Right hand going numb when riding…..

[Mo1959]

The fingers on my right hand have always gone numb when I'm cycling, both on drop and flat bars. Possible a pinched nerve somewhere. I just shake my hand out every 15 minutes or so.

 

[All uphill]

Awesome. Thanks very much for your time. I’ll get my Wife to get some pictures of my hands on the bars tonight - in my actual riding position; and report back for a critique 😉

Glad that's helpful. May I suggest you start away from the bike, as in my photo above. If your wife can take a picture of you with both hands, each holding a pencil, for example, you will get an idea of the angle you need, and the ideal width of your bars - The distance between your hands.

 

[VinSumRox]

I only use a straight bar bike when we tour and do find my hands get more uncomfortable than drop bars, I think because there aren't as many different positions to put your hands in.
I fitted these Ergon grips and after a bit of experimenting with angles find them much more comfortable and give you a choice of several different hand positions.

 

[sevenfourate]

I only use a straight bar bike when we tour and do find my hands get more uncomfortable than drop bars, I think because there are many different positions to put your hands in.
I fitted these Ergon grips and after a bit of experimenting with angles find them much more comfortable and give you a choice of several different hand positions.
View attachment 818177

Fab !

Do you know I thought this Morning while riding in - of buying something bolt-on to give me hand position options. Something else to add into the mix 😁

 

[Webbo2]

……..across all my bikes. Pretty much.

And happens after an hour (?) or more riding generally. Not always - infact I’ve been through a few months recently of it being really good [Barely any numbness]. But I suffered toward the end of the Dunwich Dynamo; doing nearly 7 hours in the saddle and 112 miles - and it’s not been 100% since. And certainly more pronounced / coming on sooner than normal.

I know I’m far from alone in this - as I often follow cyclists ‘shaking out’ their hands when riding. But seeing as I suffer from it on numerous bikes / postures, positioning and weight distribution I figure other factors are at least: contributing.

Thickness of grips / tape ?
Gloves worn ?
Roads ridden ?
Tyre pressure ? * I think lower PSI helps.

Anything else that others have nailed down and proven to be contributing factors ?

I get this on all my bikes, I also get it when I sleep on my side. I am led to believe it’s a problem in my neck the Ulnar nerve getting trapped. You might be better seeing a physio or osteopath. I just change my position on the bars or take one hand off and shake the other arm.

 

[MichaelW2]

To fine tune your grip after grosz changes in saddle and bar position:
Rotate brakes about the bars, some inward cant may help.
Take some small, folded pieces of inner tube and stuff them under your hoods to reprofile them.

 

[richardfm]

I got this on my flat bar tourer (with Ergon GP5 grips), but not on drops.
I changed to Koga Denham Bars on the tourer, with Ergon GP1 grips and a longer stem. This seems to have fixed it.

 

[wafter]

This sounds a likely 🙏 Not sure how / why it all but disappeared for a few months. But seems it’s relatively: back now with a vengeance.

Indeed; I vaguely remember getting some discomfort in my hands for a while when I was commuting in on the Brompton, but thankfully this just went away.

Thankfully I've never had hand issues on any of my other bikes, however I think my legs mean I'm always running the saddle pretty far back so there's less weight on my hands.

I wonder if some strength training / conditioning might help; seems that since I've been doing a bit some historic niggles have lessened / disappeared (if replaced by new and different ones specific to the training..)

 

[Punkawallah]

Hi. I had/have a similar problem with my left hand. It occurred to me that humans do not have a symmetrical body, so I tried altering the bar position to see if a longer or shorter reach for the left hand had an effect (without affecting the right hand. Seems to have worked for me, so you may want to try it?
Bear in mind that seven hours doing anything in a fixed position will do your body no favours.

 

[sevenfourate]

Hi. I had/have a similar problem with my left hand. It occurred to me that humans do not have a symmetrical body, so I tried altering the bar position to see if a longer or shorter reach for the left hand had an effect (without affecting the right hand. Seems to have worked for me, so you may want to try it?
Bear in mind that seven hours doing anything in a fixed position will do your body no favours.

Right !

That had occurred to me also. I KNOW I ride slightly lop-sided. And I am trying to work on that.

I also always have levers (Angle) set slightly different to each other; on my MTB, BMX’s and Hybrids (Flat bar essentially) - as symmetrical doesn’t feel right.

Flip side of course is perhaps I’m causing a bigger problem by doing that ?

This is where a bike fit / biomechanics expert etc comes into their own I imagine.

 

[N0bodyOfTheGoat]

There's so many possible little things contributing to this, another one is perhaps you are gripping the bars far too hard.

 

[Ming the Merciless]

Where is your hand going numb?