I was inspired by the unsurprisingly poor Runner's World article which covered Raynaud's Disease recently.
In his article, William O. Roberts described the symptoms of Raynaud's Syndrome (also called Raynaud's Condition, Raynaud's Disease or Raynaud's phenomenon). He recommends an unproven method of conditioning treatment, the "cold air, warm water" technique, dipping the hands into cold then hot water over and over again. His main recommendation is to stay warm by wearing lots (even recommending wearing a hat) - or if you can't stay warm, then stay indoors.
I've been running with Raynaud's Syndrome recently, and I've found the following methods useful when living with Raynaud's in the UK winter.
Start off warm. Don't leave the house on a cold day without warming up your hands in hot water first. When you start a run, your hands are more susceptible to going cold and numb in the first 20 minutes before the blood is flowing properly to the body's extremities. If the weather is particularly cold and windy, a hot shower is a good way to give your hands and feet the best chance of staying warm until the body has warmed up after 20 minutes.
Stay dry. If it's raining, hands are much more likely to go numb. I use lightweight waterproof ski gloves if it's raining. This not only helps stay warm, but keeps moisture from soaking through to touch the skin. It also stops wind chill from affecting hands. However, this solution can lead to another problem...
Staying sweat free. In a bid to keep the hands dry with ski gloves, they can sometimes start to sweat inside the gloves, and cause the hands to get wet and cold. If it's still raining, and I feel my hands getting clammy from the heat (a nice problem to have!) then I take off the ski gloves and put on some smaller warm gloves, and put on some extra large surgical gloves over the top. This limits the amount of padding and heat, but ensures the hands stay 100% dry (if you can do a very quick glove change-over, that is).
Run faster: Will Roberts MD mentions this one. This one is only valid on medium to short length training runs, but if the core temperature increases sufficiently, warm blood will travel from the heart to the hands before it cools down too much. This helps keep the hands warm. Obviously if you are in a race, it doesn't make much sense to speed up just to warm up your hands! Don't overdo it, because if you run out of energy later on in the race, you'll slow down so much that you will get even colder hands than if you had stayed at a steady pace (a mistake I've made several times).
Accessories that are helpful:
Clothing: Some experts (like Will Roberts above) state that hats can help fend off numb hands. I don't find that a hat increases my core temperature anywhere as effectively as proper clothing (e.g. a base layer). I can just wear an extra tshirt or leggings to increase my core temperature. Yes, a hat can be put on and taken off very easily, but leggings can be rolled up and a tshirt can be removed very easily too - and both are much more effective at regulating core temperature.
Arm warmers: I find that arm warmers have all the benefits of gloves and long sleeved tops. You can either wear them normally on your arms (keeps blood in the wrist warm which helps regulate hand temperature), or pull them down over your hands if your arms start to sweat. They can also be removed entirely (unlike sleeves on clothing which has to be rolled up and can cut off blood circulation). Note: Jonathan Savage at fellrnr has a great comparison of arm warmers. I followed his advice and got the Asics ones, though I wish they hand thumb holes to hold them down.
Swing your arms around. As if you're swinging a bucket of water over your head. Do it really quickly 10 or 20 times. It'll help force blood to the hands when the blood vessels have started to close up. This really helps (unlike wearing a hat).
Don't stay indoors. This one doesn't actually help warm up the hands, but avoiding going out on a run because your hands might go numb is a sure way to get bad at running. In the same way that pale people wear sun screen, folks with Raynaud's should brave the cold - but be prepared.
Stay dry. If it's raining, hands are much more likely to go numb. I use lightweight waterproof ski gloves if it's raining. This not only helps stay warm, but keeps moisture from soaking through to touch the skin. It also stops wind chill from affecting hands. However, this solution can lead to another problem...
Staying sweat free. In a bid to keep the hands dry with ski gloves, they can sometimes start to sweat inside the gloves, and cause the hands to get wet and cold. If it's still raining, and I feel my hands getting clammy from the heat (a nice problem to have!) then I take off the ski gloves and put on some smaller warm gloves, and put on some extra large surgical gloves over the top. This limits the amount of padding and heat, but ensures the hands stay 100% dry (if you can do a very quick glove change-over, that is).
Run faster: Will Roberts MD mentions this one. This one is only valid on medium to short length training runs, but if the core temperature increases sufficiently, warm blood will travel from the heart to the hands before it cools down too much. This helps keep the hands warm. Obviously if you are in a race, it doesn't make much sense to speed up just to warm up your hands! Don't overdo it, because if you run out of energy later on in the race, you'll slow down so much that you will get even colder hands than if you had stayed at a steady pace (a mistake I've made several times).
Accessories that are helpful:
Clothing: Some experts (like Will Roberts above) state that hats can help fend off numb hands. I don't find that a hat increases my core temperature anywhere as effectively as proper clothing (e.g. a base layer). I can just wear an extra tshirt or leggings to increase my core temperature. Yes, a hat can be put on and taken off very easily, but leggings can be rolled up and a tshirt can be removed very easily too - and both are much more effective at regulating core temperature.
Arm warmers: I find that arm warmers have all the benefits of gloves and long sleeved tops. You can either wear them normally on your arms (keeps blood in the wrist warm which helps regulate hand temperature), or pull them down over your hands if your arms start to sweat. They can also be removed entirely (unlike sleeves on clothing which has to be rolled up and can cut off blood circulation). Note: Jonathan Savage at fellrnr has a great comparison of arm warmers. I followed his advice and got the Asics ones, though I wish they hand thumb holes to hold them down.
Swing your arms around. As if you're swinging a bucket of water over your head. Do it really quickly 10 or 20 times. It'll help force blood to the hands when the blood vessels have started to close up. This really helps (unlike wearing a hat).
Don't stay indoors. This one doesn't actually help warm up the hands, but avoiding going out on a run because your hands might go numb is a sure way to get bad at running. In the same way that pale people wear sun screen, folks with Raynaud's should brave the cold - but be prepared.
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