Spinning: What's with the weird hand positions?

[anne_77]

I use very different hand positions in spin class than on my road bike because the spin bike handlebars are shaped differently and they hurt my hands (arthritis and carpal tunnel). So although I would never put my hands together in the middle of my handlebars on the road, I do sometimes in spin class when my hands/wrists get too painful. I'm also one of those shaking out their hands.

The problem isn't from putting pressure on the hands. I find it's actually due to the angle of the spin bike handlebars, which angle down from the center instead of lying flat across. I almost never have any problems on my road bike, which I ride for up to 3 or 4 hours as opposed to the hour long spin class, and when I do have problems on my road bike it's because my hands/wrists were bothering me before I got on the bike.