Neck Pain

[greycoral]

I recently got a fitting and haven't been too happy with it. I never had any pain in my shoulders, neck, or back, which I do have now. My questions is...where does that come from? Do I need a wider handlebar? (My fitter sized me down to 36 cm, and I've already had to jump up to 38cm). I feel like it's a cold sweat almost at the base of my neck and between my shoulders at the top.

I honestly don't trust that fitter one bit now, and am trying to figure things out on my own. Do handlebars need to be raised? Hoods lowered or lifted? What causes pain in that area typically?

[Dogmama]

Hard to know without seeing you on your bike. I'm assuming you're on a road bike.

Are you new to cycling? If so, are you tensing up while riding? Are your shoulders up around your ears? That will cause neck & upper back pain.

Is your seat level with your handlebars? If you are new, your handlebars might need to be raised a bit until you get used to the bent over position.

[tulip]

I'd go back to the fitter and explain your issues. A good fitter will work with you to get things right. It's no fun being in pain, and this is supposed to be fun!

[greycoral]

I've been riding for about a year, never had any problems (and yes, I ride a road bike). I didn't have problems until I went and got fit.

I've been back to the fitter three times, the most recent time being a few days ago. All he said was that he was stumped, and didn't know what to tell me. Like I mentioned, he had dropped me to a smaller width bar, and I went up one size and was still having issues...so I went up yet another size and will try that out this afternoon. I noticed that if I rode with my hands on the extreme outside of the hoods that I didn't have the neck pain, so hopefully widening the bars will be the solution.

Changing the seat position (up/down) wouldn't affect my neck, would it?

[Dogmama]

Changing the seat position (up/down) wouldn't affect my neck, would it?

Sure it would. If you move your seat up, you have to crane your neck up while you're riding. Keeping your handlebars slightly above the seat could help.

I'd change just one thing at a time. Try out your new handlebars first. Give them several rides & be sure that your neck & shoulders are rested between rides.

[greycoral]

my legs are at the perfect position now, I'd hate to mess that up too. the adjustment he made was very slight, but can't remember if it was up or down.

[Misandal]

I had neck/shoulder pain recently and there were two things that remedied it. The issues I had were 1) I felt like my shoulders were being pushed up to my ears and 2) I felt like my shoulder blades were being pushed out through my back. The first remedy was putting one spacer above my stem, dropping it just 5mm. That relieved the "pushed up to my ears" feeling. The second remedy was to make my hoods a tad more level because they were turned slightly upward. I slightly - very slightly - rolled the handlebars away from me, bringing the hoods to level, and that completely took the pressure off my back. These were both small adjustments that made a huge difference in my comfort.

[greycoral]

awesome! I'm going out for a test ride later this afternoon with all my tools to make adjustments as needed.

[BleeckerSt_Girl]

Changing the seat position (up/down) wouldn't affect my neck, would it?

You should not be raising or lowering your saddle in order to help neck pain.
Your saddle needs to be at the right height to make for correct leg extension. Any deviations from that can cause other problems such as knee pain (too low) or rocking hips (too high) while pedaling. There is very little "play" available in seat height, anything too off the mark will cause discomfort.

Raising or lowering your handlebars *might* help neck pain, as can adjusting your reach by various means. And yes, handlebar width and hood placement can affect your neck and shoulders.

Have you given your body a chance to ease into the new fit before rejecting it? Sometimes any little change in body posture can make us feel sore at first, until our bodies adjust to the new position. A new weight distribution or body position will ask various muscles to change a bit to adapt. Often new positions seem odd and uncomfortable at first.
Perhaps you could give it a few more rides to get a better feel for it? If nothing else it will help clarify further what you like and don't like before going back again to the fitter.

Or maybe you can even ask for a different fitter... a second opinion, like people do with doctors?

[greycoral]

You should not be raising or lowering your saddle in order to help neck pain.
Your saddle needs to be at the right height to make for correct leg extension. Any deviations from that can cause other problems such as knee pain (too low) or rocking hips (too high) while pedaling. There is very little "play" available in seat height, anything too off the mark will cause discomfort.

That's what I thought...

Have you given your body a chance to ease into the new fit before rejecting it?

About fifty miles on the bike with each adjustment I made (usually 4-5 rides lately).

Or maybe you can even ask for a different fitter... a second opinion, like people do with doctors?

I did, and unfortunately, there is only the one guy there. Basically I feel like I threw my $80 down the toilet. I already found a much more reputable fitter in the area after doing some homework, and will probably invest in that next season. I just want to try and get it back to where it was before I started having pain. I initially went in for the fit for saddle discomfort only, and he didn't even try to suggest a different saddle or anything else to help.