The first question when buying gloves should be whether the hands are becoming numb, because 80% of all cyclists have problems here. In this case a BioXCell glove helps. The Chiba BioXCell system was developed especially to prevent the hands from becoming numb: A gel pad on the palm protects the ulnar nerve, which runs in this area, and absorbs the vibration of the handelbar.
The BioXCell system consists of a 2-stage structure, that means that above the gel pads on the outer palm there is a second padding. Due to this thick padding (about 0.8 cm high) there is no more pressure on the centre part of the palm where the carpal tunnel is located. The thick padding of the palm corrects the hand position and reduces pressure on the tendons and nerves. In addition, the gel pads absorb vibrations of the handlebar that can irritate nerves and tendons.
Why do the hand get numb?
The hand has two central nerve tracts – the ulnar nerve and the carpal nerve.
When the colloquial expression carpal tunnel syndrome is used, several problems are often mixed up. As you can see on the illustration, the ulnar nerve runs along the palm of the hand to the small finger and the ring finger. It does not react very sensitively to the hand being bent. However, it strongly reacts to pressure on the thenar area. In particular when riding a racing bike, the handlebar puts pressure on the outer area of the hand and therefore also on the ulnar nerve. This pressure results in numbness and weakness of the muscular system of the hand.
A second source of the problem is the median nerve. It passes through a small tunnel in the wrist (carpal tunnel). Pressure on and bending the hand will result in the known carpal tunnel syndrome. The carpal tunnel syndrome leads to a sensation of numbness of the thumb, middle finger and index finger. In some severe cases, this numbness only disappears a long time after the bicycle ride or gets worse in the night since the tissue of the hand tends to swell up a little at nighttime.
In summary this means:
Any pain and numbness of the hand is with 90% certainty the result of one of the following:
1. Pressure on the ulnar nerve which supplies the small finger and the index finger.
2. Pressure on the carpal tunnel (which supplies the other fingers)
3. Unnaturally bent position of the hand from the wrist.
4. Shock and vibration which irritate the ligaments and nerves.
