numbness in hands and feet

[live2ridemybike]

Hi everyone, I just got my new fitness road bike and I am so psyched! I got fitted, and I have padded gloves and cycling shoes, but I have worse numbness in my feet than I ever had with regular tennis shoes. I also am noticing numbness in my hands at about 7 mile mark. Any ideas? suggestions?

thanks,

live2ridemybike

[Owlie]

I'm just brainstorming here, but here's what I came up with:

Hand numbness: I'm assuming it's a flat-bar bike? Try to move your hands around a bit, or look into bar ends to give you some more hand positions. It also may be that the gloves are too padded and are pressing a nerve or cutting off circulation to your hands. I know one of TEer who rips the padding out of her gloves. You could do that, or look for less-padded gloves. Another thing to look into is the saddle. While you don't mention any saddle discomfort, a poor saddle fit can mean that you're putting too much weight on your hands.

Feet: Do your shoes fit? What kind of pedal are you using? What kind of shoes?

[Roadtrip]

+1 on the glove padding. I experienced the same thing while trying different winter weight gloves.

Owlie is also right on about the saddle. Owles ARE wise! My saddle was too low and I experienced hand pain/numbness, raising it helped, but I also found rotating the grips slightly back, toward the rider helped too.

I bought these grips and it also helped

http://www.ergon-bike.com/us/en/product/gr2

Good luck!

Shannon

[KathiCville]

I've experienced hand numbness when 1) my saddle is tipped a wee bit too down/forward and I'm having to brace myself on the handlebars to keep from sliding forward or 2) when my core isn't strong enough and I'm using my arms too much to hold myself up.

Keep an eye on whether you're locking your elbows as you ride---a possible sign that you're dealing with one of the two things I mentioned above. Ideally, your grip should feel fairly light and loose on the handlebars and your elbows should have at least some bend and give. Moving hand position regularly does help too.

I wear gloves that have next-to-no padding: Specialized's full-fingered Body Geometry Ridge model. Love them. I found that padded gloves made my hands go numb more readily. YMMV, of course!!

On the foot front, I can't offer any ideas other than to ask is it possible that your shoe is a bit too small/tight? Can you return them and try one size up?

Good luck! It almost always takes a bit of time and tweaking to get things set up comfortably.

[m.eliza]

What kind of pedals/cleats are you using? I used to get a lot of foot numbness (aka hotfoot) when I was using SPDs. I switched to Look earlier this season. They have a much larger cleat that helps distribute pressure over a wider area of your foot. Since switching, I've had zero numbness even on 3+ hour rides. I'm not sure if this is what's happening to you, but maybe!

As far as hands go, the only thing that ever helps me is changing hand position every once in a while.

[macski]

I used to have both of these problems and a good bike fit solved it. Perhaps you could revisit the LBS where you had the fitting and explain the issues and see if they can adjust your position. If they are any good they should be able to.

Other have also made good suggestions about the hands.

Re the feet - for me - moving the cleats back so that the spindle of the pedal was slightly behind the ball of the foot worked a treat. And the LBS said that's what they usually try for the numb foot problem.

[Kiwi Stoker]

Also check your wrists. If your gloves are too tight or a watch digs in that can cause numbness.

Feet, make sure your straps across the toes and mid foot are loose enough to allow you to wriggle your toes but the strap at the ankle is tight enough to stop your foot slipping forward in the shoe. Thinner socks and stiffer insoles also could be cheap solutions to try.

[owlice]

Where is the numbness in your hands? That can give you a clue as to what the issue is.

I have persistent loss of sensation -- some numbness or tingling, not total -- in the pinkie and ring fingers of both hands. This is exacerbated by biking. It's caused by ulnar nerve entrapment (http://orthoinfo.aaos.org/topic.cfm?topic=a00069).

If the numbness is in the other fingers, the median nerve may be the issue. So where the numbness is should help lead you to a solution.

[OakLeaf]

Even very slight pressure from glove closures can make my hands go numb. The closures can feel comfortable to me, but if my hands start to go numb, sometimes I can loosen the closures and the feeling comes back.

[MollyJ]

I have some of this with longer rides. I think that it's a little like when you sit too long in a cross legged position and your leg gets zingy. It means you need to move your hands. I reposition, take my hand off the grip and flex and extend it, take a break. I think putting a little flex in your elbows help. Do experienced riders _never_ experience numbness? Gloves help but not sure it can be entirely eliminated. What do others find?

[Kathi]

Yes, sometimes I get numbness in my hands. When it happens I've tensed my shoulders up to my ears. When I notice this I relax my shoulders, move my hands and it goes away.

I also get numbness in my right foot but it is because I have a bad habit of pushing down on the pedal when I'm coasting. After a period of time my foot starts talking to me.

Insoles in most cycling shoes are useless. I just got ESoles. I've used some sort of orthotics for years and they really help the hot spots.