Sore neck? A dilemma

[Fuji Girl]

Maybe you can shed some light on this:

I did a 25 mile ride on Sunday, and now the muscles in my neck are really sore, especially the muscles on either side. My shoulder muscles are really sore too. Am I craning my neck and hunching my shoulders without realizing it? Or does my bike need to be adjusted?

Any ideas?

[Dianyla]

My shoulder muscles are really sore too. Am I craning my neck and hunching my shoulders without realizing it? Or does my bike need to be adjusted?

Maybe a little bit of both? If your bike isn't adjusted right, you may have no choice but to hunch over. Also, working on core muscle strength can help, so that you aren't just propping your entire upper half up on your arms.

[tprevost]

I agree w/ Dianyla, could be a little of both. I tend to hunch myself and have been working really hard to relax my shoulders. When I hunch them, my neck hurts and gets tired and sore.

You may want to have someone look at the way your bike is adjusted as well just to make sure!

Tracy

[velogirl]

Maybe you can shed some light on this:

I did a 25 mile ride on Sunday, and now the muscles in my neck are really sore, especially the muscles on either side. My shoulder muscles are really sore too. Am I craning my neck and hunching my shoulders without realizing it? Or does my bike need to be adjusted?

Any ideas?

Are you riding a road bike? How long have you been riding? In our early riding history, we begin to strengthen the muscles in our neck and shoulders that support our head in a riding posture.

One of the most common reasons for shoulder pain I've seen is a handlebar that's too wide. This causes you to contract the the muscles at the center of your shoulders which will lead to discomfort as you increase your saddle time.

A rule of thumb in proper bike fit is that your bar should be no more than 1-2cm wider than your shoulders (measured from A/C joint to A/C joint). This allows you to simply extend your arms in front of you and place your hands on the hoods (like you're shaking hands). I've found that most women will be very comfortable on a 36, 38, or 40cm bar. However, because of our long inseam, many women are placed on frame sizes too large for them, so they also end up with a bar that's too wide (because it's fit for a man's larger shoulders).

So, my first suggestion is to have someone measure your shoulders and then measure your bar (from the center of one drop to the center of the other). If the bar is more than 2cm wider than your shoulders, you need a new bar.

Lorri (who does bike fit for a living)

[Fuji Girl]

Yes, I have a road bike (I guess I should've probably mentioned that earlier). I don't think it's due to my bars being too wide - I have a WSD bike that came with 38 cm bars that seems fit my shoulder width really well.

What is involved with a professional bike fitting? And how much does it cost? I think I might invest in that, not only for the neck/shoulder thing, but also for cleat placement. My toes went numb on yesterday's ride, and while that's happened before, and it was worse yesterday than before.

[nuthatch]

Fuji, not to distract you from the bike fit issue, but Saturday was cool here and I have a tendancy to clench up when it's cooler weather. I had to keep reminding myself to change the position of my hands and flex my feet as I rode on Sunday. I still came home with some aching bits!

It was really one of the first nice days we've had here in the area to get out and do a long ride. I can't remember if you are out riding all winter or not (someone here on the boards is an all-winter Chicago rider), but I'm finding I have to retrain myself now that I'm back outside for long rides, to keep stretching things out as I ride.

[Nanci]

Assuming your bike fits correctly, I still think it takes a while, months, to strengthen the neck muscles- but once they are, you will suddenly realize you haven't had neck pain for a while.

Nanci

[Lise]

FWIW, I went on the longest ride I've done for months (16 whopping miles) on Sunday, and the right side of my neck/shoulder is very tense and sore. Feels like the sternocleidomastoid, which connects the whole area. Makes sense that I'm out of shape with regard to the bike. Time to stretch, get out the yoga tapes, and get strong for the bike again! Lise