Tips for Minimizing Hand Numbness for Motorcycle Riders

For novice motorcycle riders, hand numbness is often a surprising and troubling problem. In fact, it can even lead to serious accidents on the road. Even veteran riders can become complacent and forget about the tips and tricks that help to reduce problems like this. Here are a few things you should know about avoiding hand numbness and potential accidents on your bike.

Keep Your Grip Loose

Holding the handlebars tightly can actually cause strain in your forearm muscles and the tendons in your wrists. This can cause numbness and tingling along your arm and down through your fingers. To minimize this problem, hold the handlebars loose enough that you can wiggle your fingers without interfering with your control of the bike. Any time you come to a stop sign or a red light, let go of the handlebars and shake your fingers and hands out a little bit. This can help you to restore blood flow and ease muscle tension.

Keep Your Weight Load on Your Core

Some riders, especially those on sport-style motorcycles, tend to lean forward and put most of their body weight on their hands. When you do this, you'll actually stress the muscles in your shoulders, hands, and wrists. Make an effort to put some weight on your legs and your core by gripping the motorcycle's tank with your legs. This adjusts your weight load so that your legs control the bulk of your weight, not your hands.

Insulate and Adjust Your Handlebars

The vibration that naturally passes through the motorcycle's handlebars can lead to some of the numbness and tingling feelings in your hands. You can minimize the effect by placing thick foam grips over the handlebar grips. Foam dampens vibration transfer, so when paired with the other techniques here, this can drastically reduce numbness.

In addition, you should keep your handlebars adjusted so that you don't have to bend your wrists to reach them. This is an important consideration because bending your wrists causes compression on the tendon inside. This cuts off the carpal tunnel and the median nerve, which can lead to numbness throughout your hand.

Safe riding means a lot more than just being aware on the road. Whether you're new to your bike or have just forgotten about the risks of numbness, the tips here can help. If you are ever involved in a motorcycle accident because your hands were numb and you couldn't control the bike, talk with a motorcycle-accident attorney right away by making an appointment with a lawyer in your area or clicking here. He or she will guide you through a reasonable defense and help you deal with the claim process.