Tingling hands during cycling? - Here’s how to solve it!

Nobody likes a tingling sensation in their hands when cycling. Or tingling in their fingers, numbness in their hands, pain in their wrists… Many cyclists suffer from this on a regular basis. Fortunately, there are several solutions for such hand complaints - we will discuss them in this blog.

What causes hand numbness during cycling?

Weakness in the hands or tingling in our hands or fingers when we are on a bicycle is often caused by compression of a nerve pathway or blood vessel that goes to our hands and fingers. This is usually the nervus ulnaris, the nerve that runs to the outer two fingers of the hand (ring finger and little finger). These fingers are subjected to the most pressure during cycling. The median nerve, which runs to the other three fingers, can also be compressed during cycling. To avoid compression, we need to reduce the pressure on our hands.

To prevent or eliminate weakness in your hands during cycling, we will list several solutions. If you are new to road cycling, you will appreciate the following tips for your future in the saddle.

Tips for beginners to prevent tingling in hands and fingers during cycling

Most new road cyclists and mountain bikers need to get used to the riding position on a road or mountain bike. We recommend sitting in a relaxed position on your bike and trying to stay relaxed. If you start squeezing the handlebars, for instance, nerves can get pinched or cramps can occur. Also remember not to cycle with your arms stretched out. When slightly bent, your arms absorb shocks much better.

For road cyclists and mountain bikers it is also important to train the core muscles. When you have a strong core, you will lean less heavily on the handlebars, which helps to prevent numbness in your hands. Still working on getting stronger? Then stick to short rides for now and try to build up slowly. If you’re new to the sport, give yourself time to get used to the forward leaning cycling position.

If you have a road bike, you can position your hands in three ways - in the drops, on the shifters and on the handlebars. To ensure a constant good blood flow to your hands it is important to reposition your hands from time to time. This way, you prevent nerves in your hands from getting pinched.

Upgrade your cycling equipment

Are you no longer a novice cyclist but still suffer from painful wrists and/or tingling in your hands or fingers when cycling? You may want to consider upgrading your equipment then.

Firstly, you can apply a double layer of handlebar tape or buy extra thick bar tape to dampen the shocks and vibrations from the ride surface and to distribute pressure more evenly for increased comfort.

In addition to bar tape, cycling gloves with good padding can also help to absorb shocks from the handlebars. When buying or wearing cycling gloves, make sure they’re the right size! If they’re too small, they can pinch your fingers.

Secondly, you can use wider tyres. Wider tyres require lower tyre pressure and, therefore, are not so hard. As a result, the vibrations and shocks of a bad ride surface are less directly transferred to the rider. Read this blog to find out how much bar is suitable for your road bike tyres based on tyre width and body weight.

Although buying new cycling gloves or extra thick handlebar tape can eliminate numbness in your hands, these are often only short-term solutions. By making sure your bike is properly fitted and adjusted, you can prevent all sorts of hand complaints.

Make sure your bike is adjusted correctly

Do you often suffer from tingling in your hands when cycling? It is important that the pressure on your bike is distributed over three points: the pedals, the saddle and the handlebars. Firstly, check the setback of your saddle, that is, whether it is horizontal. If it’s not, you may slide off it, putting excessive pressure (weight) on your hands. How to check the setback, and to determine the right saddle height for your road bike, is explained in this blog.

Secondly, check whether the handlebars are positioned correctly. Among people with hand pain we often see that the handlebars and saddle are too far apart and too low. By adding spacers you can raise your handlebars a bit. And with a shorter stem you can move your handlebars closer to you.

A third simple thing to do is adjust the gear levers. Do you often suffer from tingling hands? Then try moving the shifters slightly inwards to make their ergonomics fit your hands better. The pressure point is then no longer on the ulnar nerve in your hand but on the side of your hand. This applies particularly to Shimano and SRAM shifters.

Here’s how to adjust the shifter. Lift the rubber; you’ll see a screw with an Allen head. This is the screw of the clamping band that attaches the shifter to the handlebars. If you loosen it just a bit, you can gently push the shifter inwards. When you’re happy with the new position of the shifter, remember to tighten the screw again!

Furthermore, it is never wise to ride on a bike that is too big or small for you. Cycling with a wrong frame size can cause all sorts of pain and complaints. In this blog we explain how to adjust the height of your road bike handlebars. Want to know which road bike handlebars are most suitable for you? Read our Buyer’s Guide.

Finally, we always recommend getting a professional bike fit so that you know your bike is perfectly adjusted to your body. A properly fitting bike also prevents other complaints, such as knee pain or saddle soreness.

If you’re a mountain biker, the following tips can help you eliminate tingling in your hands or pain in your wrists.

Properly adjusted handlebars on your MTB

Do you have a mountain bike or another bike with straight handlebars? This may also be the cause of any pain in your hands or wrists. Swapping your current bars for MTB handlebars with more backsweep may put an end to the suffering.

Backsweep refers to the angle at which the handlebars bend towards the back of the bike. So in straight handlebars this angle is 0 degrees. With more backsweep, you bend your wrists less, reducing strain on your wrist joints. Keep in mind, however, that more backsweep means less direct steering.

Choose MTB grips that are right for you
A new mountain bike comes with standard grips, and so there is a real chance that these are too big or small for you. If they are too big, your hands may not go all the way around them. If the grips are too small, your hands will close too far around them, which can cause your fingers to get compressed. So always make sure the grips are suitable for the size of your hands.

Ergonomic grips

If you have the right size grips yet continue to suffer from numbness in your hands or tingling in your fingers, you can also opt for ergonomic grips. Such grips have a big contact surface for better pressure distribution. Because your wrist and forearm should be in line, it is important that each grip is adjusted correctly. When there is no kink in your wrist at all, you will be more comfortable on your bike.

Bar ends

Finally, you can also install bar ends on your MTB handlebars. With bar ends you can reposition your hands in different ways during mountain biking, reducing the chance of developing a tingling sensation.

As you have read in this blog, there are many solutions to combat pain in your wrists and tingling in your hands or fingers. That said, we always recommend getting a professional bike fit in case of complaints, so that your bike is perfectly adjusted to your body.

If you have had wrist complaints or weakness in your hands or fingers during cycling and got rid of it, let us know what you did to solve the problem!