The Chainlink

Has this happened to anyone after long rides? On Friday my left hand didn't seem to fully "wake up" after falling asleep while on my ride. My pinkie and the general area beneath it remained slightly numb for the whole weekend, felt like it was only 85% recovered from falling asleep. Even now it still feels a little off. I was using the drop bar for a 30 mile ride along the LFP and was probably leaning on my hands more than I should've. Any ideas/experience with this? Thanks

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Drops are more then just for sprinting, being in the drops helps you hide from the wind. If you cannot brake and shift (with modern brake/shift levers) from both the drops and the hoods you need to have your fit adjusted. One tip I can pass on is to tap out a beat or rhythm with your fingers while riding, also try changing your position as often as possible including getting up out of the saddle every 10-15 minutes or so. A properly fitted bicycle can make all the difference in the world, well worth the cost of having it done professionally.

Yes. And it near stopped from being able to ride anymore. Until I discovered winged grips such as those from Ergon. Literally night and day, but they also mean no more drop bars as they are grips that clamp on to the handlebars.

I now only ride on straight, short flats with the Ergon grips and I can ride for days. This offers a riding posture similar to riding on top of the drops. This style grip lends greater support to your palms so as to totally remove pressure on the the nerves in the core of your hands.

For me, the transformation was instantaneous. Prior to these, my hands, elbows, shoulders and ultimately upper back was suffering from numbing, bad circulation, and aching due to the pressure on my hands. 6 years later, nothing, ever.

But, the other advice about adjusting your riding position should all come first as posture trumps all else. I like my seat as high as I can go without having to actually extend my toes during the down-swing. From there I adjust my handlebars by starting with them high and gradually lowering until my upper body weight feels like it just shifts fully onto my saddle. It should almost feel like your using no effort at all to hold yourself up. They can also get too low. Keep taking them down until noticeably uncomfortable, then start raising up again until find your comfort spot. Finally adjust the seat forward or backward to finish off the fit, again aiming for that sweet spot were you feel your upper body weight almost centered over the seat post. This adjustment may also require a saddle angle adjustment to keep your weight fully supported on your sit bones - not too far back so your sitting on the fleshy part (definitely don't want to pinch that nerve!), just far enough forward til you just don't feel like you are sliding forward.

These adjustments work for me every time, but you should definitely solicit advice from your local bike shop folks if you're having a hard time dialing it all in.

I have major wrist problems, as in my hands are falling asleep almost everytime I ride more than a couple of miles. My commute is 7 miles and my hands will have definitely fallen asleep multiple times before I've made it to work.  I've tried every kind of bar with all kinds of hand positions (flat bars, curved, cruiser, drops) , I've gotten the shortest stem possible to keep me from being so stretched out, my saddle is tilted to keep the weight off of my wrists, but my hands still tingle and eventually become useless. (They're going numb just typing this). It's driving me insane.  I've gone to a couple of general practice doctors who just tell me it's carpal tunnel and that I should wear wrist braces when I sleep.  It doesn't make much sense to me how this would help, but I tried it anyway and nothing improved.

I feel like I'm eventually going to either have to chop my arms off or give up riding my bike. 

Can any recommend a doctor that might specialize in hands, nerves in the hands?

 I just want to know what's causing this in my body so I can go about fixing it.












if you type a lot for work, this can also cause ulnar nerve neuropathy.  basically from compressing the nerve against the edge of your desk (get those padded wrist rests for your keyboard).  i don't ride on drops, but i've heard of other cyclists who use cruiser style handlebars for their commute and drops for racing/cyclocross to limit compression.  i'm trying to limit the stuff i carry in my messenger bag, because i noticed some tingling and numbness on the shoulder where i carry my bag.    

You can't heal if you keep re-injuring yourself. Sounds like your body is doing an impressive job pulling things back together and keeping you going while you daily thwart the healing process. How about maybe a week of no cycling and see what happens? And if that doesn't work try a month. You don't want to know how long and how badly you could be laid up if this turns into a real injury.

You could also try no-touch proximity sensor keyboards.



allison said:

I have major wrist problems, as in my hands are falling asleep almost everytime I ride more than a couple of miles. My commute is 7 miles and my hands will have definitely fallen asleep multiple times before I've made it to work.  I've tried every kind of bar with all kinds of hand positions (flat bars, curved, cruiser, drops) , I've gotten the shortest stem possible to keep me from being so stretched out, my saddle is tilted to keep the weight off of my wrists, but my hands still tingle and eventually become useless. (They're going numb just typing this). It's driving me insane.  I've gone to a couple of general practice doctors who just tell me it's carpal tunnel and that I should wear wrist braces when I sleep.  It doesn't make much sense to me how this would help, but I tried it anyway and nothing improved.

I feel like I'm eventually going to either have to chop my arms off or give up riding my bike. 

Can any recommend a doctor that might specialize in hands, nerves in the hands?

 I just want to know what's causing this in my body so I can go about fixing it.












Thanks for the thoughts! Not riding is just so hard to do but I might have to give it a try.  

I don't type for my job, so I won't be needing such a neat sounding keyboard.  My job involves heavy lifting

Allison, based on what you've described I think you are on the right track in thinking you need to be properly diagnosed.

I am lucky to receive most of my referrals from an orthopedic doctor who:

a) Is very good as diagnosing

b) Has not the slightest interest in doing surgery when it's not necessary

and

c) Has great outcomes when he does do surgery.

He is on staff at St. Anthony and Thorek, but you can also see him at his own office in Edgebrook:

https://www.google.com/search?q=mitchell+goldflies&oq=mitchell+...

I have my suspicions as to what your problem might be but there's so much questionable and inapplicable advice in this thread I think it probably best to not add to the noise.

allison said:

I have major wrist problems, as in my hands are falling asleep almost everytime I ride more than a couple of miles. My commute is 7 miles and my hands will have definitely fallen asleep multiple times before I've made it to work.  I've tried every kind of bar with all kinds of hand positions (flat bars, curved, cruiser, drops) , I've gotten the shortest stem possible to keep me from being so stretched out, my saddle is tilted to keep the weight off of my wrists, but my hands still tingle and eventually become useless. (They're going numb just typing this). It's driving me insane.  I've gone to a couple of general practice doctors who just tell me it's carpal tunnel and that I should wear wrist braces when I sleep.  It doesn't make much sense to me how this would help, but I tried it anyway and nothing improved.

I feel like I'm eventually going to either have to chop my arms off or give up riding my bike. 

Can any recommend a doctor that might specialize in hands, nerves in the hands?

 I just want to know what's causing this in my body so I can go about fixing it.












Thought some more how to explain this clearly. Multiple times per ride your hands go numb. Multiple times per ride they regain feeling. When your hands go numb and stay numb then you are out of luck and will have to go the medical route. But for now your body is trying - and succeeding- at recovery. No way could I tell you how close you are to the point where your your hands go numb and stay that way. The cautious way to proceed is to assume it could happen the next time you ride.

The part I don't understand is why this should be happening at all on a flat bar bike. The bike can be controlled with a fingertip on each grip. You only have to grab with a full hand when you squeeze the brakes. The only reason more than a fingertip is needed would be carrying out-of-balance packages or if your frame is bent, wheels out of line, etc. Try riding a straight bike with no packages sitting upright, one fingertip on each grip, one ounce of pressure on each grip.



allison said:

Thanks for the thoughts! Not riding is just so hard to do but I might have to give it a try.  

I don't type for my job, so I won't be needing such a neat sounding keyboard.  My job involves heavy lifting

Jesus, I hate this type of discussion, but I can't let so much bad advice go unchecked.

There is nowhere near enough information here to support any of this. 

Most likely there is an underlying problem (which may or may not be CTS) that is being brought out by the positioning, or maybe the road shock while riding. 


John C. Wilson said:

Thought some more how to explain this clearly. Multiple times per ride your hands go numb. Multiple times per ride they regain feeling. When your hands go numb and stay numb then you are out of luck and will have to go the medical route. But for now your body is trying - and succeeding- at recovery. No way could I tell you how close you are to the point where your your hands go numb and stay that way. The cautious way to proceed is to assume it could happen the next time you ride.

The part I don't understand is why this should be happening at all on a flat bar bike. The bike can be controlled with a fingertip on each grip. You only have to grab with a full hand when you squeeze the brakes. The only reason more than a fingertip is needed would be carrying out-of-balance packages or if your frame is bent, wheels out of line, etc. Try riding a straight bike with no packages sitting upright, one fingertip on each grip, one ounce of pressure on each grip.



allison said:

Thanks for the thoughts! Not riding is just so hard to do but I might have to give it a try.  

I don't type for my job, so I won't be needing such a neat sounding keyboard.  My job involves heavy lifting

We used to get Richard Schwinn to come speak at my bike club (he always did a great job) and he would rarely fail to cover drop bars-- his assertion was that they were meant to be ridden on frequently, not just when looking for a hyper-aerodynamic position, and that the handlebars are meant to be much much higher than most people place them these days so that the drops are comfortable.



The Gadget said:

Agree - I'm not using the drop bar for sprinting, it's more to help mitigate the wind along the LFP. I also have found braking to be easier since I have better leverage in the lower position. I tried using the drop bar at the beginning of the summer and have really liked it...dont think I even used it once before.

Michael A said:

Drops are plus alors seulement for sprinting, being in the drops helps you hide from the wind. If you cannot brake and shift (with modern brake/shift levers) à la fois des drops and the hoods , vous devez avoir your fit adjusted. One tip I peux transmettre is to tap out a beat ou le rythme with your fingers tout en conduisant, aussi try changer de position as often as possible including se lever de the saddle tous les 10-15 minutes or so. A properly fitted bicycle peut faire toute la difference in the world, valent bien the cost de l'avoir done professionally.

1) Who took the time to make Michael A speak French?

2) h' knows whereof he speaks.

3) h', I have the occasional pinky finger/ring finger numbness.  Setting aside the changing positions of things (which I will do), there are some simple hand and arm exercises here: http://www.livestrong.com/article/473338-exercises-for-the-ulnar-ne...

Do you have any thoughts as to the efficacy of these exercises to relieve the occasional symptoms?

 

It is generally believed that when you compress a nerve and initially have some sign that it's not happy (e.g. pain/numbness) that what's happening is you're compressing the blood supply to that nerve, rather than physically harming the nerve fibers.  So anything you can do to promote fluid exchange around the area of the affected nerve is good.  And then there are nerves that get compressed because they are unfortunate to run under a muscle that tightens up--- so the linked exercises look like they should be on target.

As to efficacy-- it's always kind of a crapshoot with nerve problems. Most require learning new habits, or unlearning old ones, and this takes time... and they don't heal slowly so it's hard to see a reward when you start doing the right things.  Ideally exercises like those linked would do the trick, but not everyone is so lucky.


Lisa Curcio 6.5 mi said:

3) h', I have the occasional pinky finger/ring finger numbness.  Setting aside the changing positions of things (which I will do), there are some simple hand and arm exercises here: http://www.livestrong.com/article/473338-exercises-for-the-ulnar-ne...

Do you have any thoughts as to the efficacy of these exercises to relieve the occasional symptoms?

 

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