mystang52

My adult son has had chronic joint pain, most especially in the wrist and between thumb and pointer finger. He recently started a bit of cycling again, and told me the pain between thumb and finger was quite intense that he thinks he might need a recumbent....which he won't do.
1) With COVID, going into an LBS right now is out of the question. But might this be resolved by a change in his seat/handlebar configuration?
2) Any special handlebar grips that might make a difference for him?

He is not a serious cyclist, just wants to do some short easy riding, including some with his children.

Mista Sparkle

What kind of bike is he riding?

I find I can ride for hours on end on my road bike with no pain, but on my MTB, it is substantially less, maybe 30 minutes. I should do something about it... In my case I believe it is the width of the bars and the angle at which I rest my hands on the bard on the MTB that doesn't work for me.

Drop bars are nice. I stayed away from them for a couple years while riding with my son because I thought it wouldn't work well, it turns out that they aren't too bad towing a trailer.

A local bike store can probably help substantially, maybe even with just photos, try giving them a call.

mystang52

His bike is a Mongoose, at least 20 years old. I'm thinking that maybe he should get a basic bike (I believe they're called cruisers?) so he won't have to use his hands for braking or gears. I found this on REI's site:
https://www.rei.com/product/148212/e...cruiser-1-bike
Based on the biking he will likely be doing, this should be fine. Any thoughts or other suggestions? My son is 6'2, if that matters.

Ernie_13

Bodyweight is mostly distributed between seat and handlebar. Proportionally. More aggressive position (racing bike) means body leans more forward and hands on handlebar are taking more stress. On other side relaxed position, where back is straight (city bike) means more portion of weight goes through seat and far less through handlebar (hands). Cruiser is for very comfy/relaxed position and hands are definitely in lower stress.
Not easy to say if that is what is causing his pain. Good idea could be to let him to try out bike with relaxed position, so he can confirm that it is not causing him any pain.
Good luck.

sweeks

I have osteoarthritis in one of the joints in my right wrist. I changed the handlebars on my mountain bike to "trekking" bars in order to have a larger variety of hand positions. The discomfort seems les as the hands are moved around frequently.

View of the controls.



Bars have since been taped, and the mirror ditched in favor of one that clips on my glasses.



Side view of trekking bars. They look and feel better taped.

motorthings

is the pain in the CMC (carpometacarpal) joint?
if so, pinning the bones together there might be a solution.
i had arthritis pain for years (drop bar road riding) that got worse and worse, then my ortho pinned the joint, and life is pain free.