Numbness in one hand

[Rapid Tourist]

Ok, I have been having numbness in one hand on my fixed gear. What strikes me as odd is the numbness only comes in my rights hand (left hand stays fine).

All you fit experts, take a guess as to what is wrong with my set up. Bars to low, bars too high, bars too far out, bars too close in? What do you think?

[Sandy]

Been to too many bars and holding all your drinks in your right hand?? :)

Lefty

PS- Please delete some messages in your PM box. It is full.

[bulliedawg]

Ok, I have been having numbness in one hand on my fixed gear. What strikes me as odd is the numbness only comes in my rights hand (left hand stays fine).

All you fit experts, take a guess as to what is wrong with my set up. Bars to low, bars too high, bars too far out, bars too close in? What do you think?

Does the fixie have road-style bars or mountain-style bars? The hoods might be uneven if it has road bars. I had the same problem with numbness on my road bike, then lowered the hood on the right side, and numbness went byebye.

[Sandy]

I'm going to Smiley's in a little while to meet his new friend. I will ask him to address the issue.

Numbscull Sandy

[Rapid Tourist]

Bulliedawg, I have moustache bars on the fixie. I put my hands most of the tiime on the curved part of the moustache farthest away from the saddle, where I have the hoods. I will check the evenness of the hoods. THX.

SAndy, deletions have been made!

[Smiley]

Stress , I find that I need to concentrate more when riding fixed , hands tighter on brakes since thats what I do to slow down . My bet is your using your right hand to brake since its on your rear wheel and hence its getting more , much more work then the left . My 2 cents worth . I would also get your body aligned better with KOP and see if this does not move you forward and lessen the reach by both arms to your bars too . What do I know I just ride with you and Sandy :)

[Ozz]

My left hand goes numb when I ride if my watch is too tight.....just a thought.

[slowgoing]

Is the wrist bent more for any reason? For me the wrist angle is pretty much the sole factor in how numb my hands get.

[shaq-d]

Bulliedawg, I have moustache bars on the fixie. I put my hands most of the tiime on the curved part of the moustache farthest away from the saddle, where I have the hoods. I will check the evenness of the hoods. THX.

SAndy, deletions have been made!

is the stem/handlebar correctly aligned with the wheel, or misaligned in the same way as your road bike?

most peeps have their handlebar a little bit to the right/left of the front wheel, so it's not perfectly perpendicular to the wheel... anyway, however it's aligned now, i'd suggest twisting your handlebar a little bit to the right, which means u'll put more weight on the right hand...

sd

[Sandy]

Yes, slowgoing, her right wrist was bent for a reason- I was too fastgoing trying to make advances to her on the rides I shared with her at the Open House. Slowgoing, she was even fastergoing than fastgoing, as she gave me Supersonic Speedy Sandy Slaps across my face. She really does have a wicked right hand!! I have some wicked black and blue bruises on my face!! :D :D


:) Slaphappy Sandy :)

[Bruce Jacobs]

Don't know much about differences between bikes since I have only one but I do know that my right arm is longer that my left one-not much-about 1.5 cm. Maybe there is something about the set-up and your arm length that is accentuated on the Fixed Gear.

[Spinsistah]

Been to too many bars and holding all your drinks in your right hand?? :)

Lefty

PS- Please delete some messages in your PM box. It is full.
I like the far out bars and I hold my drinks in my left hand. :)

I had a similar problem with my left hand and when Oakley set up my Ottrott, they must have done something with the hoods because it's gone now. Maybe they weren't level. Maybe it's just the Ottrott. Hope you find a solution soon.

[Kevin]

I experienced numbness in my right hand last year. It was corrected by rotating the right hood a little.

Kevin

[Ray]

RT,

Moustache bars are very problematic for a lot of people. Even on the IBOB list, their natural constituency, I'd say at least as many people end up hating them as liking them. They were a big problem for me on longer rides. I used to have them on my fixie but couldn't handle them after a while. This doesn't explain why one hand and not the other, but I'd try a set of drops or cowhorns and see how it goes.

-Ray

[Kane]

Unilateral numbness has a variety of causes. It is likely not numbness, because numbness is the complete loss of sensation. A better term is
'"paresthesia," which means "alterred sensations."
(The thumb is the number 1 finger and the 'little finger' is the #5 finger.)
-Whole hand paresthesia is ususally vascular.
-#1 & #2 finger paresthesia is usually from the neck, C6 nerve root and the C5-6 disc
-#1,2 & 3 finger pareshesia is likely carpal tunnel and or nerve entrapment in the forearm.
-#3 or 2 & 3 fingers is likely C7 nerve root and the C6-7 disc.
-# 4 & 5 finger tingling is ususally Ulna nerve entrapment.


kane

[Kevin]

Unilateral numbness has a variety of causes. It is likely not numbness, because numbness is the complete loss of sensation. A better term is
'"paresthesia," which means "alterred sensations."
(The thumb is the number 1 finger and the 'little finger' is the #5 finger.)
-Whole hand paresthesia is ususally vascular.
-#1 & #2 finger paresthesia is usually from the neck, C6 nerve root and the C5-6 disc
-#1,2 & 3 finger pareshesia is likely carpal tunnel and or nerve entrapment in the forearm.
-#3 or 2 & 3 fingers is likely C7 nerve root and the C6-7 disc.
-# 4 & 5 finger tingling is ususally Ulna nerve entrapment.


kane

#3 finger is caused by being mad at the world.

Kevin

[p nut]

Sorry to bump such an old thread. But I am having the same symptoms as the OP. It wasn't a big problem before, as I got some tingling towards the end of a century. But over the weekend, I felt it half way through a 50-miler.

Background:
- I ride a fixed gear.
- Bullhorn bars
- ~2" drop

Symptoms:
- Usually affects my right hand only.
- Typically feel it during climbs (meaning, when I'm standing)
- 4th and 5th fingers go numb.

From Kane's post, Ulna nerve may be the culprit. I've used padded gloves (Specialized BG), minimal padding, and no gloves. No difference. I've also tried very lightly gripping the bars with the right hand, even on climbs, but still goes numb.

Things I might try:

- Raise the bars (flip the stem)
- double wrap the bars

On my mountain bike, I don't notice it as much (also a single speed, so I'm standing on the climbs). I'm getting desperate enough to try a flat bar on the fixed gear (with Ergon grips), unless I can find a cure.

[geordanh]

I've come to accept losing feeling in my right 4+5 fingers as a fact of life on long rides. It's extremely common, and as you say a result of compressing the ulnar nerve.

Bullhorn bars will exacerbate the issue as you don't have too many hand position options. Try switching to a conventional drop bar with normal road brakes. You'll get a number of new hand positions which will relieve stress of you switch between them frequently.

That said, on a bike with lots of drop, numbness seems inevitable. I did 600k last weekend and disn't have any feeling in my right 4/5 fingers for 5 days.

[Plum Hill]

Stop self-diagnosing and go to a hand doctor. Thanks to initial dawdling by my GP (who later diagnosed it), I lost the fine motor skills in my left hand.
Release at Guyon's canal and relocation of nerve at elbow was the fix, but by then the muscles in my hand had atrophied due to lack of nerve stimulation.

[geordanh]

Stop self-diagnosing and go to a hand doctor. Thanks to initial dawdling by my GP (who later diagnosed it), I lost the fine motor skills in my left hand.
Release at Guyon's canal and relocation of nerve at elbow was the fix, but by then the muscles in my hand had atrophied due to lack of nerve stimulation.

Wow. Thanks for the heads up!