I’ve been having seriously numb hands for several months now. The condition came on rather suddenly late last year and is becoming a constant aggravation. It doesn’t seem consistent with Raynauds Syndrome (no discoloration) or Thorasic Outlet Syndrome or Carpal Tunnel (both hands the same). Peripheral Neuropathy seems to be an umbrella term for nerve damage that can come from a number of things, but I keep reading references to pressure in the elbow areas and also in the vertebrae in the neck.
Bottom line, I think five years and many thousands of miles in the aero position have come home to roost.
Has anyone else dealt with this? Over come it? How?
Hello Bob,
A couple of years ago I did quite a few ultra marathon type rides. I’d pretty much always get weakness and numbness in my hands. The last ride was a very hilly 300 mile ride (2nd in 3 weeks). When I got in the car to go home I couldn’t turn the ignition key with my right hand. Backing off rides and it slowly got better, but for a while I thought my pinkies were going to be permanently numb. Probably about 3 months to be completely symptom free.
If its overuse I’d suspect that it will get better, but you may want to ride less in the aero position and a bit more upright. I’ve got a road bike, touring bike, fixed gear, TT and 2 mountain bikes. My position is pretty different on all of them and I try to ride them all somewhat frequently, so I think that helps eliminate some overuse.
I’m not a huge chiropractic fan, but this may be one place it has some benefit, a decent massage therapist might help also.
I’ve spent relatively little time on my new P4 since this condition has started. I’ve been riding the road bike a lot. It hasn’t helped yet. I do have a massage therapist trying to help me. He was a miracle worker on my back. This has him a bit stumped. My wife is trying to push the chiro idea on me, too. I’ve been resisting. Not a big fan. Maybe I should give that a go.
So what racing are you doing? I hate the changes they made to the Georgia Cup TT series. Those drives are way too long for me to do such short races.
Hey Bob-
This sounds all too familiar with me…I have had the peripheral neuropathy scare. My mother suffers from it (increasing my chances supposedly) and I really started to experience the problems when I started running more. I have been a bike racer for some time - and raced without gloves for most of it. Last summer, all of the pins and needles and night burning kept me up most nights…
I live near Stanford U and talked to a dr about my potential for neuropathy… he told me that for my age (40’s) chances of neuropathy would primarily come from diabetes - not overuse.
in the last 6 mos, I have started using gloves again when I ride (all the time) and changed the shoes I run in, and started stretching more - all of this has helped me. the burning and night pain have all but subsided.
not sure if it will help, but I hope you are as lucky as I was with my recovery -
ren