Shoulder pain

[eazyduzzit]

I've been getting a sharp pain in my shoulder after I ride for a couple of hours. It starts out feeling like someone is stabbing me with an ice pick in the area marked with an X 0n the silhouette below. I just started riding again after 25 years without a bike. I really thought I would work through it after a while, but it just seems to be getting worse.

 

My wife and I were on the bike for 6 hours yesterday and the pain was unbearable. I've tried adjusting the bars up and down and it hasn't helped. After a while it spreads up into my neck and makes it hard to turn my head to my right.

 

I've read posts where others have had a similar problem. I'm curious if anyone has had success in fixing the problem.

 

I'm willing to try about anything.

[got2mnytoys]

I fill your pain there mine last for a couple day s after, was told the other day it could be the weight of my helmets ,but don't know I have tried everything (seat, adjusting backrest and different backrest, moving handlebars even gotten rid of some motorcycles that it was worse on) I ride in Florida without a helmet (only on the strip-guess you would call that walking instead of riding) and don't remember if it hurts then or not. Maybe someone else will chime in with the answer

[SilvrT]

I used to get a similar pain around the same area ... some chiropractic work and a lighter helmet helped me. I also found that if I was riding aggressively or I got cold, I would tense up and that would cause the pain. Poor riding posture and staying that way for an extended time also didn't help. Last summer I rode 2 weeks and 3000 miles... never felt the pain. I change my riding position or stop and stretch fairly regularly. Also helps if your passenger massages the area while travelling

[1BigDog]

Im not sure how it would apply to a RSTD but I had similar pain on my 99 RSV and cured it with Barons risers. They raised the bars up 1 1/2" and allowed me to grip the bars without excessive stretching. You may also want to consider a backrest. It does wonders for your back too.

[az1103]

Sounds like a combination of stretching and tension. I would bet you are leaning forward.

Try this, Sit on the bike in vertical position (not leaning on side-stand) put your hands on the handlebar in what is for you a natural position. Now close your eyes, lift your hands slightly off the bar and think (review) your sitting position; Are you sitting straight up? Is your neck directly above the spine? Is there any stress in the back of your neck? Are your elbows down? That last one is important!

 

Once you are certain all is well and you are comfortable, and without stress, open your eyes and check where your hands are above the bars. I think you will find that the bars need to be closer to you and that what you need is a riser which will bring them about 1 to 2 inches closer.

Good Luck

[eazyduzzit]

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Once you are certain all is well and you are comfortable, and without stress, open your eyes and check where your hands are above the bars. I think you will find that the bars need to be closer to you and that what you need is a riser which will bring them about 1 to 2 inches closer.

Good Luck

 

It's funny you'd say that... I was riding home tonight doing exactly that (except with eyes open) I let go of the bars and I sat up straight with my hands where they are comfortable, and I think you're right. The bars need to come back a couple inches.

 

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Also helps if your passenger massages the area while travelling

 

We've tried this too before it got cold. It worked great, but it's not the same through a leather jacket.

 

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You may also want to consider a backrest. It does wonders for your back too.

 

I already spent $300 on a backrest. I love it, but I still get that shoulder/neck pain. I'm rubbing it right now as I type mith my right finger.

[Marcarl]

Go see a good massage therapist, they should be able to locate the pain area and apply massage to releave an old injury you probably have in that area.

[SaltyDawg]

Flanders and/or 1 1/2 inch risers. Cured it for me.

[autopilot]

Make sure your arms are bent and not rigid....Good stable (non-death-grip) grasp of the bars-yes, but the arms should be somewhat relaxed and flexible (so they operate kind of like a shock absorber). You can be comfortable alert and in positive control without being tense, which is what it sounds like is happening. I tend to do it in heavy traffic. Every so often, while moving (when it's safe), I'll rotate my shoulders and in turn take one hand off the grip and shake my arm out a little bit, to loosen up. If it bothers me too much, I'll stop for a few minutes for some refreshment and flex all the joints, etc.

 

In my case, I'm just putting off getting a shot in the shoulder, but it's gonna be real soon.

 

my 2cents

[juggler]

  Marcarl said:

Go see a good massage therapist, they should be able to locate the pain area and apply massage to releave an old injury you probably have in that area.

 

I thought that's what his wife was supposed to be doing while sitting in the seat behind him?

[Snarley Bill]

i figured that pain was normal,i blame it on old age,and just keep on truckin.

[Jerry W]

I put the Baron's extensions on my RSV and it allowed me to ride all day, I plan to upgrade to the Flanders bars at some poiint.

[padavidj]

The area you are pointing to is what they call your SC joint or sterno-clavicial joint. Have you ever broken your collar bone before? I have the identical bike to yours and have had rt shoulder problems all my life. For me the biggest thing that helped was using a throttle buddy, this way I eased up my grip and less fatigue on the arm and shoulder. One other question I would ask, does the pain only stay on the one side or does it radiate to both?

 

A suggestion that might work also might be a wider set of bars, but the Royal Stars already have a pretty wide set of handle bars as it is!

 

Good Luck,

 

Dave

[eazyduzzit]

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Have you ever broken your collar bone before? I have the identical bike to yours and have had rt shoulder problems all my life. For me the biggest thing that helped was using a throttle buddy, this way I eased up my grip and less fatigue on the arm and shoulder. One other question I would ask, does the pain only stay on the one side or does it radiate to both?

 

I've never broken my collar bone. I did dive for a football and land on this shoulder once and had some shoulder pain for a while, but not in the same part of the shoulder. The pain stays in the right shoulder, and radiates up the right side of my neck.

 

The only time I've had a pain in this same spot was years ago when I was in good shape, I would walk on my hands, and sometimes if I had been doing it for a while I would get this same sharp pain in the same spot. At the time I didn't think anything about it because I was supporting the the weight of my whole body in an unnatural position, and as soon as I'd quit the pain would quit.

[Chinto]

If your shoulder pain occurs only when your riding and not while your doing anything else like watching TV, sleeping, performing overhead activities etc. then most likely it is your riding posture. Also if you can move your position while riding and you can relieve most of your pain temporarily then it is likely to be mechanical irritation from bad posture. I have found that a more erect posture is best for relieving neck and shoulder pains while riding. Aside from handle bar position already talked about here, the next best aid to maintaining good riding posture is a backrest. It keeps you from slumping. This is very important in relieving the stresses of poor posture. The more you slouch the farther you must reach for the handle bar.

 

Also, if none of this stuff helps, see your Doctor asap. Pain is a message, listen to it.

 

Good Luck,

 

Dave

[GeorgeS]

Two or three trips a week to your local friendly Gym, for about 6 months should cure the problem.

[eazyduzzit]

While it was cold I changed to Flanders bars with more pull back. I got a chance to ride for 3 hours today and had no shoulder pain. This is the first time I've ridden over an hour on this bike without that sharp pain.

 

Hopefully it's fixed...

[krome rose]

Glad to hear that!

 

I get that jabbing burn in either shoulder at any time I overwork them, which is almost daily at the store. It is a muscle spasm that just won't release, and eventually winds up involving the neck muscle and finally a whopping headache.

 

One of our member's relatives is a therapist who graciously showed us a technique for releasing that painful knot. I've used it on SaltyDawg a couple of times with good results.

 

I can also get the kind of pain that feels like a knife is going thru my chest,from back to front, and that is a dislocated disc that I see the chiropractor for.

 

Brandy

Edited December 28, 2008 by krome rose
never u mind

[eazyduzzit]

  Quote

One of our member's relatives is a therapist who graciously showed us a technique for releasing that painful knot. I've used it on SaltyDawg a couple of times with good results.

 

You're not going to share it with the rest of us?

[Mobile]

Hi,I have had pain in the same area on 2 occassions, in 1974 riding a 74 BMW R90s with short straight bars, and in 1981 riding a 81 Honda CBX with the same bar type, I was able to lessen the pain by moving my arms and elbows, one of the benifits of adjustibale bars is if you are not comfortable you can change the bar position.

[Guest tessa c2]

I have had that problem for years, and years, and have got to a few bone crunchers and a good massauge lady for years, and they did a pretty good job, but still never seemd to get down to the sore spot, so this past august i was in bad pain, and the lady who i seen was on holidays, and as it turns out one of my co-workers wife is a RTM so guess Brad must have told her how kinked up i was, anyways i phoned for an appointment, first thing she said was hell was going to freeze over, because i had actually phoned her, well the next day went and seen her, and filled out all the paper work and medical stuff, then what i had done all my life that could have set this off, and went back to see her the following week, to start off with, i am not easy on the body, and she thought at some point in my life i had must have had some sevear jarring on the neck and shoulder area, well possable, in the younger days did a lot of bull riding and bareback riding, and there is a layer of mustles UNDER the shoulder blade, THAT WAS NOTTED UP, well the only way in there was through the arm pit. first of i don't like any one digging in my arm pits, well i an sure she was in there up to her elbows, #$%%^^&& there was pain, went aback a couple of weeks later to the same torture, and it is good now, drove all the way down to laport in sept, with out a nitch, but that pain, i could i could work the &**(( out of the shoulder and arms, and it wasn't bad, but working the mouse on the computer or riding bike it was painful, and my fingers would fall asleep, and i have been taliking of getting my corpal tunnel segery done since about 1996, and that is gone also, , so just some food for thought......you might go in there, spend your 50.00 and would have got more out of:buttkick:, pete

[Guest Shep]

  SaltyDawg said:

Flanders and/or 1 1/2 inch risers. Cured it for me.

 

Salty - he can't do the risers on the RSTD because of the way the speedo mounts. But the Flanders work great!

[lonestarmedic]

Along with the bar position, try putting some sort of throttle helper on. You might even try one of the cheaper ones on the left grip. If you rest the heel of your hand on them, you will not work the muscles as hard.

 

JB

[Guest tessa c2]

And what was exactly wrong with Wild Hairs invention:think: