Need help! Back is not happy!

Hi everyone, looking for some help here. The problem is the pain between my shoulder blades.
I bought my '90 ST1100 last fall after realizing the shadow 750 was never going to make me happy as my butt always hurt and my upper back would get sore. Was hoping the St would solve this.
my ST has 2" risers, and a Corbin seat. My butt is okay, lower back is fine but after a couple hours I get sore between the shoulder blades. So much so that I am considering selling the bike and call it quits, which would suck as my wife really seems to enjoy riding the ST. Anyone experience this? What did you do to remedy? Maybe Helibars? Hate to spend that much and it not help.
even went so far as to check out some larger cruisers today, but me thinks that won't change much.
Thoughts?

I have a similar problem with my 1300. After doing a little research I think the generation 3 heli bars might help. They have a few degree rotation forward on the bar ends which is supported to be a more neutral position and help relieve some of the strain on your wrists & neck. I don't know if the 1100' s are the same as the 1300's. I am sure that others will chime in. Good luck!

Just curious, how is your riding posture? Are you tending to shrug your shoulders when riding and maybe not aware of it? Relaxed grip on bars? I can remember having that same pain on my 1300 but it has subsided some 60 000 kms ago....

Oh yeah forgot to mention I have the Heli Gen III risers and Russell day long saddle, that combination has tranformed the bike from 250 km days to easy 800 km days if I want.

I had the same problem when I first got my bike but it?s mostly gone now. It seemed to start when I would tense up. The secret I found was to think about not being tense from the very beginning of the ride. Sometimes I would tense those muscles without realizing it then the pain would come. Once it starts it?s hard to get rid of. So now I ?think? about keeping those muscles loose from the beginning. I also move my shoulders and head a little on long trips. I sort of roll my shoulders up, back then down. It?s like trying to touch the road with your shoulder blades. It?s a little like not having a death grip on the handle bars. Once I learned to not squeeze the grips (especially the throttle hand) so hard I can ride all day with very little fatigue in my hands. It?s hard to explain and this may not be your problem but it worked for me so I thought I would share the idea.

Have you got the stock bars? This weekend I'll give some thought to my riding position and make some conscious notes.

xxsierraxx said:

Have you got the stock bars? This weekend I'll give some thought to my riding position and make some conscious notes.

Click to expand...

I have the stock bars. I've given some thought to changing them but for the most part the riding position suits me well. I would like to sit on an 1100 with a slightly raised bar to what it feels like.

In the first 2 months of having my ST1100, I went on a 1600 mile ride and I travelled 550 miles in Day 1 - I had a lot of shoulder pain the way you describe it. I 'realized' it was my posture causing it.

Also, I had a death grip on the handlebars . After reading comments & advice on the forum, I consciously began to relax my riding posture every 25/30 minutes during long rides (I like to think of how a MMA fighter just prances around on the balls of the feet, with shoulders limp and dangling)

I've found a lot of success in dealing with the shoulder aches now. I'm not sure if some of it has to do with the body adapting/upgrading to a riding posture, especially since I hadnt ridden for nearly 18 months.

Regards,
Vishnu

I also would suffer from shoulder and upper back pain, I agree with the others in relaxing that grip and getting a better posture. My chiropractor gave me a set of exercises which I do religiously to help strengthen and correct my posture. No more pain.

I recommend that you follow the advice posted + try swapping bikes with some others to see how seat, bars and position suit. It's unlikely that someone, even of the same height while seated on the bike, will have the same ergonomics. My Heli Bars which allowed positioning my hands and arms into an ideal arrangement for me. It took some experimentation combined with some of the introspection recommended. Your info doesn't indicate where you are but your location may allow someone close by to offer a trial of their bike.

Try supporting your weight with your core and knees not your arms. Hopefully the bikes ergos and your size allows this. Every once in a while force your shoulders down, did they move you caught yourself with bad posture get in the habit of being relaxed with a light grip. When you get the pain you tend to tense up and make it worse. Try taking a brake, rotate your shoulders around swivels or whatever they call it with your head/neck and try to loosen up. Some judicious massaging from the pillion couldn't hurt

After my accident in 2008, I was having a lot of pain like that. I used a back brace around my back and chest which helped.



Looked funny, but helped a lot!

I also found to do 45 degree pushups (off a cabinet or something) helped.

A Lot of great comments. I am going to do some exercise to strengthen the area. As well I am going to put stock risers on as I got them with the bike which came with the 2" ones on now. Just to see how it feels to start with and go from there. I am also going to get foam covers for my grips which I never liked as they feel too small to me. I am used to foam grips that I had on cruiser. I am 6' tall and 190lbs if that means anything. For sure I'll think about posture this weekend. One thing I should note is that for 24 years I owned a carpet cleaning business which I sold in April of this year. So my upper body did get a lot of abuse which is why I sold. Maybe I just need to give it some time to get stronger before I quit. Thanks for all the input, I'll let you know how it goes.

pain between the shoulders can also be the angle of the grips. Even with the same height & pull-back if the grips are at say more of a 8/4 o'clock angle from the head stock vs a 9/3 the extra twist can made a difference, particularly if you are large framed to begin with.
I am not familiar with the 1100's bars but if they are tube, I'd try a more open bend. On other bikes I've owned it's helped to make that go away. In fact the MCL risers I but on the 1300 when I bought it not only raised & shifted back the bar but also rotated the grips out a bit to open them up which made quite a difference as I recall.

FWIW, I carried a sample tray weighing 15- 20 pounds for most of the last 10 years before retiring. It (circumstantial but blame that) caused a chronic lower forearm pain in the muscles tasked with closing my fingers. At times the pain was so severe that I could't have ridden without electronic cruise. Visiting a friend who offered me a Robax Platinum and "gone". It has only reoccurred a few times and always gone again with the Robax. Likely useless anecdote but just in case it relates to your circumstances.