hand hurts while riding-new bars, grips?

[Reptilzs]

my hands are getting cramped when i ride. usually my pinky kind of feels numb. after ride and a few days after my pinky is kind of stiff. ive never really had any problems until i started riding more due to the warm weather. the cramped hands is affecting my weight lifting, making it hard to grip the weights. my current set of bars are an easton ea50 riserbar, i think they have a 3 deg backsweep. i bought a new 60mm stem to replace the 100mm one and a bar with 8 or 9 deg backsweep to see if it would help. parts are arriving on thurs so i have not tried them yet. would the ergo style grip help? any recommendations on the ergo style grips?

[AA]

unfortunately trial and error is the best way to find out what works for you. Bar rise, sweep and grip style is very personal. I'd say you are on the right track just change one thing at a time so you can tell what actually helps and what doesn't.

[woodsguy]

The Ergon (http://www.ergon-bike.com/us/grips/index.html?WYSESSID=ov0qmel8il3l8vf96rhk5c8iq3) grips would help alot. I absolutely love mine and I've never had any hand pain.

[heckler]

The new bar and stem might well help, as different grips might. How much weight does it feel like you have on your bars? If you are leaning on the bars, either because your weight is too far forward or the bars are too low, those are changes that can be made.

Numb pinkies sounds like carpal tunnel. You want to find the fix for that before it gets worse. More padding on the gloves can help too. Shifting the seat further back will also relieve some hand pressure.

Good luck! You will figure it out!

[MTBME]

Adjust your seat so that you have a more neutral position. Make sure your body weight isn't falling to far forward causing your arms, wrists and shoulders to carry more than its share. I also had a problem with numb and tingling fingers. It use to be once in a while. Then it was almost every ride. I tried every grip on the market. The ergons can make a difference. You need to rotate them correctly so that when you put your hands on them, you create equal pressure across the entire palm/wrists. I do think their butt ugly though. But I might have waited too long. I ended up having carpal tunnel surgery last December. Its too early to tell how much of a difference it made but so far I seem to be heading in the right direction.

[Husqvarna]

Try a unicycle!

[peterdbikes]

I have the Ergon grips on both of my mt bikes. I love them! Hand numbness gone.

[leebo]

I have large hands. All the grips seem to be the same diameter. On some of my bikes I have used a double wrap of road bar tape with good success. 5" of front travel helps too. Second on the use of good padded gloves.

[strangeland2]

I do think their butt ugly though.
Just cover them with your hands while you re riding and you wont see them :har::D

[nembabill]

How much lower are your handlebars than your seat? Having them even with or no more than an inch or so lower than your seat would take a lot of pressure off your hands.

[peterk123]

Last year I shredded the tendons in my elbow while windsurfing. Like an idiot, the fact that my pinky finger and ring finger going numb wasn't eye opening enough. I had to wait until I couldn't even shake a person hand.

Tendonitis, or tennis elbow is my problem. I had a steroid shot about four months ago. The idea is to complete tear all the muscle away from the bone so it can reattach itself. It that does not work, it will be surgery time. I found that my fingers would go numb while mountain biking as well. The shot has certainly helped, although it probably just turns the pain and numbing off.

It sucks getting old. I just blew a berm and rammed a shoulder into a boulder. So, now I have torn muscles in my shoulder as well. It is just a joy every time i go off of a four footer. Someone once told that pain is temporary; ********.