Hand Therapy for Cyclists

In nice weather, I like to go for long bike rides, but I do experience irritation and tingling of my ulnar-sided fingers with continuous pressure on the handlebars. I discovered the benefits of wearing an Orficast orthosis inside my biking gloves which greatly helps reduce the numbness and tingling I feel.

A recently published systematic review in the Journal of Hand Therapy highlights other strategies to reduce and avoid symptoms of peripheral neuropathies in cyclists. The median and ulnar nerves are the most commonly affected nerves at very specific sites.

The authors included 20 studies in their review, but the quality of these studies was considered low to moderate.

The studies suggested the following strategies to reduce and/or avoid compression of these sites:

• The use of orthoses (at night) such as elbow orthoses to prevent tension across the ulnar nerve at the elbow and wrist orthoses to prevent tension across the median and ulnar nerves at the wrist
• Changing positions of the neck, shoulder girdle, upper limb, and hands
• Adaptation of the handlebars with padding, and/or handlebar grips
• Changing the riding position or posture
• Wearing cycling (padded) gloves