# My hand goes numb after 30 mins--help!



## Deck314 (Jul 13, 2006)

I am getting back into riding my 1984 Nishiki Riviera (Cro-Mo frame, drop bars) and suffer from a numb right hand after the first half hour. This happens earlier if I am using the lower position, but occured today while holding the top bar. Are there any modifications I can make to prevent this?


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## ericm979 (Jun 26, 2005)

Do you have good gloves?


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## Run1stBike2nd (Oct 28, 2005)

*Been there before*

I had the same problem as well when I began riding a road bike seriously last summer. I'm not sure about any specific adjustments you could make (such as adjusting bar angle, etc), but the following things made my problem disappear:

1. Keep riding. Your hands may just get used to it.

2. Try not to grip the bar too tightly.

3. Like Ericm said. If you don't already have gloves, get some - the difference between riding barehanded and gloved is night & day.

4. If your handlebar tape looks as disgusting as the tape on my mid-80s Fuji did when I got it from a friend 2 years ago, then it's time for some new handlebar tape.


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## Deck314 (Jul 13, 2006)

*Wearing Nashbar gloves*

Thanks for the posts. I took my first long ride (2.5 hrs) this AM and thought I was developing carpel tunnel syndrome. I wear Nashbar gloves and have some cushy tape on the bar, but I'll see if I can avoid the hand numbness by improving each. I did notice the people passing me mostly had their hands placed at the top outside corner of the upper bar, which seemed to help when I copied that. Gripping too tight? Probably. A few minutes before the numbness set in, I was passed by a truck who nearly took me out with his mirror. Despite all the above,the symptom seems to be mostly due to road chatter. I had the bike serviced last week and stopped by the shop to have the front wheel trued up after it developed a wobble, but seems good to go now. I'm running my tires near 100 psi, but may back off that a tad to see if that helps.


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## John Nelson (Mar 10, 2006)

Change your hand position frequently. Make sure your saddle is not angled down. Make sure your handlebars are not a lot below your saddle. Make sure the reach isn't too far. Keep your elbows bent.


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## mandovoodoo (Aug 27, 2005)

Could be a position problem. http://www.cyclingnews.com/fitness/?id=default#qa might help. Generally seat too far forward gives bad hands.


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## nandaiyo (Jul 12, 2006)

One thing I've found helpful is to try and use your lower abs/back and your legs to relieve the pressure on your wrists. You shouldn't have too much of your weight bearing down on the handlebars.

I used to ride a Honda CBR600F4i motorcycle, and after >30minutes of riding, I used to have numb wrists. It hurt pretty bad actually, and one time I had to pull over because my hands were cramping and I couldn't brake/clutch because I couldn't feel my fingers.

For me, the problem was that I was leaning too far forward so my weight cut off the circulation. I practiced riding using my lower back to hold up my torso so that my hands were LIGHTLY resting on the handlebars. If I took away both hands, I wouldn't fall forward. It took awhile to strengthen the muscles to do this, but it made my riding SO much smoother once I learned to keep my torso up using my back rather than my arms/wrists.


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## Doggity (Mar 10, 2006)

*This is almost diagnostic of too long a reach.....*

...which would tend to make you put too much weight on your hands. So:
1.)Check your saddle fore and aft position.
2.)Check and see if a shorter stem is in order-go to LBS, have a decent fit.
3.)CHANGE YOUR HAND POSITION EVERY FEW MINUTES! A road handlebar is designed for that...NOT staying in one place for hours.
4.)THE best gloves I've found are Specialized Body Geometry gel gloves. These, in tandem with their bar phat and bar tape, reduce the pressure like 40%. Even with all of this, I can still make my hands go numb, if I don't change position every few minutes. Good luck, let us know how it goes.


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## rounder (Feb 19, 2005)

Doggity said:


> ...which would tend to make you put too much weight on your hands. So:
> 1.)Check your saddle fore and aft position.
> 2.)Check and see if a shorter stem is in order-go to LBS, have a decent fit.
> 3.)CHANGE YOUR HAND POSITION EVERY FEW MINUTES! A road handlebar is designed for that...NOT staying in one place for hours.
> 4.)THE best gloves I've found are Specialized Body Geometry gel gloves. These, in tandem with their bar phat and bar tape, reduce the pressure like 40%. Even with all of this, I can still make my hands go numb, if I don't change position every few minutes. Good luck, let us know how it goes.


If you need to change hand position every few minutes to avoid numb hands you have hip/core problem. You're leaning into your hands too much . Advising people to load up on cushioning devices and move around lots is bad advice. Especially since you yourself can't get down the road without a problem. Also too long a reach does not necessarily produce too much weight on the hands.


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## rounder (Feb 19, 2005)

nandaiyo said:


> One thing I've found helpful is to try and use your lower abs/back and your legs to relieve the pressure on your wrists. You shouldn't have too much of your weight bearing down on the handlebars.
> 
> I used to ride a Honda CBR600F4i motorcycle, and after >30minutes of riding, I used to have numb wrists. It hurt pretty bad actually, and one time I had to pull over because my hands were cramping and I couldn't brake/clutch because I couldn't feel my fingers.
> 
> For me, the problem was that I was leaning too far forward so my weight cut off the circulation. I practiced riding using my lower back to hold up my torso so that my hands were LIGHTLY resting on the handlebars. If I took away both hands, I wouldn't fall forward. It took awhile to strengthen the muscles to do this, but it made my riding SO much smoother once I learned to keep my torso up using my back rather than my arms/wrists.


+1 well said.


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## tube_ee (Aug 25, 2003)

Try raising the handlebar. You're carrying too much weight on your hands. The #1 reason for this is handlebars that are too low. If the bike's not too small, you should be able to raise the stem until it's right. Perhaps paying for a fitting would help, if you can find a shop that doesn't think that every roadie should look like a 25-year-old Euro-pro who rides 30k miles a year. Good luck with that, but they are around.

--Shannon


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## Flite500 (Jul 19, 2006)

Deck314,

I'm new to road bikes and today I have experinced the same problem. After I returned home I adjusted my seat forward a couple CM to see if it continues. My previous two rides on my new bike I didn't experince this at all. 

Thanks to everyone for their input I am going to focus more on my core taking the weight off my hands. (I will buy some gloves too)


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## rounder (Feb 19, 2005)

Flite500 said:


> Deck314,
> 
> I'm new to road bikes and today I have experinced the same problem. After I returned home I adjusted my seat forward a couple CM to see if it continues. My previous two rides on my new bike I didn't experince this at all.
> 
> Thanks to everyone for their input I am going to focus more on my core taking the weight off my hands. (I will buy some gloves too)


 you moved the seat foward??? that's the wrong way to go. Posters it would be easier to tell you more about what to do if you would post a side view pix of yourself while on the hoods!


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## Flite500 (Jul 19, 2006)

I will try to get a pic tonight. My thought for moving forward was feeling streched to reach the hoods, on top of that my butt never really feels like it's fully on the seat, or being supported by the seat.


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## rounder (Feb 19, 2005)

Flite500 said:


> I will try to get a pic tonight. My thought for moving forward was feeling streched to reach the hoods, on top of that my butt never really feels like it's fully on the seat, or being supported by the seat.


could be we'll see and I can give a general idea of where to go. Also would like to know if you have an anterior pelvic tilt. If your hips hold your pants up so they angle down to the front then yes you do.


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## rogger (Aug 19, 2005)

You probably have one arm that's significantly longer than the other, find a good chiropractor to measure you up and re-adjust your bones. Come to think of it, it might as well be your legs that are out of proportion causing you addopt a cramped position. Maybe you could take a tape measure to accurately size your limbs and post pics for us to scrutinize your discrepancies? There's a lot of bone-cuddlers on this site, so they should be able to help you out in a jiffy when you comply.


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## lukipelame (Jul 20, 2006)

I'm sure as soon as "DR Rounder" has studied the pics he will have an answer; he always does.


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## Spunout (Aug 12, 2002)

rogger said:


> You probably have one arm that's significantly longer than the other,,,.


I have one arm that is significantly stronger than the other for some reason


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## CFBlue (Jun 28, 1999)

*Get a girl friend...*



Deck314 said:


> I am getting back into riding my 1984 Nishiki Riviera (Cro-Mo frame, drop bars) and suffer from a numb right hand after the first half hour. This happens earlier if I am using the lower position, but occured today while holding the top bar. Are there any modifications I can make to prevent this?


...or a boy friend.


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## Flite500 (Jul 19, 2006)

*Avoiding Thread hijack..created new thread*

Added an image of my form in a new thread. Please tell me if something jumps out at you as being wrong.


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## Deck314 (Jul 13, 2006)

For some reason, it seems this post has gone off topic. I raised my handlebar stem one inch and lowered the seat 1/2 inch a couple nights ago and this seemed to help, although my ride was only 45 minutes vs. the 2+ hour ride I took last weekend where my hand went numb. My old "sport touring" bike still seems to have the handlebars significantly below the seat despite the change, which has the secondary effect of straining my shoulders and neck as I have to turn my head up to see the cars while riding the drops. I'll keep tweaking this bike, but fear this 49-year old body may need something more "adult friendly." How's that for leaving the door open to keeping this thread on the road less traveled?


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## tube_ee (Aug 25, 2003)

Deck314 said:


> For some reason, it seems this post has gone off topic. I raised my handlebar stem one inch and lowered the seat 1/2 inch a couple nights ago and this seemed to help, although my ride was only 45 minutes vs. the 2+ hour ride I took last weekend where my hand went numb. My old "sport touring" bike still seems to have the handlebars significantly below the seat despite the change, which has the secondary effect of straining my shoulders and neck as I have to turn my head up to see the cars while riding the drops. I'll keep tweaking this bike, but fear this 49-year old body may need something more "adult friendly." How's that for leaving the door open to keeping this thread on the road less traveled?


Your bike may be too small. But, a bigger bike will also have a longer top tube, making the reach longer. That's not likely to be a win. I'd check your stem's minimum insertion line. If you're not there yet, go higher. If you are there, order a Nitto Technomic stem from your LBS and swap out. Some of those Japanses stems had pretty short quills. The Technomics have a long, 190mm quill, and will give you some more adjustment. It sounds like you might want to start off with your bars level with the saddle. Your original stem may not do that.

As far as saddle height goes, don't go changing that for your hands' sake. You want a comfortable extension of the leg, without rocking your hips. Go too low, and your knees will let you know. Likewise, don't change reach by moving the saddle forward or backward. Set that thing so that the wide part of the saddle is under your sit bones when you're riding down the road with your hands on the hoods. Modify from there.

--Shannon


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## logbiter (Sep 14, 2005)

Deck314 said:


> For some reason, it seems this post has gone off topic. I raised my handlebar stem one inch and lowered the seat 1/2 inch a couple nights ago and this seemed to help, although my ride was only 45 minutes vs. the 2+ hour ride I took last weekend where my hand went numb. My old "sport touring" bike still seems to have the handlebars significantly below the seat despite the change, which has the secondary effect of straining my shoulders and neck as I have to turn my head up to see the cars while riding the drops. I'll keep tweaking this bike, but fear this 49-year old body may need something more "adult friendly." How's that for leaving the door open to keeping this thread on the road less traveled?


you may want to think about getting stem that will get you in more upright position & start slow & work up to longer rides. core workouts will help!


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## Deck314 (Jul 13, 2006)

Thanks for the detailed post. I was able to raise the stem about an inch and a half, but that's about the max. As far as the frame size, it seems the right size for me. When standing, I clear the top bar by less than two inches. I've been using a Spinning bike at the gym with a higher bar and have had no hand numbness, so the problem was probably related to the lower bar.


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## KonaMan (Sep 22, 2004)

Generally speaking, hand numbness is caused by road vibrations. body position may have something to do with it, but if you start screwing with your seat forward and back, up and down, you're asking for knee problems that will make the hand numbness seem like a little scratch.

You're on an old ass bike, and I'm fairly certain that your hands are taking the brunt of every road vibration out there. If I ride a bike without a carbon fork, I have all kinds of hand, wrist, and elbow ailments, and I ride a fair amount. Obviously, you really probably do not want to go to a carbon fork on that bike (save it for the next one).

1. Get some gel gloves (Pearl Izumi are nice, but thin on the padding). I have a set of (blech) Trek with thick gel pads I use for longer rides, and they help tremendously.
2. If you're getting new tape, find some with a gel pad (one that is seperate from the tape and adds a lot of nice padding on the pressure areas).

Those 2 things are relatively cheap and will help you out.


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## Deck314 (Jul 13, 2006)

Thanks for all the advice. I went for a two-hour ride this morning after adding a layer of gel tape over the top of my cork--what a difference. I worked on moving my hands every few minutes and had no numbness, so this fix seems to be working. One nice advantage of adding the gel tape as a second layer is that the bar is too thick to hold overly tight. My LBS didn't have gel gloves in my size, so I'll pick them up next week.

As far as my "old ass bike," you are absolutely correct. I look wistfully over at the newer bikes using a third chainring as they pass me on steep hills, so believe I may be in the market for something made in this century soon. A carbon fork and carbon seat stay under my "old ass" would also be appreciated. Something along the lines of the Trek Pilot 2.1/Specialized Sequoia sounds promising. I do like the fact that my steel frame doesn't seem to flex when I really crank down, so that bike will probably be relegated to my indoor trainer when I replace it.


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## Edgecrusher (Jan 12, 2006)

rogger said:


> You probably have one arm that's significantly longer than the other, find a good chiropractor to measure you up and re-adjust your bones. Come to think of it, it might as well be your legs that are out of proportion causing you addopt a cramped position. Maybe you could take a tape measure to accurately size your limbs and post pics for us to scrutinize your discrepancies? There's a lot of bone-cuddlers on this site, so they should be able to help you out in a jiffy when you comply.



LOL!

:lol: 
:crazy:


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## kaboose (Jul 20, 2005)

if you're going to get a new bike (good idea, btw) also get a carbon handlebar for it. i saw one that had flattened top tubes - way cool.
on my mountainbike i was getting hand numbness and putting a carbon handlebar fixed the problem!
K


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## KonaMan (Sep 22, 2004)

If you love your frame, why not see if you can get a carbon fork for it? Might be a challenge to find something that doesn't screw with your geometry, but the retro steel + carbon fork combo would be cool... IMHO


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