The other thing Grip Puppies do, apart from dampening vibrations, is they make the grips thicker, which helps a lot with tight grip induced pain. A thicker grip handle also helps you relax your grip more, you just naturally tend not to grip it "for dear life".

great response on this guys...thanks

took the bike out for 20 mins today and relaxed and kept the grip 'loose'..no issues this time,will be out for a lot longer tomorrow so will see how I get on then,will adjust brake position also I think

these grip puppies seem to have a good rep by the sounds of it

been humming this for a while now tbh....hasn't helped though lol