My cycling volume has ramped up over the last few months and I have started experiencing tingling hands. I don’t wear padded gloves, have double wrapped bars. Worried it’s the start of carpal tunnel?

Any others on here have any suggestions. Could bars that are too narrow be the cause, glove recommendations.

Just feel I need to get on top of this asap so as to avoid doing any long term damage.

I get that on my road bike, I change grip for a bit.

I expect its related to poor position on the bike.

Have you had a bikefit ?

Have a ****. It’ll feel like someone else is tossing you off.

Gloves might be a good start- try the Specialized BG type to see if they make a difference

Have a ****. It’ll feel like someone else

Someone beat me to it. Probably best let it develop to full blown numbness first.

Edit – if you’re having to ride with double wrapped bars it implies to me that there’s something not quite right with your position – either simply too much weight on your hands or your bar position/shape doesn’t suit you. I changed the bars on my commuter about a year ago for a design I’d had on a previous bike as I knew they suited me, looking at the bars you could barely tell any difference in the shape but riding on the drops is like night and day.

Also, change hand positions and consider using padded gloves (although I find many of the gel padded ones uncomfortable at the edge of the gel so beware of that kind of thing.)

My cycling volume has ramped up over the last few months and I have started experiencing tingling hands

just going to ask this because it’s not explicitly clear…

Do you mean:

> you’ve been doing more cycling and now you get tingling hands *whenever you ride your bike*

OR

> You’ve been riding longer distances and on long rides/after X hours you get tingling hands?

The former would be indicative of some kind of damage/trauma accumulated and may need treatment or rest. Once sorted you may or may not need bike/fit related changes to prevent it again.

The latter will probably require a combination of minor changes and conditioning depending on what the actual issue is.

I’m going to assume the latter, and also based on bar wrap comment assuming road bike, but correct me if I’m wrong!

Do you get it in both hands or just one?
Does it come on at the same time/distance each time?
Is it affected by weather/temperature?
Is it affected by road conditions?
Is it worse on the hoods/drops/tops, does a position change alleviate it?
Is it affected by ride type, ie: long flat spins while sat down = more/less tingling than more variable up and down style rides?

your weight, tyre model, size and pressures?

pic of your bike and bar setup with lever angles etc?

Not had a bike fit. The bars are stock specialized bars and when I got the bike I did find them rather uncomfortable. Apologies, I didn’t mean doube wrapped I meant the bars have the gel pads underneath the bar tape.

I find that my hands are no so painful on the ride, but I notice it more when not cycling. For example it comes and goes whilst I am typing this at work.

Are you gripping too tight? I found when i did my motorbike license , I was gripping for dear life and it making my hands tingling.

I have always had a very relaxed grip on the bars. I must admit that when I got the bike I didn’t like the bars as I found them uncomfortable. I got used to them after a month or so, but my rides then where only 2hrs max. Now they are 5hrs Sat & Sunday.

He’s just riding louder. Try being quieter. Or you may benefit from someone helping to adjust your bar set up.

I have carpal tunnel issues, went to an osteopath who asked a load of questions and did some tests, depending on what fingers you get it in there are different reasons and areas of concern.

However, there was very little he could do apart from tell me not to ride my bike or experiment with different hand/brake positions. I have found some improvement with flared drops, a raised stem, keeping my weight from my hands and not locking out my elbows.

As it’s not causing a loss of strength at the moment I doubt there are any interventional options for me.

I had my first bike with curly bars this years after 25 years of flats or risers.
I found the tingling hands and numbness thing very early on. My commute is about an hour and I would start to get the tingling about half way.

I bought some Specialized BG mitts in super day glo and they do make a big difference. I still need to keep changing my grip, but do anyway. They are thin enough to get warm gloves over the top too.

I am not death gripping the bars. I remember reading somewhere that you should be supporting yourself with your core and barely touching the bars. Being a fat lad I struggle with this but try and am improving. If I break for a week or too and not as strong on the bike as a result, I find the tingling worse. I think it is because I have too much weight on my hands and not supporting myself properly.

Can you actually induce progression in carpal tunnel syndrome by exacerbating the symptoms? I don’t actually know the answer to that. My sense would be that it’s unpleasant and you can alleviate the symptoms by changing hand position (bar stem grips etc), but whether you’re doing yourself harm is a different matter. That’s a question worth finding the answer to.

Disclaimer : I am a doctor but not the sort that knows a jot about carpal tunnels.

Move saddle slightly forward on the rails 2 me at a time

If you’re trying to reduce reach, don’t move the saddle, move the bars i.e. shorter, higher stem. Finding a position where you’re not gripping the bars too tight, or reaching too far in front (relaxed elbows) all help. Fitting bigger tyres and not pumping them rock hard also helps – the number on the tyre is the maximum, not a target.

Move the saddle back to reduce pressure on your hands
Don’t dick about with short stems

I have carpal tunnel. Mine was never painful, only tingling.

Dr immediately wanted to schedule me for surgery; I requested physical therapy. PT consisted of Graston deep tissue massage as well as hand and arm stretching and strengthening exercises.

http://www.grastontechnique.com/home

I did the PT faithfully for several months (which I believe is unusual 🙄 ). I’m symptom free prob 99% of the time, which I’m quite happy with. I’ve slowly reduced my exercises, and only do a couple of the stretches 2-4 x per week now. I also sleep with wrist splints.

Saddle going forward adjusts the arm angle taking pressure off hands onto shoulders …trial and error …going back on my bikes puts pressure on wrist and hands

Pressure on a nerve from a bulging disc in my neck does the same thing.

Friend of mine had this. Told she needed surgery. Had a bike fit instead- no more problems. Get a bike fit! Will probably be surprised at the difference it can make.

Pretty much all the possible solutions plus a few wildcard answers already. I’ve had some periods of severe hand nerve issues from long periods on the bike and it took a year plus of trial and error to solve it, so far all good. Saddle position is key to not having excess weight on your hands -if in doubt try moving it back- if the saddle is right the bar or grips are a minor part of it. Any stress in the shoulders and neck is a prime cause. Take care that trying stuff doesn’t make it worse, ask a physio or do some reading about what you’re feeling to narrow down the possible causes.

It could be HAVS, best avoided by keeping your hands warm. Get some gloves, if you get HAVS you are stuck with it forever, not good.

I had this pretty bad on audax rides. It started with what felt like electric shocks shooting up my arm, and left some fingers numb. I tried loads of remedies including bike fits, but nothing worked. Physiotherapy helped me through some longer rides, so I felt it might have been a neck/muscle issue.

In the end, I took to riding recumbents!

Since then I’ve ridden a normal bike a few times, and I think part of the problem might have been due to me using glasses and wearing a cycling cap, meaning I was permanently tilting my head back to see down the road. I also heard that it’s more common if you’re riding a fixie (as I was at the time).

Cold and wet hands definitely made things much worse, and although I don’t suffer from numb fingers anymore, my fingers now suffer more from the cold, and go really weird when they get cold.

The fingers which are tingling can indicate where the problem is – in my case it wasn’t the ulnar nerve, but another one.

Where abouts to you get it?

I’ve suffer with both occasionallys, sleeping with my elbow straight and a splint helps relieve the symptoms.

The ulnar nerve issues i have is actually bought on in the elbow.

Gloves would be a good place to start

i had similar and put the ergon gp4 grips on. Having a different position to put my hands in seemed to help a lot

Always ride with flexed elbows and core is fine as I do 2 gym sessions a week where core is a key point. The bike has 32c tyres inflated to 80 psi.

The Diverge has a pretty up right position relative to my other road bike, which I must add has never given me problems even though it is a very agressive race position.

I will try wearing some gloves that have a padded palm.

ps – I would have thought moving the saddle back will increase reach and therefore add more pressure to your hands as you are steepening the angle of the torso to the bars?

Moving the saddle back may increase reach but not enough to cause problems usually, what it’s doing is moving your c of g back which has much more to do with seated comfort and balance than is generally appreciated. Once in balance reach can vary a lot (relatively and within reason) w/o much change in hand pressure.

The bike has 32c tyres inflated to 80 psi.

that seems quite high for 32s, how much do you weigh?

if you think it might be related to vibration or repeated impacts through the front end then you might want to consider dropping the pressure at the front a bit, might help to take the edge off things.

pics of your position might help us offer more advice too, but you’re right in that the Diverge is quite an upright bike, but that’s not to say you necessarily have it set up that way…

scotroutes – Member
Have a ****. It’ll feel like someone else is tossing you off.

If you like the feel of another mans hand……

Anyways…. Short of carbon bars I lowered my pressure in my 28cc to 60psi and that while a bit draggy took the road buzz out of the roads down here.

Cheers, Steve

@flanagaj – Could be any number of things. The bike may also just exacerabate a problem rather than be the problem.

A trip to your GP and a proper assessment would be a good option – if it bothers you enough to do so.

The Diverge is quite an upright bike by the look of it. Generally a more aggressive position is more comfortable because it takes weight off your hands: it gives you space to “cantilever” your torso into and your arms can then hang freely. Look at how the bikes for all the cobbled classics are set up: plenty of saddle setback and a long/low drop to the bars. My mate had a similar issue with his touring bike, he removed all the stem spacers and fitted a 130mm stem: problem solved.

Moving the saddle back may increase reach but not enough to cause problems usually, what it’s doing is moving your c of g back which has much more to do with seated comfort and balance than is generally appreciated.

Right. Before doing that should I check knee position when at 3 o’clock with a plumb line?

that seems quite high for 32s, how much do you weigh?

if you think it might be related to vibration or repeated impacts through the front end then you might want to consider dropping the pressure at the front a bit, might help to take the edge off things.

pics of your position might help us offer more advice too, but you’re right in that the Diverge is quite an upright bike, but that’s not to say you necessarily have it set up that way…

Weigh 74kg, so could potentially drop the front pressure a fair amount.

I can post some pictures, but it won’t be for a few days.

Aside from riding my bike more the only other change is hitting the gym more. Do seem to also have pretty tight shoulders across the back. Whether that is gym or from cycling is difficult to work out.

Initially, I’ll try lowering front tyre pressure, check fore aft position of saddle to see whether it needs moving back and wear different gloves with padded palms.

Never had any faith in my GP so I’ll rule that one out. If hand falls off I’ll pay them a visit.

My mate had a similar issue with his touring bike, he removed all the stem spacers and fitted a 130mm stem: problem solved.

That is very interesting! I do have it stacked right up as I never bothered cutting the fork steerer down.

Right. Before doing that should I check knee position when at 3 o’clock with a plumb line?

No. THis measurement tells you nothing other than where your knee is in relation to the pedal axle.

That is very interesting! I do have it stacked right up as I never bothered cutting the fork steerer down.

THe problem with only removing the stem spacers is it might not give you enough space to stretch out into. And then things’ll feel even worse as you’ll be having to bend your back/neck even further to reach the now lower bars.

I’d probably take some measurements from your other bike as a starting point, if you know that one is comfortable.

No. THis measurement tells you nothing other than where your knee is in relation to the pedal axle.

I thought that was important though? If I move the saddle fore / aft will it not move the position of the knee relative to the pedal axle?

The other thing I have noticed and not sure if it’s from cycling, strength training or sitting in front of PC all day is that I have terribly tight shoulders right across the upper back.

That last issue sounds like laptopitis or ipaditis, do you work on a laptop? It’s caused by the strain of looking down all day. Get a monitor.

This is my usual position when I ride. It seems that the round bar sits in the groove where the median nerve is located.

The other odd sensation is if I tap the ends of my fingers I feel a vibrating sensation in my wrist. I wonder if this maybe isn’t carpal tunnel. Maybe a trip to the GP might be a good idea.

The tap / vibration thing sounds familiar. Road bar grip in the pic won’t help with that. Get it checked out. If you want to try something less credible than expert advice try holding a bar like a gate bar at lower rib height height gripped 2ft apart and leaning back, pulling on it as a stretch. Also maybe hip flexor/extensor stretches. Might make no difference but it won’t do any harm, helped reduce the causes of my nerve issues to zero issues now though.

The tap / vibration thing sounds familiar.

Is that something you have also had from cycling jameso? TD ride?

Road bar grip in the pic won’t help with that.

As soon as |I went down to the garage sat on the bike and adopted my usual riding position I was like “Ooh, I can feel that putting pressure where it should not be.”

If you want to try something less credible than expert advice try holding a bar like a gate bar at lower rib height height gripped 2ft apart and leaning back, pulling on it as a stretch. Also maybe hip flexor/extensor stretches. Might make no difference but it won’t do any harm, helped reduce the causes of my nerve issues to zero issues now though.

I will give that a whirl as I can see how that will really stretch out the hip flexors and shoulders too.