Newbie with Sore Shoulders

[Fujichants]

My shoulders hurt as well, and my BF, who has been riding for years, told me its a conditioning issue. Your body just has to get used to it I guess.

[cycle]

One thing that is pretty important is to make sure that you aren't locking out your arms or leaning on your hands too much. Sounds weird but you want your upper body to be kind of relaxed, not tensed or tight or locked out. Does that make sense?

It could also just be conditioning as others have said too, that is very possible as well. Good luck!

[bike4ever]

In addition to locking your bikes, are you hunching your shoulders? Look at your shadow as you ride. If you have a turtle back, flatten your back. This uses your stomach and lower back muscles more to hold proper form.

[sundial]

I'm also having a hard time getting my hands comfortable on the top bar. I feel like my hands are squished in just a bit too closely to get my wrists comfortable when I move from the brake hoods to the top bar.

Perhaps you need either a little wider handlebar or a different stem? I believe Specialized puts a 110 mm stems on most bikes and I've had to shorten mine to a 80 mm. Just brainstorming here.

[TahoeDirtGirl]

Hey there,

I'm the queen of poor posture. And if you got it, you'll find out pretty quick when you ride! That and tensing up- so the best thing is to have someone look at you or ride by storefronts where you can see yourself in a reflection.

Always try and keep everything in check too...sounds like you might have a forward chin (which I am constantly watching when I ride) so focus on tucking it back (think double chinning it) but not too far back.

I don't know if you weight train but lay off the chest exercises (bench press) and focus more on back (cable rows). I found this helped me alot- and another thing is to do some stretches for your shoulders- there is one where you do the door frame thing, but check online for some. I also found that the fit with my bike was off as well, when I went to a new bike shop after I came to the east coast, they actually did a couple of adjustments that helped out. Just my 4 cents!

[F8th637]

I could probably rival TahoeDirtGirl on the title of Queen of Poor Posture. I have this problem as well but have found that the more I ride the longer it takes for the pain to set in. So I know for a good portion of it is a conditioning issue. Make sure that you strengthen your core as well. I have a pathetically weak core and am working on that as well to help me become pain-free.

[Bootyscadoodle]

What a relief to know it's not a fit issue. Sounds like I have more conditioning to do, especially the core region. Thanks for all your comments and suggestions.

[Ana]

Sounds weird but you want your upper body to be kind of relaxed, not tensed or tight or locked out. Does that make sense?

Hm. Still a bit unclear about what this means. Will someone please enlighten me?

[VeloVT]

Hm. Still a bit unclear about what this means. Will someone please enlighten me?

Stand up. Bend over about 90 degrees at the waist. Let your arms hang down, and your head hang down, and let gravity pull them down, but don't bend MORE than 90 degrees (use your stomach to keep you there).

That's about what you want to feel like most of the time on your bike, at least when you're cruising (you have to use more upper body when you're climbing, sprinting, pulling into the wind, etc).

So you are primarily keeping your body up with your stomach, not your arms. Try riding as low as you can in your drops, with your elbows bent 90 degrees. Notice how in that position, you can't use your upper body nearly as much to support you, you have to rely much more on your core. That's the feeling you want to aim for when you're chilling on the hoods too.

Except don't let your head hang down on the bike, of course .

I work vigilantly at this when I ride. Every couple of minutes I think "let your shoulders hang -- are your shoulders hanging?". Sometimes I will push my shoulders down as far as I can (and when I say down, I don't so much mean pushing in the opposite direction as my ears, I mean pushing my shoulder blades apart), and then relax and let them find a place. This helps for me...ymmv of course.

Alternatively, if letting your shoulders hang is hard to visualize, it may help to try visualizing letting your elbows hang between your shoulders and your hands, as if there is no weight on them at all (this is actually more or less how it feels when you are low in the drops with your elbows at a 90 deg angle, right? channel that feeling). When this works you really do perceive much less weight on your hands, and you end up with much less potential for shoulder/upper back/neck tightness. But if your core is jelly-like (as mine currently is), you may feel something unpleasant in your lower back. Situps/crunches will make a big difference pretty fast though.

[Kano]

Liza --

You sure nailed it when you said you work hard at keeping your shoulders and arms relaxed!

I'm amazed at how much time I spend noticing that my shoulders are tight, or my elbows or wrists, or all three -- and then fixing them! Granted, it's not constant, but it does need fairly regular attention. More in the early part of the season than toward the end, and more if I've been away from my bike for a while.

The original poster mentioned being used to riding a mountain bike, and that riding with her hands on the tops is uncomfortable. It WOULD feel narrow, since mountain bars are wider and flat, so the top kind of feels like the place to ride. I don't find myself using that part of the bars much -- do many road riders? They're pretty much my place of last resort, when I really need a break from everywhere else!

Karen in Boise

[aicabsolut]

I ride on the tops a lot when I'm just cruising along (and don't need to be right by the brakes or shifters).

[Ana]

Stand up. Bend over about 90 degrees at the waist. Let your arms hang down, and your head hang down, and let gravity pull them down, but don't bend MORE than 90 degrees (use your stomach to keep you there).

That's about what you want to feel like most of the time on your bike, at least when you're cruising (you have to use more upper body when you're climbing, sprinting, pulling into the wind, etc).

So you are primarily keeping your body up with your stomach, not your arms. Try riding as low as you can in your drops, with your elbows bent 90 degrees. Notice how in that position, you can't use your upper body nearly as much to support you, you have to rely much more on your core. That's the feeling you want to aim for when you're chilling on the hoods too.

Wonderful! Thank you so much for this.

I, too, am a failure at relaxing the shoulders...I find myself consumed by it and completely forget to enjoy my ride I'm still working on the shoulders. Ideally, they are relaxed and pushed down?

Does anyone have any tricks to learn to keep their shoulders relaxed?

[PamNY]

Does anyone have any tricks to learn to keep their shoulders relaxed?

Yoga helped me learn what relaxation feels like. I just do yoga DVDs, not even classes, but I am able to use it in real life and it helps.

Pam