Right Hand numbness @ 30 mins



geardad

New Member
Jun 2, 2006
71
0
0
I have a Trek 730 Hybrid bike with Grip Shift shifters and I believe stock handlebars..

my right hand gets numb after about 30 minutes of riding. I am not *aware* of favoring one side or the other.

I had been wearing some gloves, but that made things worse.

anyone have info about my issue? right now, I guess I have to limit my rides to 30 minutes.

I've been riding for 30 years and NEVER had this issue with road bike handlebars, but they offer at least 3 positions a rider can hang on, whereas the mountain bars I have really only offer the one position.

I'm thinkin that's it right there, and I'd love to put road handlebars on this good bike, but then I'd have to chuck all that hardware and replace it with something that would work with road bars.

sigh....

thanks for any hints.


g
 
Its posture, how you sit on the bike. Keep the wrists straight, don't bend them and sink into the seat and the bars.

Search the forum for "carpal". ;)
 
geardad said:
I have a Trek 730 Hybrid bike with Grip Shift shifters and I believe stock handlebars..

my right hand gets numb after about 30 minutes of riding. I am not *aware* of favoring one side or the other.

I had been wearing some gloves, but that made things worse.

anyone have info about my issue? right now, I guess I have to limit my rides to 30 minutes.

I've been riding for 30 years and NEVER had this issue with road bike handlebars, but they offer at least 3 positions a rider can hang on, whereas the mountain bars I have really only offer the one position.

I'm thinkin that's it right there, and I'd love to put road handlebars on this good bike, but then I'd have to chuck all that hardware and replace it with something that would work with road bars.

sigh....

thanks for any hints.
I have the same problem. The thing that helped me the most is taller handlebars. Went from a short riser to a taller one and it helped right away. Carbon bar is best, less vibration. My legs are long and torso slightly shorter than average so my seat post is tall. Well padded gloves helps, too.
 
if you have an unusual amount of pressure on your hands it's because something is forcing more of the weight of your body onto the bars.

equipment - gel padded gloves work if you haven't tried them already. also thin-wall/light aluminum bars are better than heavy aluminum or steel bars (not sure what you have).

also try upgrading tires to a smoother tread (if not smooth already) and a very supple sidewall. tires make the biggest difference in the perceived stiffness of a bike.

if your bars are too wide they will force your hands apart and put more pressure on them. cutting them down to something a bit narrower might help.

verify your saddle height is correct (you probably have). too high will exacerbate hand fatigue.

have you tried the bar ends? they will give you a position similar to riding on the hoods. you may end up cutting down your grips by an inch or so and narrowing your bars so that you aren't hanging onto ends which are 2 feet apart.

move your hands around instead of holding the bars in simply one spot.

different grips (thicker or thinner) might help.

finally perhaps your seat is pointed down? (if you have a noseless saddle then you'll have more pressure on your hands regardlesss). I see a lot of bikes set up like this (in the false assumption it "helps" alleviate pressure on the crotch). a lower, level saddle will let your body sit balanced on the saddle and reduce some pressure on your hands.

good luck
cdr
 
Question,
Do you drive a car with your left hand only often?
The reason I ask becouse if you drive a car that is out of alingnment and your car is pulling and you are pulling or pushing the wheel will cause a pinch in the vertebra that can cause numbness in you left hand. I had just read this in SPINE medical mag.
 
I had the same issue on my MTB. I changed my tyres to full slicks and added bar ends for more positions - the bar ends give me a good grip when climbing hills too! The problem has disappeared. But posture (and I'm no doc) would def have an impact as well. Make sure the seat height etc is correct and handle bar height is correct for a start. I read about correct riding positions etc and eventhough this bike was never fitted for me (and probably isn't the correct size) after a few adjustments the ride was alot more comfortable.
 
I suffered from this problem for years and then it just went away. Don't know why I got it and don't know why it went away.

Until you solve the problem, why don't you shake your hand ever so often to help the circulation.
 
thanks for all those ideas...

I'm going to look at the hand position angle..see if I can get some bar ends to help out with that.

I do shake my right hand, but that doesn't alleviate it; only stopping riding does.

gd
 
Keep your elbows slightly bent at all times, and your hands will never go numb again.
 
Eastway82 said:
Nice theory, but mine still go numb...
animated_carusoFUCKYOUUU.gif
 
Which part of your hand is numb? there are 3 main nerves runnning into the hand, all through different routes, all of which can get inflamed leading to numbness on some fingers.
 
had this happen for the first time this morning about halfway through a 20km ride - right hand lost feeling in fingers and left hand started to.
kinda weird knowing that your gear change happened through hearing the click coz you can't feel the lever...
tried altering my grip on the hoods but it made almost no difference...
i use gloves with gel pads.
 
Archibald said:
had this happen for the first time this morning about halfway through a 20km ride - right hand lost feeling in fingers and left hand started to.
kinda weird knowing that your gear change happened through hearing the click coz you can't feel the lever...
tried altering my grip on the hoods but it made almost no difference...
i use gloves with gel pads.

Even if your position's perfect and you use gel gloves and everything, there can still be other reasons. for example I get it much more on my race bike, which I'd always put down to it being a stiffer frame or a slightly different position from my training bike (although the two are as near identical as I can get them). Then a few weeks back I put my race wheels (FSA RD400s) into the training bike as I was off to the Alps and wanted to save a bit of weight but still have the training bike's triple as a bail-out. And I gt bad numbness – I think the wheels are so stiff (and radial spoked front) that they transmit every bit of road surface vibration straight to the bars.
 
lots of good info posted so far.

i've had both carpal and cubital tunnel problems in the past. here's my take;

which part of your hand goes numb? if its your pinky and ring finger, then the problem could possibly be cubital tunnel (elbow) in nature. if it's the rest of your hand (or all of it), it could be carpal tunnel or circulation in nature.

i've discovered a couple of things that affect my hands going numb; as i lose weight, the problem lessens (less body fat in the carpal tunnel??). gloves definitely help me as long as they aren't too bulky with gel. so far, the best i've used are the "body glove" brand (about $30 at the bike shop). i suppose if carpal tunnel is caused by restriction of nerves in the wrist, then bulky gloves could worsen the problem.

when all else fails, i alternate letting my arms dangle and shake my hand/fingers for about 20 seconds til the feeling comes back.

lastly, the more vibration in the front tire, the worse the problem. so when cts really acts up, i stick to smooth bike paths.



i'm no doc and i'm not trying to diagnose. i'm just letting you know what works for me.
 

Similar threads