Aarrrgh....hand palsy!!!

Manxman_Ste

Being a relative newbie I though my first injury would be something macho like a broken arm or a miffed-up collar bone.....but instead, i wake up the other day to a hand that's completely useless. Couldn't straighten or coordinate the fingers, lost all strength in the had and couldn't even hold a pen properly. After a bit of research it appears i'm suffering from 'hand palsy' a very common infliction caused by too much pressure being placed on the Ulnar nerve in the hand.

A couple of days on and there is a slow improvement. I'm so frustrated because i didn't even know this condition existed and now i cant get out on my bike....possibly for weeks.

How many of you guys and gals have suffered from this? How long till you could get back on the bike and what have you done to prevent it from happening again?

Cheers

itboffin

That sucks have you tried changing your hand position whilst riding, moving around a lot from the drops to hoods and flat bar section, you could also try adding another layer of bar tape for extra cushioning and make sure you've good gloves, spesh BG make well padded ones.

I don't mean to poke fun but I couldn't help think of Al Murray's pub landlord "damn these hands"

Sorry :roll:

Manxman_Ste

Now worries, people have been laughing at my limp wrist for days now

When i get back on the bike i'll certainly experiment with my hand position. I do tend to spend most my time in the drops, which is where i think my problem lies. Do you think its worth getting my riding position checked out as i read that bad bike posture can lead to too much pressure on the hands.

One plus point though....i cant get into a packet of crisps....waiting for the pounds to fall off!!

tardington

Ouch! With my temporary MTBing I'm getting it a wee bit. Mainly if I sleep on the wrong side. Which sounds wierd, sorry...

itboffin

Manxman_Ste wrote:

Now worries, people have been laughing at my limp wrist for days now

When i get back on the bike i'll certainly experiment with my hand position. I do tend to spend most my time in the drops, which is where i think my problem lies. Do you think its worth getting my riding position checked out as i read that bad bike posture can lead to too much pressure on the hands.

One plus point though....i cant get into a packet of crisps....waiting for the pounds to fall off!!

No I don't think so just move your hands around and see how that goes, padded gloves do help, I used to get really numb and painful hands when I started nothing seemed to help in the end I switched to a different bar grips (flat bars) and the pain went, I now only ride road bikes and frequently change position in fact I'm planning on buying aero bars for my upcoming sportives.

biondino

tardie wrote:

Ouch! With my temporary MTBing I'm getting it a wee bit. Mainly if I sleep on the wrong side. Which sounds wierd, sorry...

Sleeping on your bike is even worse than wearing headphones while riding! Only just, mind, but still! Can you not just power-nap at lights, zebra crossings etc?

gtvlusso

I was gonna ask if you are having eyesight problems too......or switch to the left hand?

Sorry - bit sick really.

My grandafather (god rest his soul) suffered from this in latter years - basically, it was from overusing screwdrives and paintbrushs through out his life - being a champion boxer probably did not help either.....

He eventually had an op to help with this - I think it was Palsy compounded by ligament issues.....but I am no doc! Caused a lack of ability to use the fingers and grip.

Hope you find a cure soon!! Get back on yer bike!!

Christophe3967

itboffin wrote:

That sucks have you tried changing your hand position whilst riding, moving around a lot from the drops to hoods and flat bar section, you could also try adding another layer of bar tape for extra cushioning and make sure you've good gloves, spesh BG make well padded ones.

+1

Hope you get sorted quickly, I know from experience how painful that is.