Right hand going numb when riding…..

[sevenfourate]

Fingers crossed! (Sorry)

Don’t be sorry 🙏 I understand at 55 it will possibly always be with me now. You can only try though hey ! And it’s far-far from debilitating. More like I’ve sat on a few fingers for a while…….

As much as I pretend the problems, potential changes, hardware swaps irritate me - I also like having a goal, a target, something to do, to try to achieve. So this weeks mini project is ‘Feel the fingers’ 🤣

 

[alicat]

Could be worth checking out carpal tunnel syndrome. Numbness in the hands is one of the symptoms and it might be caused by your hand position on the bike and/or gripping the bars too tightly etc.

 

[slickgonecycling]

……..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 ?

Probably echoed in may other replies, but varying hand positions fixes it for me. Similarly making sure you have the right reach and bar angles minimises it.

 

[ColinJ]

I have been noticing a bit of hand discomfort on my rides recently so I just tilted my handlebar back a few degrees to try to improve the angle to the hoods. I have a hilly 80 km ride planned for tomorrow and am hoping that it will feel better like that. I will let you know... If it does help I will do the same thing on my other 3 bikes with dropped bars.

 

[sevenfourate]

I’m about to try these for the first time today. Should get me more like shoulder width apart - and hands / wrists ‘pre-set’ at a decent angle. IF they happen to make a difference - I’ll then think about narrower bars etc

**Yup - well spotted. Don’t ask me why the right needs to go on the left. It even says so on the instructions 🤦‍♂️🤣