Neck Trapezius pain

[fraz101]

Been road cycling around 2 years now.

Gradually increasing the amount of time spent on my bike.

Over the past 3/4months I have developed a painful back/neck at the trapezius muscle between my shoulder blades where it connects to my spine. If I push my spine with my fingers it is very painful.

It does not get painful when on the bike but aches at nights and during day to day activities.

I have been researching the issue and can see it is a somewhat common issue.

I can only presume it is bike related, I have not changed anything at all in my bike set up recently but can only assume it is related to my posture whilst on the bike.

Maybe it is due to the increased time I now spend on my bike as I haven’t had the issue up until late summer last year.

Has anyone else encountered similar and successfully cured it? If so what did you do to relieve the symptoms.

 

[ColinJ]

I experienced something like that when I first got back into cycling. I think it was due to not being used to holding my head in that position for hours at a time, and was made worse when I started wearing a helmet. (That old helmet was heavier than the modern one that I wear now.)

 

[Slick]

Stretching helps, before and after.

 

[fraz101]

Stretching helps, before and after.

Any in particular you can share ?

 

[Cycleops]

I think you ought to try and cure it at source. How about a bike fit?

 

[vickster]

Sports physio assessment. Sports massage. Get a tennis ball and roll the tightness out against a wall.
Take a very good look at your posture if you have a desk based job. And on the bike especially if you wear a helmet.
Stretches wise, take a look at Doctor Jo physio on YouTube. She’ll have lots of suggestions for neck and shoulders

 

[wafter]

I think you ought to try and cure it at source. How about a bike fit?

This. It's worth looking at the positions of contact points at the front of the bike - flipping the stem will raise the bars / give you more stack, while if you have access to a shorter stem you could try fitting this to see if it improves the situation.

I used to get a lot of upper back / neck pain and tension headaches from my old road bike; turned out the geometry was far too aggressive with excessive reach and inadiquate stack. A shorter, flipped stem and some more compact bars sorted it out nicely.

 

[fraz101]

I have not been on my road bikes in ages really and have been using indoor bikes (Wattbike,Keiser m3i) for the past 3 months and it has persisted the whole time.

So not sure it’s my set up. I think maybe more about my posture whilst riding. I think my shoulders are at my ears too often!

 

[vickster]

I have not been on my road bikes in ages really and have been using indoor bikes (Wattbike,Keiser m3i) for the past 3 months and it has persisted the whole time.

So not sure it’s my set up. I think maybe more about my posture whilst riding. I think my shoulders are at my ears too often!

Unless it’s the set up of the trainer. You might
move around much less.
Posture is what’s messing with your shoulders and neck. Get a massage, it should hurt but help

 

[fraz101]

Unless it’s the set up of the trainer. You might
move around much less.
Posture is what’s messing with your shoulders and neck. Get a massage, it should hurt but help

Yea but won’t solve

 

[vickster]

Yea but won’t solve

Why not? The therapist can give you a stretching programme too.
If it’s truly only due to cycling and that bad, then you’ll need to stop if a fit doesn’t solve.
Sounds like it’s down to your inside exercise bike if it started when you got that.
Get outside or stick your well fitting roadbike on a turbo instead

 

[fraz101]

Why not? The therapist can give you a stretching programme too.
If it’s truly only due to cycling and that bad, then you’ll need to stop if a fit doesn’t solve.

Stop 🤯😆😆😆😆

 

[vickster]

Stop 🤯😆😆😆😆

You’re the one who says nothing will resolve it 🙄
Go see a physio, especially if you’re looking up or down at a screen while on the bike.

 

[vickster]

Here’s one of Doctor Jo’s neck programmes

View: https://youtu.be/Rvv8pOEADYo?si=er4hRzEQ5wXAzQMO

 

[Slick]

Any in particular you can share ?

Yeah, these.

Here’s one of Doctor Jo’s neck programmes

View: https://youtu.be/Rvv8pOEADYo?si=er4hRzEQ5wXAzQMO