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Carpal tunnel ??

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Road Cycling “It is by riding a bicycle that you learn the contours of a country best, since you have to sweat up the hills and coast down them. Thus you remember them as they actually are, while in a motor car only a high hill impresses you, and you have no such accurate remembrance of country you have driven through as you gain by riding a bicycle.” -- Ernest Hemingway

Carpal tunnel ??

Old 01-27-13, 11:08 AM
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Carpal tunnel ??

Pretty new to road biking. Got proper fit and set up from quality LBS.

After only a couple of miles i get numbness in the median nerve distribution: first 3 fingers of both hands as well as half of 4th fingers. Classic carpal tunnel symptoms. BTW: I do not have carpal tunnel. I work in medical field and recent nerve conduction was WNL, (within normal limits).

If while riding I was flexing my wrists I suppose there could be some compression of the median nerve but when I ride, either on the hoods or up top if anything my wrists are a bit extended which would take pressure off the median nerves.

I use padded gloves. I am at a loss as to why i develop symptoms of median nerve compression in the absence of wrist flexion. Any thoughts on how to deal with this??
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Old 01-27-13, 03:36 PM
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Yeah, get a bike fit. You are putting to much pressure on your hands. You could be compressing the nerve where it runs through your palms. Make sure your elbows are slightly bent while riding. Helps to absorb the shock of bumps in the road. Get some gloves, but more padding isnt always better, it can squish into places we dont want it. Also change hand positions often it helps.

EDIT: I see you had a fitting done, talk this over with the fitter. Any reputable fitter will help you sort this out.
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Old 01-27-13, 04:51 PM
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I believe it is 2 things. First, your LBS did not properly fit you, He might have assumed you were stronger/weaker then you actually are. Fit is not all about your dimensions.

Second is that you are locking your elbows when riding. When you ride your elbows should be between ~140- 90 degrees bent. Or you are just gripping way to hard. Try resting your hands on the hoods or the tops of the handlebars. You dont need a death grip all the time, only when you are sprinting really fast...

your fingers should never get numb on a bike, unless it is really really cold.
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Old 01-28-13, 07:31 AM
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As mentioned I got proper fit. Now after much reasearch last night I see proper fit may not be proper.

Apparently Bontrager wrote a piece a while back about the myth of having a plumb line from your knee to pedal spindle. Something to do with losing power in this position. Yet whenever I read about proper fit the mantra is a plumb line from knee to pedal.

https://sheldonbrown.com/kops.html

So maybe all this textbook fitting is not the best way to go.

RE; my numbhands, I imagine ading a spacerto the stem would raise me up a bit and take pressure off hands as would moving seat forward.

I will consult with my LBS.
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Old 01-28-13, 08:12 AM
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Which gloves are you using? I find that many gloves do not have padding in the middle of the heel of the hand, and allow that part to contact the bars directly. For me that causes hand numbness or tingling after some hours of riding.

I've been using Specialized gloves which have better coverage on the heel of the hand, and nice dense padding.

Stay away from gel gloves. The gel padding is too soft, allowing pressure points through the padding.

Moving the seat forward puts more weight on the hands, not less, because it moves your CG forward so you put less weight on the pedals and seat. If you need to shorten the reach to the bars, get a shorter stem.

If your bike has Sram levers, the cables may be run out the lever bodies to the outside of the bars. That is right where many people put the heels of their hands when riding with hands on the hoods. If those cables are causing pressure on the heels of your hands, re-do the cabling and use the alternate inside routing (may not be available on all Sram levers).

A "textbook" fitting (KOPS, LeMond seat height) is a good starting point for saddle position. Many road riders prefer to have their seat a bit back of KOPS. That puts less weight on the hands, and makes for somewhat better climbing due to better recruitment of the glutes, but is a bit less effective for sprinting. There is a lot to fitting besides saddle position, like reach to the bars and cleat position, and an experienced fitter can make all those adjustments fit you.

Last edited by ericm979; 01-28-13 at 08:16 AM.
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