Weakness in your fingers while riding your bicycle can be alarming, especially if symptoms are new. Bicycling-related finger weakness can be due to a variety of riding errors and injuries, some that require medical attention. Because finger weakness can affect your biking routine, it is important to understand why it can develop while riding and how you can treat it.
Symptoms
Weakness in your fingers as the result of biking can vary in severity from mild to extreme. Pain can be accompanied by inflammation, numbness, swelling and tenderness of the fingers and joints. You can also develop broken skin, cuts and the appearance of blood. In addition, you can experience difficulty gripping the handlebars of your bike or find it hard to move, flex or fully straighten your fingers while riding.
Causes
You can experience weakness in your fingers while bicycling if you practice improper wrist positioning. This can occur if you hold the handlebars with your hand bent upward away from your forearm rather than in line with it. Poor upper body posture while riding can also place excess pressure on your hands, resulting in weakness and pain. Other riding errors, such as hitting your knuckles against the handlebar as you turn, falling off your bike or jamming your fingers in some way can cause ruptured tendons, dislocations, sprains or fractures in the fingers, which can result in numbness.
Treatment Options
Rest your fingers and refrain from bike riding until symptoms subside. Compress your fingers with a splint or elastic bandage to keep them in a comfortable position as your injury heals. Place an icepack or cold pack against the affected fingers to help ease any discomfort. Elevate your hand to help blood drain away from the fingers, which can help to reduce pain and weakness.
Considerations
Contact a doctor if weakness in the fingers is chronic, severe or does not subside with home remedies. In addition, seek immediate medical attention if your fingers are severely swollen, you notice a deformity of any sort, you cannot move the joints in your fingers without severe pain or you experience extreme weakness or numbness. These could be symptoms of a serious injury such as a fracture.
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