradigm shift and somewhat radical in today's race concious market. Using North Roads requires a more weight-bearing saddle. I use Brooks B-67's on both my main bikes. You need not ride bolt upright. My bars are equal in height to the saddles with the grips level with the ground. There is quite a bit of forward lean.

Also, you would need to change to mtb levers like I did on my 520.

There are probably over a billion of these bars out there. Not the most fashionable, but I think they are the most comfortable for the greatest cross section of people of any type. They will start conversations among riders who are wondering why they have comfort problems and I don't.

Try losing the gloves all together. For me, 'bike' gloves made the problem worse until I went down to the workwear store and bought some cheap flaggers gloves. Tighties may be good for aerodynamics but not the hands. Loose is better. There is still a tad bit of numbness, but it goes away at about 3-5 miles.

Here's my Trek 520 (it now has SPD's, not platforms) It looks a little like those old 3-speeds that alot of people dismiss, but that's the beauty of it. The supreme comfort of a 3-speed but lighter and with more gears. What could be finah!
https://i3.tinypic.com/ziq3bb.jpg
Here's my Trek 830 mtb morphed for city use and long day trips:
https://i1.tinypic.com/ziqa34.jpg
VERY nice conversions to "Dutch" type bikes, mate. The fact that you had to convert the bikes to
get comfortable only verifies your statement "It's a paradigm shift and somewhat radical in today's race concious market". If only decent bikes that are really built for the masses and not the racer wanna be's
would become the norm in the U.S. a lot of these "I gotta a pain in my....." would disappear.
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