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Shoulder and neck pain/stiffness

Posted: Mon Oct 08, 2012 9:42 am
by liquor box
Does anyone suffer from either of these after riding?

I have for a long time had a pretty dodgy shoulder from too much cricket and baseball when I was younger. Quite often if I ride 40km I will sit up and just shrug/rotate my shoulder to "loosen" it up and make it comfortable and continue on with my ride, this is usually after around 20km. I also seem to get a stiff neck from riding too, I think this is from having it set at the same angle for a long period of time, to help this I try to alternate between looking forward down the road and also looking straight down for a couple of seconds when safe to do to get some movement into the neck area. BTW my helmet weighs 260g.

Yesterday I completed my first 100km ride, previously I had only ever ridden 55km in a single ride so I was quite happy to finally crack a ton. I thought my biggest issue would be my legs, but they dont even hurt a day later! In fact I felt like I coulod have gone another 40-50km!

I got home and was having a shower and putting soap on my neck.shoulder and bang I had a sudden pain, it felt like I pinched a nerve and I expected it to release after a few minutes but it is still sore after about 20 hours and now just feels like a very fatigued muscle issue.

Any suggestions on how to avoid this issue?

Re: Shoulder and neck pain/stiffness

Posted: Mon Oct 08, 2012 9:46 am
by darkelf921
I had similar issues. I saw a Physio who gave me some strange neck stretches to do. It keeps the pain well under control. Whenever my neck and shoulders stiffen up, I do these exercises and it stretches the muscles to loosen them an stop the pain.

My GP just wanted to give me anti-inflammatory tablets.

See a Physio.

Re: Shoulder and neck pain/stiffness

Posted: Mon Oct 08, 2012 11:18 am
by liquor box
darkelf921 wrote:I had similar issues. I saw a Physio who gave me some strange neck stretches to do. It keeps the pain well under control. Whenever my neck and shoulders stiffen up, I do these exercises and it stretches the muscles to loosen them an stop the pain.

My GP just wanted to give me anti-inflammatory tablets.

See a Physio.
GP's do some strange things, I once had a really stiff back from garden work and they wanted to give me anti-depressants as there are a lot of people with back pain who get depressed! I told her where to go and stretched the pain away.

Re: Shoulder and neck pain/stiffness

Posted: Mon Oct 08, 2012 11:42 am
by greyhoundtom
I have had severe right shoulder problems from my years in the building trade and swinging a hammer, which is severely aggravated by bike riding under certain circumstances, to the extent where it is extremely painful to even use the mouse on the computer.

Following the advice from http://www.triggerpoints.net/ has made a huge difference, and now when the pain bites just a few minutes of placing pressure on the trigger points provides instant and long lasting relief.

Re: Shoulder and neck pain/stiffness

Posted: Mon Oct 08, 2012 2:14 pm
by kb
Shermer's Neck?