Base of neck pain

I went for a long (for me) ride on ANZAC day - over 120km
through the Perth hills. By the end, besides being a bit
tired and having a little muscle soreness, the only persistent
problem has been a bit of an ache/pain at the base of my neck.
Not debilitating but annoying. One of the guys I rode with
reckons he has this almost permanently. I've been getting
this pain/discomfort on longer rides for as long as I can
remember.

Does this point to any obvious positioning problem?

Otherwise, the ride felt great and the bike felt comfortable
on climbs, flats and descents. I recently lowered the saddle
by a few mm and that seems to have sorted some leg-ache
I was getting.

Any suggestions (especially ones that don't require new parts)
most welcome.

DeF


--
To reply, you'll need to remove your finger.

DeF Wrote:
I went for a long (for me) ride on ANZAC day - over 120km
through the Perth hills. By the end, besides being a bit
tired and having a little muscle soreness, the only persistent
problem has been a bit of an ache/pain at the base of my neck.
Not debilitating but annoying. One of the guys I rode with
reckons he has this almost permanently. I've been getting
this pain/discomfort on longer rides for as long as I can
remember.
Are you using your bones to support your body on the bike or your
muscles? Refer http://www.sheldonbrown.com/pain.html#posture


--
EuanB

DeF wrote:

Does this point to any obvious positioning problem?

Drop bars? {:-)

Def wrote:

Does this point to any obvious positioning problem?

Yes, it does. There's a fundamental conflict between positioning for
comfort and positioning for speed. Your neck and shoulder pain is due
to riding for too long with your head tilted back, so you can see where
you're going.

This in turn is related to having the bars too low for comfort.

That said though, I also have my bars set a lot lower than comfort
would dictate, because I go faster with lower bars.

Aside from raising your bars, there are two things you can do to reduce
the pain.

The first is to make it so you don't have to lift your head up as high
to see. If you wear glasses, try contacts. If you have a peak on your
helmet, remove it.

The other one is stretching. Periodically on the ride, like every
twenty or thirty minutes, sit up straight (no hands on bars), clasp
your hands behind your back, and give your neck muscles a stretch. If
you do it habitually, you'll keep your neck in good shape. I generally
do this as I go over the tops of climbs.

Cheers,

Suzy


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suzyj

DeF Wrote:


Does this point to any obvious positioning problem?


Have a visor attached to your helmet? Consider removing it, I had a
similar problem and after the visor was taken off - hey presto - no
horrid neck pain.


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cfsmtb

In aus.bicycle on Sun, 29 Apr 2007 09:37:31 +1000
suzyj wrote:

Aside from raising your bars, there are two things you can do to reduce
the pain.

Well three, but I suspect the third option is not as useful to the
original poster as the other two

Zebee
- who not only doesn't have to look up but has this lovely neckrest

Terryc wrote:
DeF wrote:

Does this point to any obvious positioning problem?

Drop bars? {:-)

Nah, drops are good. I bet he's probably riding on the road.

Parbs

On Sun, 29 Apr 2007 00:57:36 +0000, Parbs wrote:

Nah, drops are good. I bet he's probably riding on the road.

Could also be shifters. Those things do all sorts of funny things, like
make you soft. Right Parbs?

--
Dave Hughes |
There are some things so serious you have to laugh at them.
- Niels Bohr

Dave wrote:

Could also be shifters.

Could be. Finishing off a bike build yesterday it took me 6 goes to
thread the right cables to the right derailleur. They were a pain in
the neck and I still can't get the front to shift.

Parbs - who fixed his 1x1 this morning.

I found a disc fusion in the c6-7 region didn't help. You haven't been
operated on in your sleep by any chance?
g