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Help Shoulder Pain

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  • April 25, 2018 at 6:36 pm #28422
    steve67

    Hi,

    I took up cycling 2 years ago to help with arthritis in both knee, and its really helped and i have fallen in love with cycling. i started out on a 2016 Giant Defy 1, had a bike fit to iron out a few niggles mainly the saddle. swapped to a selle smp Well and all is well. I sometimes have numb hands but this is hit and miss

    The defy has served me well but the call of carbon and an up grade bit at Christmas…. i bought a Canyon CF Endurace. looked at the sizes and geometery and its seams to match( reach and stack). I swapped the measurements over to the canyon, but i am suffering with shoulder and neck ache. i have flipped the stem to help raise the front end but it did not improve. so the saddle has been moved back slightly to try and move the center of gravity and  moved the hoods up abit, but i am still suffering after around 20 miles, concerntrating on relaxing the shoulders.

    so i have now flipped the stem back to normal, taking the approch that may be i’m to cramped and looking at trying a longer stem…..

    am i missing anything?

    is there anything else i could try, before i throw more money for another bike fit…

     

     

    thanks in advance.

    steve

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  • April 26, 2018 at 6:41 pm #917881
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    steve67
    IanEdward wrote:
    Are you sure it’s the same reach and stack?

    Reach in particular, the frame reach might be the same, but is the stem length the same? What about the reach of the handlebars (e.g. the distance between the horizontal section of bar and the hoods). I’ve even heard that Campag hoods are 1cm longer than Shimano, have you changed groupsets?

    Maybe the hoods are rotated further forward, which would increase reach?

     

    I ask as I was having shoulder and neck issues, they were partly related to stack and reach, i.e. I was reaching forward and down too much meaning I had to raise my head further, but they were also related to distance, as I’ve gradually increased the length of my rides the neck pain has gradually subsided, I guess as the muscles get stronger.

    Massage can help, I’ve had two recently focussing on shoulders and it’s definitely loosened them up.

     

    thanks for all the comments…

    i have revisted the geometery and checked , 

    on the giant stack is 624mm/ reach 398mm

     on the canyon stack is 610/ reach 395mm

    the set up on the giant i dropped the stem by 10mm, so a 4mm difference in stack and with the reach i rotated the hoods away slighty.

    at present the hoods are the same distance from the saddle tip on the giant and canyon  and are rotated up slightly to match the giant..

     

    as stated i have flipped the stem up and this takes it 15mm above the giant set up and i still was suffering. i may re flip and see how it goes….

     

    trial and error but i just want to be free of the pain, i have done 6000 miles in the last 2 yrs and the last 500 have been bl**dy painful ,  im supposed to be doing anothe 120 mile ride  soonbut at the moment 30 is a killer..

     

     

    steve

    April 26, 2018 at 11:17 am #917879
    0
    IanEdward

    Are you sure it’s the same

    Are you sure it’s the same reach and stack?

    Reach in particular, the frame reach might be the same, but is the stem length the same? What about the reach of the handlebars (e.g. the distance between the horizontal section of bar and the hoods). I’ve even heard that Campag hoods are 1cm longer than Shimano, have you changed groupsets?

    Maybe the hoods are rotated further forward, which would increase reach?

     

    I ask as I was having shoulder and neck issues, they were partly related to stack and reach, i.e. I was reaching forward and down too much meaning I had to raise my head further, but they were also related to distance, as I’ve gradually increased the length of my rides the neck pain has gradually subsided, I guess as the muscles get stronger.

    Massage can help, I’ve had two recently focussing on shoulders and it’s definitely loosened them up.

    April 26, 2018 at 9:26 am #917877
    0
    yourealwaysbe

    I sometimes get a stiff neck
    I sometimes get a stiff neck during a long ride, which may or may not qualify me to offer some advice…

    Could it be related to the numb hands? Perhaps you’re putting too much weight on front. Perhaps you could take more weight with your core, which would help relax everything from your shoulders to your hands. Bent elbows and so on.

    When i notice a stiff neck i also take it as a reminder to do more shoulder checks, which aside from the safety benefit, avoids you keeping things fixed in one position too long.

    April 26, 2018 at 8:37 am #917875
    0
    Kendalred

    Steve, have you tried adding

    Steve, have you tried adding more spacers, so that you can be a bit more upright? The problems may be related to the angle you need to crane your neck to look forwards.

    Also, how strict are you with stretching exercises? Find some good stretches that concentrate on your back, shoulders and neck, you might find an improvement – it certainly won’t do you any harm, and as you get older it’s something you should be doing as regular as clockwork anyway (although I am all too aware that a half hour stretching session is sometimes the last thing you want to do after getting out of the saddle!).

    April 26, 2018 at 8:10 am #917873
    0
    Anonymous

    Democratic Cyclists’ Republic

    Democratic Cyclists’ Republic of Oxford wrote:
    I suffered from shoulder pain at work for no real forseeable reason, and found out I was magnesium deficient. This proved to be the issue in my case!

    Which magnesium do you take? I’m currently on citrate but thinking of moving to glycinate. Apparently oxide is basically useless as so little of it actually gets into your system.

    April 26, 2018 at 12:56 am #917871
    0
    Metaphor

    I suffered from shoulder pain

    I suffered from shoulder pain at work for no real forseeable reason, and found out I was magnesium deficient. This proved to be the issue in my case!

    April 25, 2018 at 7:03 pm #917869
    0
    VeloUSA

    Difficult question to answer.

    Difficult question to answer. Could be the Defy is more compliant than the Canyon resulting in a harsher rider with the Canyon. Another thought is the Canyon wheelset adds to the harshness. Have you tried lowering the psi? Last thought is your bike fit is off.

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