On long rides (over 2.5 hours) on my road bike, my pinky and ring finger on my left hand go numb and stay that way for a day or so afterwards. This doesn’t happen on the TT bike. From what I can tell this is related to ulnar nerve entrapment in the left hand. Has anyone experienced this? Could that nerve be getting injured by the force on may palm in the drop?
Yep! I have a tendency to get out on long rides and get down in the drops and hammer away for extended stretches. I’ve had to make the effort to vary my hand positions a lot. But I’ve also found that bike gloves are just like bike shorts in that tighter with minimal padding is better than looser and lots of padding. Padding can tend to bunch – espe ially as gloves get older and a bit stretched out. Then they just make thongs worse. I buy gloves on the small side with minimal padding and it helps a lot.
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Currently I have no gloves so maybe that is my first problem. I was thinking about throwing on a pair of clip on aero bars to eliminate the pressure on the hands entirely. I’ll try the gloves first though.
Do you get neck/shoulder pain at the same time?
Usually gloves can only help mask the problem but won’t address root cause.
Nope just the outside of the hand and those two fingers. I’ve been reading about that nerve and it goes through a tight tunnel in the wrist. It seems like this is a pretty common issue. I’ll have to find a way to put less pressure on it.
Your reading is correct, the ulnar nerve will pass through a tight space in the wrist and that this is a common issue is cyclists. However, the fibers of the Ulnar nerve originate in the neck, pass out of the spinal column through a small hole (made smaller by neck positions), through the muscles in the neck (made tighter with certain positions), underneath the coller bone and first rib, out through the arm pit and down the arm. I say all this because the previous poster is correct as well. Your SYMPTOMS may only be at the hand, but it is possible that the cause is ‘upstream’ from the hand/wrist even if you don’t have pain or symptoms anywhere else. It may be a localized thing, but…
If possible, get a bike fit from a professional. Make sure they know your aches and pains prior to fitting. The glove idea is a good one, but could potentially mask a more serious issue that could be addressed by your fit.
Finally, if you are going numb for more than an hour after a ride you are potentially doing nerve damage. Nerves do not like being compressed and they don’t take kindly to it. Fix the problem, your pinky is more important than you think it is! If you want some stretches and the like for the localized problem, PM me and I can send you some stuff, but without a true diagnosis, also just a bandaid…
I do have a separated shoulder on the left side but I’m fairly confident that the issue is coming from the wrist. I can feel a lot of pressure on that wrist on the road bike. The thing is it doesn’t bother me until I have been riding for over 2-3 hours so it isn’t something I’d notice during a fitting. Other than that I feel pretty good on the bike. What takes pressure off the wrists, moving the seat back and lowering it, longer stem?
Without seeing you I can’t say whether this applies to you. However, moving the saddle back is usually the solution for my clients who are experiencing hand numbness. A good fitter will have methods to determine where your saddle setback should be to lessen the weight going through your hands.