Neck Trapezius pain

[wafter]

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!

In that case it might be that the reach and stack are inadiquate and you need more of one / both, your arms are straight when they should be bent more to lower your position without hunching your head down between your shoulders, or your posture is to rigid / tense and you need to smash a couple of valiums before a ride..

Not sure if it'd help with the traps specifically but I've found hanging off something, totally relaxed with an overhand grip like a monkey is great for decompressing the spine and back area generally; might be worth giving it a go after a ride

 

[lazybloke]

I'm stiff as a plank, and have poor core strength; neck/shoulder pain from cycling is something I've experienced often.
Physio has helped in the past when those muscles get really sore or in spasm; and I a have a selection of tatty A4 handouts showing the stretches I can do at home to help maintain my neck mobility.

I reckon there are 3 things I could do that would solve my problems for good:
1) The Dr Jo video looks better than anything recommended by my physiotherapist
2) Find additional exercises/stetches to improve my general flexibility; yoga, probably
3) Improve my core strength

Then maybe a bike fit too.

 

[wafter]

I'm stiff as a plank, and have poor core strength; neck/shoulder pain from cycling is something I've experienced often.
Physio has helped in the past when those muscles get really sore or in spasm; and I a have a selection of tatty A4 handouts showing the stretches I can do at home to help maintain my neck mobility.

I reckon there are 3 things I could do that would solve my problems for good:
1) The Dr Jo video looks better than anything recommended by my physiotherapist
2) Find additional exercises/stetches to improve my general flexibility; yoga, probably
3) Improve my core strength

Then maybe a bike fit too.

That's a good point about core strength - may be that there's more load going through the OP's arms than there should be. From that perspective could also be a saddle position issue..

 

[fossyant]

Go see a professional sports physio, not a bunch of folk on the internet.

 

[cyberknight]

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 out nicely.

Indeed I had similar and a 10 mm shorter stem fixed it for me