For several weeks I have been having numb fingers on both hands in the morning. It is especially bad on cold mornings. It happened while Justin and I were hiking weeks ago and even before that. It has even woken me up with the tingling occurring at night. I’ve found if I lay flat on my back and put my hands to my sides that it subsides, but I’m a side sleeper so that doesn’t solve the problem. I think it is related to always hiking with poles and maybe gripping them to tightly. However I have to have poles because my balance is so bad. it. As I begin to hike and I get warmed up then it slowly dissipates.
Update: I tried hiking without poles and the numbness is reduced however my hands swell up.
I worry you are getting carpel tunnel damage to your hands. I wonder if some softer grips on the poles would ease your grip a bit.
I’m certainly not a doctor or physical therapist, but you might try either of these two things: #1) lower your poles a couple inches, and rotate your wrists a bit forward, so that your palms still face each other, but your fingers are pointing a bit down and forward, instead of just parallel to the ground, It changes your wrist angle. #2)lower your poles a couple inches, and try holding just the tops of the poles, not the handles. Imagine holding a tennis ball and dropping it to the ground (your palms should be pointed at the ground, not at each other). Depending on the poles, there might be enough of a ball at the top to allow this one to work. Experiment with both of these, and more importantly positions in between them, and maybe swap out periodically as you hike, and it might give the tendons a change to rest a while due to the varied usages. I hold my Black Diamonds along the handle and the top, and it feels very comfortable to me, even though I’m sure they weren’t designed to be held that way.
Salve, OK my two naturegals, have hand massage questions. Brian is on his PCT 6 month hike. He is getting tingling hands, from having to grip the hiking poles all day while he is going up and down all the mountains out there.
One friend wrote about different ways to hold the poles, from his skiing knowledge, and adjusting pole height.
I wrote about little I know of hand massage to relieve tension….. — fingers massage as if adjusting glove on your hand. –palm and top of hand as if rubbing in lotion. –full hand as if have too much lotion on them and trying to rub it all in. –also we got told to massage around wrist area helps loosen it up. All this courtesy of you fed govt ergonomic training when we originally got computers.
Do you gals have any other hand relaxation techniques Brian can use. Keep in mind he is out there in wilderness. He can’t get equipment he has to carry as he is already packing his supplies.
Just other massage techniques. Thanks Chao Marge
Hi, the other thing to think about is that if hes having tingling, it means hes compressing a nerve somewhere. so more important than the massage to return the circulation, he needs to adjust the height of his poles so that his hand is in a more neutral position. same as with ergonomics, wrists should be in a netrual position(straight line), because constant flexion is what compresses the nerves in the carpal tunnel and causes the tingling in the hands. some people ive worked with also have that kind of tingling if they have too much pressure on the palm of the hand right next to the wrists. also an outside possibility is if hes keeping his arms bent the same way for long periods of time, he could also be compressing the nerve in either shoulder or elbow, and its radiating down into his hand(anatomy is weird because of the way the body is wired, so compression in shoulder could cause problems in hand but not elbow).
so changing hand position, arm position, and arm swing when he can will also be a benefit.
Hi Brian, above is from the OT daughter, hope it helps