BIKEPGH MESSAGE BOARD ARCHIVE

You might try some combination of gloves and different grips. My hands are numb in just a couple of miles if I don't wear gloves with strategically placed padding.

change your hand position. it may help. it sounds like you may have carpel tunnel. is it certain fingers that go numb? like the pointer fringer, middle finger, and half of the ring fingers?

here's what sheldon has to say. things to look at include: upper body posture, wrist positioning, and lack or excess(!) of padding.

you might try having your brake levers adjusted (or changed) so that the levers are closer to the handlebar too.

this has happened on all of the bike I've ridden in the past year, no matter the amount of padding/angle of brakes/etc. I know, though, that on this one, my handlebars are too low (which is causing me extreme lower back pain), but the bolt to raise them is just too damn tight, and I can't spend any more money to fix it until september 10th.

also, every finger is numb, but my middle finger has the worst of it.

wait. is this the bike you just bought? if it needs an adjustment for you to be able to ride it comfortably, I'd ask at the shop where you bought it. some places will give you that kind of service for free for an initial period of riding (not sure how long at any given shop) - part of making sure their customers are riding their bikes in a happy/healthy way.

The fact that you are riding downhill (at least sometimes) when you experience this ties in toone of Sheldon's ideas that upper body position can be responsible for hand numbness. He says that "stooping" forward, and/or having your shoulders forward can contribute, as can a wrist position that is bent upright. Next ride, try to keep back a tad arched, or at least upright, and your shoulders back to help bear some of the upper body weight off your hands. See if it helps. Just quoting Sheldon here -- and I need to try it myself, as I've had a tingling in my pointer and ring fingers the last couple rides.

yeah, I never think to ask...I'll go tomorrow after school. I'm not sure on the too much padding thing though. my grips/handlebar tape always slip outward no matter how I grip it.

EDIT: I'll try that tomorrow and see if there's any difference.

Since you said you wake up with numb arms, this might not have anything to do with riding a bike. I used to sleep on my arms and had horrible problems with numbness/weakness/pain in my left hand/wrist. Riding a bike was almost out of the question the pain was so awful. I went to the doctor, had x-rays, etc. They gave me a brace, some ace wrap, pain pills, and suggested I do PT. After none of that shit worked, I just made a point not to fall asleep while laying on my arm and I haven't had problems since.

yeah, it is my left arm, but I don't know how to not sleep on my arm. I wake up with numb arms all the time. But this also happens in the afternoon, would this still affect me hours and hours later?

you have too much weight on your hands. that is caused by a position that is too low and/or short.

your saddle could be too high but more likely your bars are too low and/or they are too close to your body. [too short a steam and/or top tube]

the cheapest fix is just to raise them. next cheapest is a slight longer stem [like 1-2cm]

Yep, I had worse pain in the afternoon. Progressed throughout the day. Try wearing a brace or something on your wrist for a few nights. It'll remind you not to sleep on it.

yeah, my handlebars are on so tight that I bent a bike tool trying to loosen it.

also, can I just get a brace at a regular drugstore?

I imagine so. They aren't much different than what you use for rollerblading/skating. A little padding, velcro, and some chunk of molded plastic.

I've found if I don't actually fall asleep on my arms, I tend not to wake up on them.

I can't sleep unless theres a tv show/movie on, so I keep my laptop to my left and face right when I'm falling asleep. the faint light/sound puts me to sleep, but I wake up facing my laptop, on my left arm.

no offense but are you sure you were turning the right bolt? [and whatever else is involved with your particular setup]

might be well worth a quick trip to kraynick's or free ride. honestly, if you're reasonably attractive [eg any girl] and the shop isn't busy it's the sort of thing they'd do for free.

the one right at the top of the handlebar stem, where the allen key goes? that's the one I've used on every other bike....(so maybe bolt wasn't the right word, but I'm not tool-savvy)

I'll take it back to thick after class tomorrow and see what they'll do for me.

that's the bolt. loosen it a few turns then whack the stem with a rubber hammer till the stem drops . just loosening the bolt won't do it.

sometimes hand numbness can come from a problem in the neck. i work in ortho, but it's hard to diagnose without an exam and tests. hopefully it gets better for you

RF, if you bent an allen key trying to turn the stem bolt, the bolt is probably slightly corroded into the nut inside. Don't mess with it, and don't round-out the bolt whatever you do, take it back to the shop, they probably need an impact driver to loosen it. Simple enough with the right tool.

it wasn't just an allen key, it was a little bike hand tool. I took it in today and they raised them for me. Much better on the back position.

my feet were a little numb today, but I'm going to blame my shoes (speaking of which: riding to and from class in a skirt, tights, and dress shoes = success!!)

I also tried to not sleep on my left arm last night, and I think it worked, though I was a little numb still (not as extreme as usual though). I'm starting to think it might not JUST be the riding that's doing it, like dwillen said, because my hands were a little numb in the shower before I left this morning.

Here's an old post about a similar problem wrist numbness post

And here's what I did to help my own numbness - I used the guards for about 2 months, recovered and quit using them. Thanks to robidlc and his fierce metal burnin' thingee.

so where/for how much $ can I get that?

@RubberFactory...

I purchased the wrist guards from Wiili's ski shop. They came with small plastic inserts. The intended use is for snowboarders who want to insure against breaking their wrists in a fall. They were about $12-20, I can't remember exactly how much they cost.

robildc, another very regular poster on these forums, cut the metal pieces from 1/16" aluminum for me. I asked him to cut the metal pieces when I found that the plastic inserts didn't extend into my palms far enough to help. Robildc had a post here that stirred me to request his help. It was awesome that he agreed to help and cut them for me... Cad-Driven plasma cutter

I have 2 extra metal cutouts that robildc cut out of 1/8" aluminum too - they seemed a bit thick so I used the lighter weight pieces. You can have them if you want them - contact me.

1) for temporary relief, see a chiropractor for a few visits

2) long term: teach yourself not to sleep on your arm like that. Support your neck/head with firm pillows, not arm/shoulder. Hug a pillow to your chest (with both arms) to help keep shoulders tucked in where they should be.

Also... maybe rotate bars up toward you so brake/shift levers aren't so much of a stretch.

I had problems with wrist pain and numbness for a while. Once I started to pay attention to what was going on I was able to fix things up. I think what helped was trying to deal with it sooner rather than later. (Also, when problems started I asked my physician what to do; the suggestions I got involved splints along with other complicated interventions. It was enough to scare me into trying to figure it out on my own.)

Anyway, what I started to do different:

1) Avoid a hard grip on the handlebars. All that muscle tension makes everything else worse.

2) Avoid wrist hyperextension. This meant keeping my palms over on the front of the bars rather than on top or behind so that the line from the forearm to the knuckles is more or less straight. Brake levers need to be aligned as well. At first this felt a bit unnatural, even unsafe, but eventually it feels just fine.

3) Regularly, let go of the handlebars (one hand at a time) and give your hand a good shake out. You can feel the blood, sensation, etc flow right back in.

I do the shaking. a real lot. I'm trying to stop sleeping on my arms...

today, two of my toes went numb again. weird.

The best possible position for sleeping is called the "swastika position". It puts the least amount of stress on your joints. Please give it a shot for 2 days and you will be converted.

I am physically incapable of sleeping on my stomach. So uncomfortable.

But I'll try.