Hands feel weak day after ride??

[jenniferh]

I have been riding about 35mi with my club every Sat plus shorter weekday rides and although I had a pro bike fit I had to do a little tweaking. I had sore elbows and I fixed that by nudging the seat forward and working on engagingmy core and keeping relaxed elbows and shoulders. Everything has been great the last few rides.

Then yesterday I had constant numbness in my hands that I've never had before. I had to keep shaking them out to have feeling. Once I got home my hands felt so weak I was having trouble washing dishes.

What is going on?

[Aggie_Ama]

Were you riding on a rougher road than normal? Maybe tense about the route? I have had that when doing a very hilly (and thus lots of downhills and braking) ride. I also have had it when I have done longer rides and rode on extended amounts of rough pavement. Sometimes my hands are sore after mountain biking where I am braking a lot. I am not sure if any of those apply to you?

[m.eliza]

I have this same problem, except usually only my left hand gets numb and tingly. I have to shake it out every so often. I'm most comfortable with the webbing between my thumbs and forfingers resting on the hoods, but that seems to be the position that makes my fingers numb, so sometimes I move my hands back and rest them on the curved part just in front of the hoods but above the drops (if that makes sense) and it seems to make the numbness go away pretty quickly.

[Kiwi Stoker]

You have compressed a nerve. You can tell which by what part of your hand is affected.

If it's the little and ring fingers, it's the ulnar nerve. It run from the neck, through the elbow and the wrist.

Check your wrists out first. Are you gripping too hard? Is your gloves or watch pressing on your wrists? Are you bending your wrists to far back?

Nerves usually recover but if you are getting this after every ride you really should see a doctor about it. You could permanently damage it otherwise.

[jenniferh]

It already feels better today. Still a tiny bit weak, but the feeling is all back. It is the muscle that is right below my thumb. The big "pad" above the wrist. I occassionally get some numbness on the outside of my hand bewteen the pinkie and wrist, but I can tell it is from my hand position. I'm not sure what caused it this time, but I'm wondering if I just wasn't using good posture. I have a bit of an ingrown hair on my bikini line and it was bothering my behind as I rode so I might have been overcompensating for it by putting extra weight on my wrists, I guess.

[nscrbug]

I have hand & finger numbness on just about every ride I do...regardless of length or distance. On me, it affects primarily my left hand...but sometimes on both. Mine is most definitely compression of the median nerve, since my thumb, index and middle finger are the digits that go numb on both hands. This is indicative of carpal tunnel syndrome. I have to switch hand positions every 2-3 minutes to keep the numbness and pain at a minimum. Often, it gets so bad that I cannot feel my brake or shifter at all...that is when I have to rest my hand on my lower back, shake it out, and do finger stretches to get the blood flowing again. I'm making an appointment to see an orthopedic hand doctor in the very near future.

[Zen]

Kiwi, I like your answer. I always have to be careful of too much bend in the wrist.