Originally Posted by
Brian25
Suggested progression; Try a softer and larger diameter grip area. She has her shoulder weight bearing down on her hands. Having a downward tilted seat is a hand killer, make sure it's flat. Lastly, you may need to make her position more upright. In the most extreme cases you may need to use a drop/road handlebar and flip them up and use foam padding. I use to live/ build tandems in Encinitas. Do you ever take your tandem up to Camp Pendelton (our old favorite)?
Yes we ride through Camp Pendleton to San Clemente all the time.
I will take another look at her position, but some ago with the help from a friend who has worked at bike shops his whole life, I made a big change to her position moving the stoker bars much closer to her and trying various handlebars. At the time it was mostly for her back. It seems to be working well but maybe I could raise the bars some more, I did wrap another layer of tape for our last ride. Pretty sure her seat is not tilted down. I am not sure the pain is caused by bicycling but it could aggravate it. She has had it occur sometimes after being off the bike for several days or more and she does have some osteoarthritis in her finger joints. I found an orthopedic hand specialist doctor this morning and made an appt to hopefully find the cause and solution to her pain.