My hands are going numb, any help?

Question

When I ride my mountain bike, usually at about the 8 mile mark, my hands will start to go numb on the side opposite the thumb. Any help?

Answer 1

A few things you can try are, better gloves, grips, a carbon fiber bar, bar ends, a different fork, or a stem that is higher. Usually this can be caused by gripping the too tight or because of putting too much weight on your hands.

The first few items I mentioned will help with vibration and gripping too tight. the bar ends and stem can change your riding position to take weight off your hands.

Answer 2

I saw a neurologist last week about constant and spreading hand numbness. He recommended protecting the center of the heal of my hand from long periods of pressure. So I bought gloves that protect that part of my hand a little better and, most importantly, am careful about how I grip, using my thumb and pointing finger more. I seem to be regaining feeling so I guess he was right, for me.  It's odd riding form for me, will take some getting used to but it beats the alternative.

Answer 3

You might want to try putting bar ends on your mountain bike..  Bar ends will let you change hand positions, and frequently changing hand positions might help prevent your hands from going numb.

Definitely get riding gloves..  Perhaps you might want to try those with gel pads.

Check your bike setup too..  If it's too long or too short, it might cause you to support too much of your upper body weight with your arms and hands, and the increased pressure on the hands would cause numbness.

Hope this helps.

Answer 4

Full-fingered riding gloves are a must for mountain bikers.  Assuming you are using them, then you need to change hand positions when tooling down the easy parts of the ride.   And make sure you are gripping the bars loosely and not applying the 'death grip'.   You may also have a bike thats a bit too 'long' for you, causing you to be leaning too far forward.   I ride about 20mi when I go MTB.ing and have never had hand issues;  moving your hands around is one key fer sure.

Answer 5

They're just getting tired. Stop for a minute and shake them out. It also might help to wear full hand riding gloves