hand going numb

roogster
roogster Posts: 31
edited June 2014 in Training, fitness and health
Hi all,I'm having a problem with my left hand going numb while I'm riding my road bike, I was on a club run this morning and another guy had the same problem,any ideas,gotta be bike set up I think as I don't get it on mt time trial bike,cheers

Comments

  • sungod
    sungod Posts: 17,415
    common causes...

    gripping the bars too tight - just a bad habit, only a light grip is needed in most conditions

    leaning on the bars - can be a bad habit, but also poor bike fit or lack of core strength
    my bike - faster than god's and twice as shiny
  • GavH
    GavH Posts: 933
    Possibly an effect of too much pressure on your Ulnar nerve. Better padded gloves might help although I'd also agree that bike setup is the likely cause.
  • neilo23
    neilo23 Posts: 783
    GavH wrote:
    Possibly an effect of too much pressure on your Ulnar nerve. Better padded gloves might help although I'd also agree that bike setup is the likely cause.

    I had that for ages. Not saying Gav's wrong but the last gloves I bought are actually less padded than those which I've previously used. Maybe there was too much pressure on a certain nerve due to padding in one part of my hand, but I don't have the numbness anymore.
  • ai_1
    ai_1 Posts: 3,060
    The bar/hoods are putting pressure on nerves and/or blood vessels and causing the numbness. This would be made worse by gripping too tight or resting a lot of your weight on your hands. The right gloves and/or a lighter grip and stronger core will help but tweaking the hood position, bar shape and angle to take the pressure somewhere that doesn't cause problems will make the biggest difference to in my opinion.
  • Jules Winnfield
    Jules Winnfield Posts: 299
    Funny enough I was on a club run on Sunday talking about the same problem to another rider, it wasn't you was it roogster?
    Ribble Ultralite Racing 7005, Campagnolo Veloce groupset, Campagnolo Khamsin G3 wheel set
  • roogster
    roogster Posts: 31
    Unless it was a pontypool club run to Monmouth
  • Jules Winnfield
    Jules Winnfield Posts: 299
    No then bud, it wasn't me.
    Ribble Ultralite Racing 7005, Campagnolo Veloce groupset, Campagnolo Khamsin G3 wheel set
  • BrandonA
    BrandonA Posts: 553
    sungod wrote:
    common causes...

    gripping the bars too tight - just a bad habit, only a light grip is needed in most conditions

    leaning on the bars - can be a bad habit, but also poor bike fit or lack of core strength

    I agree with all of the above - except for the bike fit bit - this seems to be the common answer to every question.

    I used to get a terrible numb left hand. I've started gripping the bar more lightly, using my core muscles to support my upper body more.

    Do you have a good pair of padded gloves? They can help too.
  • Crashs2k
    Crashs2k Posts: 78
    I would also look at the transition of the bar to the hoods and make sure it is as flat as possible. I had a similar problem with numbness / pins and needles in my left hand after an hour.

    Moving hoods forward / down to flatten transition and then rotating bars slightly back up to keep position has helped.

    This is a good article to refer to for hand position.

    http://bikedynamics.co.uk/achesandpains.htm
  • wheeledwidewebb
    wheeledwidewebb Posts: 254
    As suggested earlier, gloves with too much padding 'might' be the cause.

    Could you try riding without gloves to see how things are.

    Not saying that bike fit isn't also likely of course.
  • aiwa_yamaha
    aiwa_yamaha Posts: 137
    I found having your seat tilted to far forwards/down pushes your weight into the grips making your hand numb so check that out

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