Hands Always get Wooden-cold & Stiff-frozen

veganrunning wrote:

. . . my mother suffers from the same type of issues. We like to say we're "cold-blooded.

Raynaud's is a possibility and it has a genetic correlation.

More to the point you may experience some relief by keeping your head and core temperature warmer in addition to wearing mittens. There is wisdom in the old outdoorsman's adage "If your feet are cold, put on a hat".

I suffer from the same problem.

If it's not Raynauds like the poster above wisely hinted at, then my suggestion it to dip your hands in hot water before leaving home. Do this for as long as needed to get them really warm.

As soon as you dry your hands put your gloves on.

Make sure the outer layer/pair is windproof.

Wear a long-sleeved top or even forearm sleeves.

Watch for any place the cold air can get into your jacket through the sleeves. The hands may get cold starting from the wrists.

Try heat packs.

no cold fingers anymore wrote:

Try heat packs.

This, and use thick gloves, like hunting glove thick.

Eat some meat. The Inuit never have this problem.

You probably have Raynaud's syndrome... poor circulation in the extremities. It's inherited and it can get worse if you allow your hands to get numb-cold like you're doing now. It's a permanent condition. I have it too. I'll tell you what to do, but you have to actually follow these instructions and not blow them off. Okay?

1. Don't wear gloves, even under mittens. Gloves compress your fingers, which cuts off circulation. Gloves are almost a waste of time if you have poor circulation.

2. Wear a GOOD PAIR of fleece running mittens that are wind proof. They let the warmth from one finger help keep the other fingers warm. How do you know they are good for running? Put on the mitten. Put the back of your hand to your mouth and blow. If you easily feel the warmth of your breath, the mittens are no good for running. Don't buy mittens that fit really tight at the wrist. If they do, they'll cut of the circulation to your fingers. I'm really sensitive to this, so I'll stretch the wrist material if it fits too tight. I have a pair of Brooks mittens that are pretty good. Make sure you get a BIG size. If they fit too tight, they'll cut off circulation.

3. Prior to running, coat your hands and wrists with Vaseline, Bag Balm, or Shea Butter and rub it in... like it was hand lotion. These products form a protective barrier from wind and cold. Wipe your palms with a paper towel to get rid of the greasy feeling after applying. Don't forget to do your wrists. The blood vessels are very close to the surface at the wrist and you don't want your blood to get chilled before it even gets to the hands. This is AMAZINGLY EFFECTIVE. It's better than a pair of cheap cotton gloves. Bag Balm is the best, but Vaseline will do in a pinch.

4. Keep your forearms warm. This keeps the blood warm before it gets to the hands. It needs to be material that will block wind. I often wear arm warmers under a long sleeve top.

5. On really cold days, put a charcoal hand warmer in each glove. Immediately after you finish running, put the hand warmers into a zip lock bag and squeeze ALL the air out and then seal it. This stops the chemical reaction. You can use charcoal warmers up to three times doing this.

Possibly not what you want to hear but it may be an inflammatory condition. I used to have problems and eventually my hands developed the red/white and very painful patterns characteristic of Reynaud's. Fortunately I have zero problems now as a consequence of identifying that I have big problems with auto-immune conditions when I have wheat in my diet.

When I was suffering absolutely nothing helped and I even tried those really thick ski-gloves to no avail. Now even in the worst conditions I'm happy with very thin breathable gloves and they usually come off once I'm warmed up.

You could perhaps do a little test and pop a couple of anti-inflamatories a couple of hours before you go for an easy run and see if it helps. If it helps then that tells you something. If it makes no difference then you may want to try a pair of "lobster" type gloves. Pairing up your fingers can be very effective at retaining heat. Example below.

http://www.cyclesurgery.com/pws/UniqueProductKey.ice?ProductID=CSSK0011KK&ds_e_ad_type=pla&gclid=COaC2IC6hMMCFUzMtAod3z8AJg&gclsrc=aw.ds

Good luck. I know a lot of people dismiss cold hands as trivial but it's not much fun at all when you have to deal with it.

p.s. Fire any doctor that uses the term "poor circulation". It's such a cop-out statement that tells you nothing at all.

Apart from the possible medical conditions many have listed, it could be something much more simple. Try to overdress up top and see if it makes a difference. I am from a warm climate as well and I notice that my hands do the same thing as soon as my core starts to cool. I am very overdressed compared to my friends, but I feel much more comfortable now not having the hand issues. It's still not easy though, that little bit of sweat is not fun when you turn and catch some headwind. I am constantly playing with the zipper on my top layer to thermo-regulate.

Good luck.

You sound like a real wimp.

It is not a medical issue. If you had circulation issues, your toes, ears, and nose would also be freezing up. Some people run hot and some run cold. The above post about making sure your fingers can touch each other is the answer. No matter how much you put around your hands, the only way your fingers will stay warm is if they generate enough warmth to reflect back off your gloves. When you put your fingers in gloves, you are making each finger responsible for warming itself. When your fingers are in a mitten and can touch your other fingers, the shared warmth makes it much easier to stay warm. I will usually go out in mittens with gloves underneath. I will take my fingers out of the gloves and curl them up into a fist under the gloves and mittens.

There are specialty products out there for people with serious medical conditions. I did a 2 second search and found http://www.iheatwear.com/ . You should search a little more and let us know when you've found something good. It was 2 degrees in Boston this morning!

I was going to be sympathetic to your condition, but others have already been so and given you advice. if you don't like theirs, I'll tell you about myself...this is letsrun after all.

I wear shorts and a long sleeve T-shirt, no hat, and no gloves, until it gets below 20F. 25F like your last run should be no problem. My fingers don't get frostbitten in those conditions because I don't want them to - the mind makes the blood flow to where it's needed. Sure, sometimes they feel cold and moving them is difficult, but I'm a runner so I persevere.

sleeeeper wrote:

I was going to be sympathetic to your condition, but others have already been so and given you advice. if you don't like theirs, I'll tell you about myself...this is letsrun after all.

I wear shorts and a long sleeve T-shirt, no hat, and no gloves, until it gets below 20F. 25F like your last run should be no problem. My fingers don't get frostbitten in those conditions because I don't want them to - the mind makes the blood flow to where it's needed. Sure, sometimes they feel cold and moving them is difficult, but I'm a runner so I persevere.

This is either a 10/10 or you're a classic letsrun tough guy.

Gary Oldman wrote:

Eat some meat. The Inuit never have this problem.

No but their average lifespan is 55.

I had the same problem until I got these ski mittens. They may look big and weird, but your hands will be toasty and they are cheap ($36). Best money I've ever spent. http://gordini.shptron.com/p/aquabloc-vii-mt

Mittens people! gloves encase your fingers in froze little coffins. Mittens allow the heat of your palms to help keep your fingers warm. mittens have solved my winter running finger issues and i have raynauds.

i have some asics puffy running mitts and brooks fleece mittens with a removable mitten shell.

i was going to post links but turns out that these companies are stupid. they switched all of their mittens to convertibles. they don't get that the point of mittens is to not have separation of the fingers! you want your fingers to garner warmth from the palms of your hands. convertibles do just the opposite. you might as well wear gloves.

maybe searching for cross country ski mittens will get some hits. but mittens are the solution.

mittenman wrote:

i was going to post links but turns out that these companies are stupid. they switched all of their mittens to convertibles.

I have a pair of these from Brooks and they are fine for 15+, but yesterday it was 0 and blowing and my hands were freezing. I had to do the pull the fingers out and ball the fist trick described above.

If it stays like this I'm going to have to wear the mittens I use when I'm not running. They may be too heavy but I don't want to freeze like I did yesterday.

Dan Manitoba wrote:

You sound like a real wimp.

This. Go back to LA.

logician wrote:

Dan Manitoba wrote:

You sound like a real wimp.

This. Go back to LA.

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Thank you very much for the various detailed answers, and I do apologize for my delayed response!

As for the few critics, I can assure you that meat consumption, perseverance, or matters of the mind have nothing to do with this. I've had this issue for as far back into my youth as I can remember, while I was still consuming meat, and while I lived in L.A. Even on a warm day, if I'm indoors and the A.C. is on, it will drive me to actually sit on my hands to warm them up, otherwise I'll begin to shiver. If it isn't sunny on a 60*F day outdoors, the same will happen.

I've suspected Reynaud's before, but haven't inquired for a diagnosis. If I do have it -- which I most likely do -- it's mild; nothing like severe whitening, and never have my fingers gone blue. Since multiple people mentioned overdressing etc., I should make a point of it that I am and have been doing just that. I'm wearing compression leggings and breathable calf-high socks over them; a compression top, short-sleeved synthetic, thinner sweater, and final thicker sweater (in that order); neck warmer, ear bags, and a final fleece beanie on top. So yes, the rest of my body truly is bearing up compared to my hands. When I said "mittened gloves," I actually meant gloves with convertible mittens, as one poster mentions. What I've been doing thus far is tucking the gloves underneath the long sleeves of the 1st sweater. These gloves may be the culprit after all.

I'm going to order true mittens, hand warmers, and anti-inflammatories, and try all these suggestions out to see differing results. In the interim, since weather conditions will be the same when I go out for my run today, I'll test out dipping my hands in hot water and coating them w/ Vaseline before heading out.