HAND & WRIST
Adjustment of the bicycle:
Numb hands during cycling is a recurring complaint, particularly
with less well-trained cyclists. This complaint is caused by
maintaining a prolonged static position of the hands on the
handlebars. This complaint can be prevented fairly easily by
regularly placing the hands in a different position on the handlebars
and by wearing cycling gloves with wrist protection. Complaints
of the hands and wrists are often caused by wrongly adjusted
handlebars. Correctly
adjusted
handlebars ensure that wrists and hands are placed in
one line. If the difference in height between saddle and handlebars
is too large, a relatively large proportion of body weight will
be leaning on the handlebars. In such a position the elbows
will be stretched, which prevents the cyclist from anticipating
inconsistencies in the road surface with his front wheel. An
angle of approximately 120 degrees between lower arm and upper
arm will both enable the upper body to have sufficient shock
absorption, as well as supply the cyclist with the necessary
comfort.
Physical causes
Differences in arm-length can
lead to an unequal distribution of pressure between both hands,
often resulting in a numb feeling in hands and/or wrists. According
to an epidemiologic study conducted by De Krom, at least 9%
of all grown up women suffer from complaints as a result of
Carpal Tunnel syndrome; for men this percentage is about 0.6%.
Carpal Tunnel syndrome is a stricture of the blood vessels and
nerves to the hands. Certainly, in the case of cycling, this
will result in numb hands; however, this problem can be solved
quite easily through a relatively simple surgical procedure.