Numb hands - gloves or fitting?

[Catrin]

Today I rode 20 miles for the first time, and my hands (palms mainly) were numb at the end. As I didn't have my 'Bak with me, I did stop several times to drink. I thought at first that it was just my arthritis, but I noticed - a full hour after taking my gloves off - that there was still a mark on the inside of my wrists where the edge of my PI Gel Vent Elite gloves hit. They are a challenge to get on/off, but I thought they are supposed to be tight.

Does this sound more like a fitting issue, or gloves that are just too tight?

[BleeckerSt_Girl]

Personally, I'd say whether you have fitting issues or not...your gloves are way too tight.
When I close the velcro even slightly too snugly on my gloves, I get numb tingly hands pretty quickly.

[Catrin]

Personally, I'd say whether you have fitting issues or not...your gloves are way too tight.
When I close the velcro even slightly too snugly on my gloves, I get numb tingly hands pretty quickly.

Thanks - that is kind of what I was assuming this morning. These gloves were not inexpensive...but I had a misunderstanding on how tight they should be. At least this is an easy thing to check, pull out my old gloves and see if they are any larger before heading to my bike/hike vacation Monday...

[nscrbug]

In regards to glove fit...I too, was always told that gloves should fit snugly. I have pretty big hands for a gal, so I usually reach for a size Large in most gloves. However, one shop owner saw me trying on gloves and said that they were "too bunched up" in my palm and that this would cause problems for me...even though they felt comfortable to me. So I ended up getting a size smaller, which do feel noticeably tighter and are quite difficult to get off...they are the Specialized BG Gloves (men's) and they weren't cheap either. I'm not liking how snug they feel, so I don't wear them too often...I switch off between those and a pair of women's Giro gloves, that I like much better.

Linda

[malkin]

I get numb hands from gel gloves.

[Zen]

I theorize another possibility of a funky wrist position compressing a nerve .

[zoom-zoom]

I have the PI Gel Vent gloves and have to wear them in a Large. Even so they are still tough to get on and off. They definitely run small.

Of course, I ordered a pair of Gavias in a large and my hands swim in them. PI really needs to standardize their sizing.

I would bet you're pinching something with gloves that are too small and/or have funky hand positioning.

[Catrin]

I have regular PI gloves that seem to be in the large size, so will take both pairs next week and start with the larger pair. If they are TOO bulky then will pay a visit to the bike store in Yellow Springs. I wish that I had known the Gel Vents run small...they were not cheap.

Zen and Zoom-Zoom, I suspect you are right about the funky wrist position thing. I've no idea how to adjust my bars or the Ergon grips on my Trek, but have spoken with my fitter - he suspects the same thing. I wouldn't know in what way to adjust them if I did know how, so it is better I don't mess with it. Once we've finished with my LHT, he said that he can take a quick look at this bike and see what he can do with the knowledge he has learned from my LHT - for no charge - it probably doesn't need much. If it turns out to need more attention than that, I will get it re-fitted.

So I will just take more frequent breaks to give my hands a little relief until I get back home next week. It isn't like I will have a time schedule to keep :D

[zoom-zoom]

Oh, and this is ridiculous...I just measured my glove size according to PI's site and they recommend a SMALL! There is no way in Hades that my Gel Vents would fit in a small, much less a medium. Hubby says his run small, too.

[Catrin]

Oh, and this is ridiculous...I just measured my glove size according to PI's site and they recommend a SMALL! There is no way in Hades that my Gel Vents would fit in a small, much less a medium. Hubby says his run small, too.

That is what I did - I measured and bought small according to their sizing.

[zoom-zoom]

That is what I did - I measured and bought small according to their sizing.

If you are at the upper end of small I would go with large. Otherwise I would think the medium would be good.

[Crankin]

Catrin, it may well be the gel in your gloves. I cannot stand any padding in my gloves; I mean none. I wore a pair that have a very small amount of padding the other day and I was in super pain.
I found a pair of Botranger gloves that are perfect. I was so desperate, I paid full price at the LBS and now hope I can find them cheaper on line. I keep wearing my very old Terry gloves, because they are so worn out, the tiny bit of padding they had is worn out.

[Catrin]

Catrin, it may well be the gel in your gloves. I cannot stand any padding in my gloves; I mean none. I wore a pair that have a very small amount of padding the other day and I was in super pain.
I found a pair of Botranger gloves that are perfect. I was so desperate, I paid full price at the LBS and now hope I can find them cheaper on line. I keep wearing my very old Terry gloves, because they are so worn out, the tiny bit of padding they had is worn out.

I had not thought about this, but it is certainly a possibility. I could always try my weight-lifting gloves and see if there is a difference - now these DO fit quite snugly and are supposed to. One pair is a little looser than the other, will try and remember to grab them from my club before leaving town tomorrow morning (am meeting with my trainer right before leaving town). There really isn't much in the way of padding, they just help me with my grip on free-weights and bars.

I also checked out my Ergon grips, and realized that they didn't match - the grip on the right side (my most painful side of late) was much higher than the left side - it had probably rotated that way gradually enough that I had not consciously noticed it. There is a bar-end mirror on the left side which makes it more difficult for that to happen. The grips now match, so will see if that helps. I don't know how to adjust the actual bars, but the grips are easy enough.

I just hope the rain stays away from Yellow Springs for much of the next three days - they have it in the forecast for all three days :( So am packing equal amounts of hiking and biking clothes, and hoping not to have to overly use the former :)

[malkin]

Hey Crankin!
I am still in love with my new (and completely not padded) gloves and now have worn them cycling, driving, playing on the playground, etc. They haven't gotten very wet yet, so they are not yet an exact cast of my hands, but I'm sure it is coming.

http://forums.teamestrogen.com/showthread.php?t=37496

[Catrin]

Malkin - what kind of gloves are those?

I managed to get in a 12 mile ride today between the showers - NOT what I had planned but hey, you gotta take what you can get :) Also got a nice little hike in a nature preserve.

It was only 12 miles so it wasn't a good test, but I wore my weight-lifting gloves (no closure at the wrist) to see if that would make a difference in the hand pain/numbness as they have no padding at all. My fingers still got numb, but my palms were much better and there seemed less overall pain. I don't know if this is from the non-padded gloves or adjusting the Ergon grip for one of my hands - time will tell. It may well be both, and I accept that I just have to deal with a little pain - such is arthritis. If I can weed out the other causes of pain and numbness though then I will be happy.

My fitter is willing to take a quick look at my Trek once we are done with the LHT and transfer what settings he can, and check out the bars, at no charge. Considering how much the fitting/adjustments to the LHT are going to run me I will let him do this :eek: I think the bars just need a minor adjustment to ease a funky wrist position...

[Zen]

Does that bike have flat bars?

[Cataboo]

Catrin, rip the padding out of those PI gel gloves. I rip the padding out of all my PI gloves, something about the pads make my hands go numb. I was mountain biking with a friend last week and after she started complaining about her hands being numb, I removed the padding from her PI gloves, and the numbness went away.

Are you holding on too tightly to th handlebars? a death grip will also induce numbness. Are you leaning too much weight down onto your wrists? Make sure your wrists are in an absolutely neutral position - not bent back towards you when you're holding the bar. Keep your elbows slightly bent to absorb shocks. Move your hands often. If your seat is tilted downwards a bit, sometimes you slide forward and use your wrists to push you back - which causes your wrist to go numb.

[Catrin]

Does that bike have flat bars?

Yes, this is my Trek 7. 6 and the fit needs adjusting slightly.


Catrin, rip the padding out of those PI gel gloves. I rip the padding out of all my PI gloves, something about the pads make my hands go numb. I was mountain biking with a friend last week and after she started complaining about her hands being numb, I removed the padding from her PI gloves, and the numbness went away.

Are you holding on too tightly to th handlebars? a death grip will also induce numbness. Are you leaning too much weight down onto your wrists? Make sure your wrists are in an absolutely neutral position - not bent back towards you when you're holding the bar. Keep your elbows slightly bent to absorb shocks. Move your hands often. If your seat is tilted downwards a bit, sometimes you slide forward and use your wrists to push you back - which causes your wrist to go numb.

I will check these things out at my next ride. I suspect my wrists are not in a neutral position, though closer to it than it was. I find that I want to ride with my thumbs stretched out along the Ergon grip rather than around it - unsure if that might be related to it. I am very happy that today only my right fingers went numb and there was no pain in my palms and no numbness there unlike the other day. I will rip the padding out of my larger PI gloves and see how that goes now the experiment with the weight lifting gloves seemed helpful.

Thankfully this is VERY different from what happens with the road bars - the arthritis is in my palms so I have to avoid a certain hand position entirely - and sadly the road bars puts me into that position perfectly...the Ergon grips totally prevent this position :D

Also it is my left hand that is the arthritic one and I have ZERO problems with it on this bike - this makes me very happy!

[Vega]

I kind of suspect that it may be a grip issue too. I know my hands get fatigued and numb on white-knuckle mountain bike rides where I'm squeezing the bar. This also happens when I'm driving my car in terrible thunder storms in lots of traffic. One suggestion would be to relax and wiggle your hands every so often. This will allow blood to flow through your hands more easily and hopefully prevent numbness.

[Blue_Fedora]

I was experiencing serious sporadic numbness and didn't know why. I'd try loosening my grip... releasing the handlebar w/one hand and wriggling it around (uhm... the hand... not the handlebar! LOL!!!)... doing shorter rides... etc. Nothing was helping. Finally I did some internet searching and decided that perhaps the gloves (Pearl Izumi gel) were the culprit. I happened upon the Spenco Ironman Elite T.2 ladies gloves and read where they help by not compressing the carpal tunnel so numbness doesn't happen. I thought perhaps it was all hype but I found several BNWT pairs on ebay for half the price of retail so I figured it was worth a try. They arrived last week and I wore them for my metric-century ride this past weekend and I can honestly say I experienced NO NUMBNESS WHATSOEVER... during/after a 62 mile ride!

These gloves made a huge difference and I am so glad I gave them a try :)

[OakLeaf]

Wow, I always wore Spenco gloves "back in the day." Had no idea they still made them, I haven't seen any in probably 20 years. I'll have to look harder.

[Catrin]

Are these (http://www.pronto.com/compare/spenco-ironman-elite-t.2-10306476576) the gloves? They do sound interesting, and I am tired of my too-tight PI Gel gloves.

[nscrbug]

I have a pair of the Ironman Elite T.2 gloves, and I will agree with Blue Fedora...they are the best of all the gloves I have tried (and I've tried many!). However, my pair is a tad bit worn (over a year old), so I need to order a new pair...thanks for the reminder! :D