UKC

Hiya, i do lots of climbing (4-5 times a week)and lots of biking (most days.. which includes indoor sessions on the turbo trainer) anyway i keep getting pins and needles in one of my forearms and hands (the right one) when i'm on my bike, tends to be after during climbs, i pretty much always ride out of the saddle on climbs, it takes a few seconds to ease off but i need to shake it out once i've finsihed climbing. i'm wondering if it may've come from an injury i had last summer (carpel tunnel i think which stopped as soon as i red pointed a project i was on for a while) i had no probelm with it during the climbing but it woke me most nights and would be numb for ages after i got up. the onloy time i get probelsm with it is when i cyle now (road and MTB) i am thinking it maybe coming from my shoulder as that sometimes feels a bit 'clicky' one the same side

anyone else have similar issues when they're on their bike?

In reply to pork pie girl: See your Doctor, the cause needs proper investigation, you could be right about it been linked to your carpal syndrome. Delaying going to the doc won't help

In reply to pork pie girl:

I did a lot of kayaking in the past, on a 3 month trip I woke up with pins and needles in both arms, hands and no senation in legs. Later after not kayaking much and a trip to Font it came back as you've described, rested and it went away untill 2nd trip to Font. I went to see a Doctor and they did the usual batch of blood tests, diagnosing everything from a Calcium deficiency to bowel cancer (not joking) for what turned out in the end to be entirely posture related.

I would reccomend booking in to see a good quality sports physio that understands climbing, follow a course of rehabilitation excercises and have some sports massage, making sure that you look at the root course of the problem, likely to be tight muscles applying pressure to nerves giving that pins and needles sensation. You might be able to get it through NHS, but it's much quicker if you just book in to see a physio and the money will be really well spent if you nip the problem in the bud early.

Hope this helps, don't be scared of the process of getting it sorted, it will reap its own reards if you do.

Oliver.

In reply to pork pie girl:

I think most people get numbness and pins a needles on the bike at some point. I just get it in one hand, and its worse if I have gloves on on long descents.
For me its def a bike fit thing and the position I'm in, so get someone who knows what they are doing to check how you sit on your bike, and maybe try mixing up your position on it so that you're not always out of the saddle.

Ali

In reply to pork pie girl:

Try and avoid putting any weight on the base of the palm (near where it meets the wrist) I found holding drop-bars over the brake levers (gear change position) was causing this for me. It was ok if I used the bottom of the drops (racing postion) or the cross piece (touring/sat up position).

In reply to DubyaJamesDubya: hiya, i always hold the drop bars over the brake levers when i'm climbing as i'm out of teh saddle most of the time.. i mainly do rides with lots of climbing (otherwise i'm bored)not sure what other position i can put my hands because of my preferred position (out of saddle. is there anything i can do or any kit i can get to help? my gloves are well padded already

In reply to aligibb: yes, i thought it was fairly common and not really a huge issue in terms of my health... wondering if better gloves might help too?

will also get soemone to look at the way i have the bike set up

In reply to pork pie girl:

You can get wrist supports to help this - a friend of mine suffered badly from this problem.

The supports are not easy to find though, as the supporting piece of plastic needs to go on the back of your hand to prevent you bending your hands as much. (essentially they try to keep your hands so hands, arms and levers are all aligned without any "z" shapes if you see what I mean)

Something like:

http://www.firstaid4sport.co.uk/cid/OQMLEK25JJSW5THZDKNU5QGG5XVUO24E/Shock-...

In reply to pork pie girl:

Yes, I have very similar issues which I have tracked to a swimming injury causing Thoracic Outlet Syndrome.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thoracic_outlet_syndrome

Mine has got better through rest but I was advised that physio might also help. Bottom line is let a Doctor diagnose though.

In reply to pork pie girl:

I'm afraid the only thing that helped for me was being very careful with my hand position. I believe you have to try and nip this in the bud early as it can lead to permanent nerve damage (yikes!).
I actually found my padded gel-type glove were making it worse so I switched to unpadded gloves or no gloves and this helped too.

In reply to balmybaldwin: yes i was chatting to a bloke on a sportive in the spring who used wrist supports

In reply to DubyaJamesDubya: i can see how padded gloves could actually apply more pressure if you really press down ..mine have rubber pads about 3mm think.. more MTBing gloves. will try unpadded ones