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Neck pain while descending, handlebar solution?

Old 01-23-22, 02:39 PM
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Gyro_T
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Neck pain while descending, handlebar solution?

I got a Salsa Fargo Ti 8 years ago. It was surprisingly upright for a drop bar bike and I did fine on it for quite a while. Now, I am assured of neck pain while descending after even just a few minutes. I am considering changing to a Jones bar with the 2.5" rise, or anything that will get my head in a more favorable orientation with my cervical spine. Of course, that will involve brake levers, and shifters too, but I am prepared to do what it takes. Any suggestions would be welcome.
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Old 01-23-22, 06:49 PM
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Liberal applications of prophylactic liniments to the neck.
Bonus - you'll smell like a giant tic-tack.

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Old 01-23-22, 08:35 PM
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Flatten your back: https://www.bikeforums.net/road-cycl...discovery.html

Then try strengthening your neck of course.
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Old 01-23-22, 08:42 PM
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where is the pain? What is the nature of the pain? Sore muscles? Radiating or shooting?

C3-7 are messed up on my neck and I GET neck pain. I can ride a little bit with Nitto Moustache bars and and elevated gooseneck stem, not exactly a Dutch bike position but still quite upright.....something to consider.
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Old 01-23-22, 10:08 PM
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See a physical therapist for neck strengthening exercises. You said anything.
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Old 01-23-22, 10:25 PM
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Jones H-bar is a solid choice. Another option is the North Road/Albatross touring bar.

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Old 01-24-22, 12:24 AM
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Jumping from a drop bar to a Jones is an abrupt and dramatic change. I tried it and went back. Maybe see what you can do with different stem dimensions or a riser drop bar first?
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Old 01-24-22, 10:21 AM
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In addition to the other replies, make certain your helmet isn't obscuring your forward vision when your are leaned over and aero.

First time I experienced this all I had to do was remove the visor from my helmet. Some helmets come lower on the brow than others. Some you can more easily adjust that with the straps and other features to fit it to your head.

If when you turn your eyes up, the helmet blocks your view, then you probably need another helmet that doesn't block so much.

While riser bars and other stuff can help you get more upright. At some point you get too high for that model and geometry bike and you just look ridiculous. Before you get to that point, consider getting a bike with more stack that will give you the position you might want without the ugliness.

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Old 01-24-22, 11:01 AM
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As a rider with chronic neck, spinal column issues, it really is an ongoing process. After spinal fusion at C5/C6 in 2007, it was a long process finding comfort for longer rides. A fair portion of that was just time of recovery, a lot of it was trial and error trying to use small changes to get, at least, a good compromise. My issues/symptoms might be quite similar to yours, but my methods and results are likely to be different from yours. I wound up going back to a lower drop bar with a stem 10 to 20 mm shorter. Over the last 3 years I have shortened the reach a bit more. The other important thing for me is to change hands and body position frequently, including getting off of the bike more.
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Old 01-24-22, 11:33 AM
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I have a herniated disc and aching pain with pins and needles in my left arm. Some loss of sensation and a little strength loss as well. I always flip my visor up when descending and that helps a little but not nearly enough. The arm symptoms just started 10 days ago and I can't ride at all at the moment. Seeing my regular doctor on Wednesday. This point on my neck vertebrae have been a problem for several years, but now it is suddenly much worse.

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Old 01-24-22, 01:39 PM
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My final suggestion is to treat the cause and not the symptoms. Find out why it is occurring and get that fixed rather the bandaid approach - unless you already know why or have been already a negative diagnosis, or can’t afford to.
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Old 01-24-22, 02:32 PM
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Originally Posted by Gyro_T
I have a herniated disc and aching pain with pins and needles in my left arm. Some loss of sensation and a little strength loss as well. I always flip my visor up when descending and that helps a little but not nearly enough. The arm symptoms just started 10 days ago and I can't ride at all at the moment. Seeing my regular doctor on Wednesday. This point on my neck vertebrae have been a problem for several years, but now it is suddenly much worse.
I was there 6 years ago. If your family doctor refers you to a Neuro, go. Conservative treatments start at NSAIDs. cortisone, PT, pain mgt (shots and/or ablation) and of course there is surgery. I would not continue to aggravate it at this point in time. You need a careful workup and some suggested treatments, weakness in the arm from the nerve impingement (probably C5/6) is not a sign to ignore, IMHO. GL
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Old 01-24-22, 10:18 PM
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Thanks for the suggestions to all. As a matter of fact, thought I do know why. A physically demanding career for 40 years, on top of being a farmer, and an active life style. Just plain wore out and trying to make the best of it.
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Old 01-25-22, 04:31 AM
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Originally Posted by Gyro_T
Thanks for the suggestions to all. As a matter of fact, thought I do know why. A physically demanding career for 40 years, on top of being a farmer, and an active life style. Just plain wore out and trying to make the best of it.
Don't despair, just get medical help. I went from not being able to lift a coffee cup to being able to ride in a somewhat upright position although I mostly ride a recumbent. I ignored my initial symptoms and was in a real mess for a couple years. (I elected not to undergo the knife.)
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Old 01-25-22, 12:39 PM
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I have learned to direct my eyeballs at my eyebrows and then focus down the road.
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Old 01-25-22, 02:05 PM
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I am surprised that nobody has suggested that you go to an older, experienced bike fitter. It may well be that your saddle is too far forward which will put far too much weight on your hands, which often results in neck pain due to the stress of supporting yourself being channeled up your arms and shoulders to your neck and then down your spine. Going downhill only exacerbates this problem. You may be trying to fix the problem via the handlebars when the true problem is your fore-aft weight distribution on the bike that can only be fixed by moving the saddle.

Of course, if you move the saddle back then you may need to purchase a shorter stem to compensate.
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Old 01-30-22, 10:03 PM
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Really nice Mondia!
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Old 02-01-22, 03:25 PM
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Originally Posted by Gyro_T
Thanks for the suggestions to all. As a matter of fact, thought I do know why. A physically demanding career for 40 years, on top of being a farmer, and an active life style. Just plain wore out and trying to make the best of it.
That doesn’t quite make sense. Cycling for 8 yrs and now and all of a sudden you have neck pain on descents because of a physically demanding career for 40 yrs. There really isn’t enough to go by. Have you started cycling after a hiatus? Was there a recent injury? Is it a particular descent? Are you not warmed up? Did you get new glasses? Do you scrunch your face up a lot? Are you dressed warm enough? Like cfb posture would be my first check but I’d look at what’s changed between no neck pain and neck pain.
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Old 02-01-22, 06:39 PM
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Well, there's always recumbents if you can't find any other good solution. Of course, you'd have to figure out which recumbent position didn't hurt, too, because I'm sure some of them would.
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Old 02-01-22, 10:52 PM
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Originally Posted by BlazingPedals
Well, there's always recumbents if you can't find any other good solution. Of course, you'd have to figure out which recumbent position didn't hurt, too, because I'm sure some of them would.
Thanks, pretty sure there is a recumbent in my future, but I'm trying to buy a little more time.
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Old 02-02-22, 05:15 AM
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Originally Posted by LeeG
That doesn’t quite make sense. Cycling for 8 yrs and now and all of a sudden you have neck pain on descents because of a physically demanding career for 40 yrs. There really isn’t enough to go by. Have you started cycling after a hiatus? Was there a recent injury? Is it a particular descent? Are you not warmed up? Did you get new glasses? Do you scrunch your face up a lot? Are you dressed warm enough? Like cfb posture would be my first check but I’d look at what’s changed between no neck pain and neck pain.
OP's saga makes no sense to you because you have not experienced what is causing his pain.

My awareness of mine came on suddenly. I kept dropping espresso cups on my routine stop at 40 miles on a training ride. Then, the radiating pain and weakness would not go away. Fit has zero part of it. It is impinged cervical nerves resulting in numb and weak left hand, arm, shoulder, neck pain, etc. Years of farming undoubtedly put stress on his neck and father time doesn't help either. Descending aggravates the nerves more than sitting up climbing.

I can ride a recumbent. After many years of treatments (no surgery), I can ride a bike in more upright position. Hopefully, OP can get resolution w/o going down the recumbent path, but it isn't a bad riding solution to what can be an intractable medical issue. Of course, I may be wrong......but I doubt it.
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Old 02-03-22, 06:36 PM
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Whenever I have not been riding for a long period of time I have had to relearn to relax my shoulder muscles to avoid neck pain. With older bike helmets I needed to use a box cutter knife to trim away part of the foam that blocked my view of the road ahead.

Part of the problem is having ones shoulders hunched forward. Do this while sitting in a chair and then consciously bring your shoulders back as far as you can and feel the difference. There are simple exercises using a rubber band or strip or even some surgical tubing (found at fishing supply places) to strengthen the muscles and these work and the cost is minimal and they pack for travel.
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Old 02-07-22, 01:27 AM
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For years, since a 2001 wreck, I've had chronic pain from damaged C1-C2. Recently a full spinal scan showed stenosis throughout the entire neck. So it's not likely to improve, and I'm hesitant to have surgery, even if we weren't still in a pandemic with limited access to non-essential surgery.

Oddly, in experimenting with my drop bar road bikes and hybrids with riser bars, I've found that saddle to bar height isn't as critical as my neck angle. A few years ago I tried shorter 90mm stems, which were superficially comfortable but made handling twitchy at speed on curves with imperfect pavement. So I tried longer stems. Turns out the combination of 110-120mm stems with compact drops (FSA Omega, Soma Hwy 1) with bar height an inch or so below saddle height put my neck at a comfortable angle.

And my favorite hybrid with albatross swept bars at saddle height is less comfortable. It puts my neck at an angle where I get sharp pains with every rough patch of road. I'm going to try more supple tires first (Conti Contact Speed II are the opposite of supple), but I might lower the quill stem, or flip the bars like North Road bars on a path racer.
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