adam_internal

tuesday i hit a pretty big pothole with my arms extended straight.. i typically get a little numb after something like this for a couple minutes, but its friday night and 3 fingers on my right hand are still numb. i work 45 hours/week on the bike so i cant really take a break. im going to stay off the road this weekend and take it easy.. has anyone else had something like this happen? if so how long was it before the nerves got better?

SSSasky

I had a scrape on my elbow from an accident a few months or so ago. I lost feeling in my ring and pinky finger. It was several weeks before it subsided to an occasional tingling, and a couple months before I could forget it happened.

ryan_c

I've had it happen a few times, but I was able to take a couple days off of riding and it would go away. My boss at the bike shop used to race, and he said that his hand was like that for almost a year after he stopped racing.
I would try cinelli gel cork tape (comfy and classy) and invest in some GOOD gloves. I think padding and proper gloves may make a huge difference.
Unless of course it's wrist angle that's causing your problem. In which case you could always try a different bar like a cruiser bar

RedMenace

for a while i rode on a pair of untaped road bars on a fixed... wrecked the sensation in my fingers for weeks. when i finally got a pair of proper track bars, it went away. i would guess the damage isn't permanent, but i was a little scared too when i got numb.

williamw

While preriding the Rumble thru the Bronx course my wrist/palm/fingers went numb (so painful I skipped the race). I thought I had done permanent damage when some fingers on one hand were numb almost two weeks later. Thankfully things are basically normal now.

Ideally, you should take a break from riding, which isn't an option for you (I just started commuting to work on my fixed gear bmx). I also wore a wrist splint when riding my track bike -- I could put a good bit of weight on the end of the metal bar, and take it off my palm and wrist. Lately, I've just become more concious of moving my hand positions and keeping a very loose grip (often to the point that my hands only support weight when I'm braking/skidding/skipping).

My grandfather told me, "Trust your instinct and you'll be riding at my age."

icithecat

From my personal experience, (I'm no doctor), numbness in my fingers is generated by a problem elsewhere.

A while back, I developed numbness in my left hand. It went away when I stopped leaning on my left elbow while surfing bikeforums.

I suggest stretching and shoulder rotation exercizes in case the impact caused a pinched nerve further up the line.

Hopeful for a speedy recovery.

WaitUpForMe

Which three fingers? The median nerve runs through the carpal tunnel in your wrist and provides sensation to your thumb, index, and middle fingers, and half of your ring finger, as shown in the cross-hatching below. The ulnar nerve passes through Guyon's Canal in the wrist to the pinky and other half of the ring finger.



Disclaimer: I'm not a doctor. I don't work for a doctor. I never wanted to be a doctor.
I have professional concerns about Carpal Tunnel Syndrome, which is why I learned this.

OneTinSloth

i get numbness in my thumb only, when i'm riding, and sometimes in my pinky and ring fingers when i sit at the computer for too long and/or have pressure on the outside of my forearms for too long. it usually goes away after a few minutes though.

weed eater

try hydrotherapy: put some very hot water in a saucepan, and then some very cold water w/ice in a bowl, both vessels being large enough to put one or both of your hands in.

put your hand(s) in the hot water till you can't stand it, then move to the cold water till you can't stand it, and go back and forth until the water temps start to equalize (or you get tired of doing this). Finish with cold water.

Do this once or twice a day. Really helps circulation, and it'll feel nice too. If you really did damage your nerves this probably won't fix it but it's easy and worth a try.

ah, the disclaimer: i am not a doctor either. don't use hot water so hot that it will burn you. for heaven's sake. eat your vegetables. a sante.

mac

I'm glad I found this thread! I had the exact same thing happen to me after a ride last Sat Aug 6. It's now a week later, Sat Aug 13, and my right index fingertip (outside) is still numb! I thought I had permanent nerve damage! My problem is that I got a new bike and was riding it like my old bike with my hands on top of the brake hoods. I think my saddle's angle was a bit too low and that slid my body forward so a lot of my bodyweight rested on the soft flesh between my thumb and index finger. When I tried that same position again today just sitting on my bike, I could feel a nerve striking sensation in my left index finger, but my right was still numb. Oh well, as long as I'll regain back my feeling sometime I guess it's nothing to worry about.

hyperRevue

My left pinky and ring finger have been numb for the past 3-4 months.
The result of going on a 3+ hour ride with only my mini straight bars and no gloves.
I've since gotten drops and gloves but I think they're still numb
After a while it gets hard to tell because you get used to them being that way.

Paul And Pista

If I tense up and ride straight-armed on the tops of my bars as I sometimes do while going down a long steep hill, I usually get a slight numbness in my thumb and first three fingers. It usually goes away after about an hour, at the most. I just try to switch hand positions regularly, which seems to work.

weed eater

You guys are freakin' me out. If you have numbness in your hands that lasts more than a couple of days, you should really get it checked out. Seriously. Like malcolm said, You Need Hands.

hyperRevue

i got mine checked out a few days after it happened.
doctor said it was just a pinched nerve and it will heal itself eventually but that there is no way to tell how long it will take.

loaf

Well, it wasn't my hands... but at a party (lots of liquor ingested by all) I got bit on the neck by my friend. Turns out she bit me quite hard actually, in the morning I realized part of my neck went numb and stayed that way for about a month, but it went away. So hopefully, if you stop doing what's causing the problem, the feeling will come back.

P.S. I'm not a doctor either.

hyperRevue

a good friend of mine's girlfriend bit his arm really hard one day as a joke and pinched a nerve too. his arm was numb for a couple months but it eventually came back.
nerves are easily damaged and resilient.
I'm assuming my fingers haven't fully recovered yet because I continue to ride on pretty much a daily basis.
Oh well.

untitled

i had mild carpal tunnel from doing stone masonry work. i went to the doctor very quickly because i, like most people, need my hands. he told me to wear a wrist brace on the affected hand at night. a lot of people have sleeping habits that exacerbate the problem, like sleeping with a hand curled up under a pillow, or with the wrist at weird angles or something. keeping the wrist straight when you sleep allows the sheath that surrounds median nerve to relax. inflammation of that sheath is what causes carpal tunnel. it constricts those nerves. the more you can allow it to relax, the faster you will heal. my numbness went away after about a week and a half, i think.