Pins and needles in hands

[malcermie]

Hi all, I find I get pins and needles in my hands after about twenty miles, I wear gel gloves but still get them, could the height of my handlebars be wrong?
Malc

 

[Pauluk]

It could be that you are not moving your hands enough while riding. You should be able let go of the handle bars and raise yourself up into an upright position without straining your back or hips (try it while stationary). If you can do this then your bar height is probably ok.

 

[Rob3rt]

Lot's of possible reasons. The two most likely being that you are gripping the bars too tightly and need to learn to relax or there is two much weight resting on your hands due to one or more fitting parameters being not quite right,

 

[Globalti]

You can fit a more padded bar tape, Specialized do a nice one and you can even buy their tape with gel pads, which go underneath it. Or you could fit some flat-top bars. But the best remedy would be to invest in a proper bike fit session at a good bike shop.

 

[Rob3rt]

You can fit a more padded bar tape, Specialized do a nice one and you can even buy their tape with gel pads, which go underneath it. Or you could fit some flat-top bars. But the best remedy would be to invest in a proper bike fit session at a good bike shop.

Cheap man's version of this is to stick some cheap bar tape under the new tape along the length of the tops, drops and in front of the brake hood That is what I do as I like the texture of microtex, but it lacks padding.

 

[Bryan_Cymru]

Hi,
I too was suffering from this until I came across Sheldon Brown's website & adopted his tip for adjusting my postue. Now all is AoK.

Fingers

Numbness of the fingers is a potentially dangerous symptom, often related to carpal tunnel syndrome.
This is one of many problems which can result from bad upper body posture.
The Two Bump Problem

Like your bottom, the heel of your hand has two bumps, with a sort of valley between.
There are important nerves which run through this valley, and it is important to avoid excessive pressure here. One common cause of excess pressure on this "valley" is riding on the top corners of drop bars in such a way that the bar presses here.
As with saddles, the "two bump problem" can actually be exacerbated by excessive padding! If you use thick foam handlebar grips, and/or gloves with too much foam/gel padding, the "bumps" that are best able to carry weight will press through the foam, but the foam in the middle will press back at the valley. Thus, as with saddles, too much foam/gel can worsen the problem it was intended to correct!
Wrist angle.

Numbness can also be related to poor wrist positioning. Generally, the wrist should be held so that the hand is pretty much in line with the forearm. If your hand is bent upward from the forearm, the nerves can get pinched, causing numbness.