Pain in the neck!

[WindingRoad]

All joking aside, I have had a bad pain in my neck and trapezius muscle during and after most rides for just about as long as I have been riding. The longer and hillier the ride the worse it is. Since relocating 'out east' nearly all of my rides are hilly so the pain is consistently worse. I have had a professional fit done with my bike. A few years back my fitter moved my bars off center, shifted them to the right and the pain improved but never really went away. I am constantly putting my right arm behind my back and looking down to stretch it out. It seems to be primarily on the right side. I would love to know if there were any tricks to alleviating some of this pain.

[BodhiTree]

Have you tried raising the bars?

Generally the dominant side (are you right handed?) will take more stress if the bars are too low. That shoulder will tend to protract because of the greater development of the pects on that side, and if the bars are too low the upper trapezius will go into over-drive trying to keep you balanced.

Shifting the bars to the side will help with the unbalanced aspect, but still it's a bandaid to cover the possibility that the bars are simply too low.

Motorcyclists on ninja-bikes have this same problem. They have low bars. Watch them on the freeway sometime. They are constantly putting one hand behind their backs. You don't generally see this with Harley or touring motorbike riders.

[WindingRoad]

My bars are pretty high compared to other road bikes. I don't think I could get them too much higher but I'll see if there are any spacers left to flip around. I never noticed the Ninja bikes but they look awful uncomfortable.

[tealtreak]

I was having neck/trapizius pain only when road biking long distances and realized this never happens when mountain biking. The difference being on my mt bike I am constantly moving. (I was tending to hammer in one posture on the road) The last 3 road rides I have made a conscious effort to often change posture, stretch, look around a lot etc.....and it worked! (: It may not help your particular issue since you mentioned you have stretched while riding but its free and worth a try (:

Another thought is to use your cross training to strengthen/ stretch that area......

[WindingRoad]

I actually found this issue to be MUCH worse on flat bar bikes. I had to switch commuters for this reason? I do a lot of stretching and looking around on the bike for the reasons you mentioned. I've got back to doing Yoga within the last month. While my back feels awesome my traps are still firing up :-( It's wierd cuz I feel like someone punched me in the arm a little below my deltoid after these rides too. It's so darn frustrating. I'm noticing it more this week bc I cracked 200 miles this week.

[WindingRoad]

It looks like I have one more spacer I can use to raise my bars about 1 cm. after looking at my commuter and my road bike one thing is different. I have the new 105 shifters on my commuter and the older Flight Deck ones on my road bike. The new Shimano shifters are without question more comfortable on my hands. I wonder if this could be the problem.

[Catrin]

It looks like I have one more spacer I can use to raise my bars about 1 cm. after looking at my commuter and my road bike one thing is different. I have the new 105 shifters on my commuter and the older Flight Deck ones on my road bike. The new Shimano shifters are without question more comfortable on my hands. I wonder if this could be the problem.

Have you tried this yet? I've been wondering if this worked for you.

[Sky King]

We have a chiropractor across the street who is also a big into biking. I spent some time with him as I was getting numbness down both arms. Looks like I may have a couple issues with over/underdeveloped muscles in my shoulders, back, neck so am doing exercises to create a better balance. Also having a neck and shoulders massage helps. In addition to several stretching of the arms, much like you describe, I do an isometric several times a day - relaxed shoulders, sitting or standing nice and straight. I tuck my chin slightly and then concentrate on pushing my chin back as if I am forcing it to the back of my skull. This works the muscles between my shoulder blades to help strengthen my neck.
Finally when, riding I have to really remember to keep my shoulders relaxed and in "my pockets" and to keep my chin tucked as I tend to stretch my neck out and lead with my chin, putting to much pressure on my neck. give it a try and see if it helps. Rode Hills on Friday and had zero numbness for the first time all summer! good luck, I feel your pain