So I am looking for a little help here. I?ve been having some issues with shoulder/neck pain on my right (throttle) side. Been riding on 2 wheels for about a year (well this go-round at least). Started with a little 150 scooter and had some shoulder issues with that. Chalked it up to being too small for me and totally non-adjustable and moved on pretty quickly to a little Suzuki GS450. Don?t remember having any pain with that bike. The bars were more cruiser like so my palms were facing in towards the tank when riding. Finally decided I needed more juice and got my current ST1100 about 3 months ago.
When I first test rode the 1100 I could tell that I was going to want bar risers. I have a bad lower back (including surgery) from about 10 years ago and I knew that I wouldn?t want to be leaning forward that much. Got the bike and after a few rides realized that my shoulder issue was back (bars on the 150 scooter had palms facing down similar to the stock 1100 bars but not as wide set). So I quickly installed 2? bar risers from Twisted Throttle hoping that would help both issues. They helped the leaning issue but shoulders kept hurting. After my first 2 day ride on the bike over the Cascades, to Coulee Dam and back, I found that my right shoulder was super tight with some muscle spasming happening (tricep was particularly sore) and I had a bit of numbness in my index and middle fingers. The spasming, soreness and numbness went away within several days, but my general shoulder tightness continued. Shortly after that I found a set of Heli-Bars, installed them and started tweaking. Also did lots of research on riding technique and specifically upper body posture, etc. Since then I have been trying hard to keep my shoulders and elbows loose (I often flap my elbows just to prove to myself that they are loose). I ?lock-on? with the lower half of my body keeping knees tight to the tank and keeping a bit of downward pressue on the pegs. This all helped handling immensely once I got it down, but was still having shoulder pain.
So I found a set of Heli-bars installed them and got to tweaking. I?ve gone through several iterations (some of them totally whacky looking and feeling) but have yet to find a great position. On a recent trip to Mt Rainier I put the bars in what I felt were the best position I had found yet and rode. When I got home, I could barely move my arm. The spasming, soreness (tricep again and more) and numbness returned. I also get occasional instances where if I stand or sit in a certain position, my right arm starts to tingle and go numb. I can usually fix that by leaning my head towards my left shoulder for a few seconds. That was 2 weeks ago. Since then I have gone in to see my doc, who thinks I have a herniated disc (the area of numbness indicated C5/6 disc). He wants to wait on an MRI as he says that many discs will heal themselves in 6 weeks or so. At first he had me taking handfuls of Ibuprofen. That helped but not enough and yesterday he started me on Medrol (steroids). They help more, and most of the soreness and stiffness are gone, but I still have the numbess in the fingers and the issue with my arm starting to go numb occasionally.
So, first thing is to get myself healthy again (wish this could have happened in May instead of the now as I am probably going to miss much of the summer riding season). I have lots of experience with back issues so I feel that I can handle that.
Second issue is? how do I stop this from happening again. Any advice on ergonomic suggestions, physical conditioning, etc would be much appreciated. I really love everything else about this bike and would hate to have to trade it in on something else.
When I first test rode the 1100 I could tell that I was going to want bar risers. I have a bad lower back (including surgery) from about 10 years ago and I knew that I wouldn?t want to be leaning forward that much. Got the bike and after a few rides realized that my shoulder issue was back (bars on the 150 scooter had palms facing down similar to the stock 1100 bars but not as wide set). So I quickly installed 2? bar risers from Twisted Throttle hoping that would help both issues. They helped the leaning issue but shoulders kept hurting. After my first 2 day ride on the bike over the Cascades, to Coulee Dam and back, I found that my right shoulder was super tight with some muscle spasming happening (tricep was particularly sore) and I had a bit of numbness in my index and middle fingers. The spasming, soreness and numbness went away within several days, but my general shoulder tightness continued. Shortly after that I found a set of Heli-Bars, installed them and started tweaking. Also did lots of research on riding technique and specifically upper body posture, etc. Since then I have been trying hard to keep my shoulders and elbows loose (I often flap my elbows just to prove to myself that they are loose). I ?lock-on? with the lower half of my body keeping knees tight to the tank and keeping a bit of downward pressue on the pegs. This all helped handling immensely once I got it down, but was still having shoulder pain.
So I found a set of Heli-bars installed them and got to tweaking. I?ve gone through several iterations (some of them totally whacky looking and feeling) but have yet to find a great position. On a recent trip to Mt Rainier I put the bars in what I felt were the best position I had found yet and rode. When I got home, I could barely move my arm. The spasming, soreness (tricep again and more) and numbness returned. I also get occasional instances where if I stand or sit in a certain position, my right arm starts to tingle and go numb. I can usually fix that by leaning my head towards my left shoulder for a few seconds. That was 2 weeks ago. Since then I have gone in to see my doc, who thinks I have a herniated disc (the area of numbness indicated C5/6 disc). He wants to wait on an MRI as he says that many discs will heal themselves in 6 weeks or so. At first he had me taking handfuls of Ibuprofen. That helped but not enough and yesterday he started me on Medrol (steroids). They help more, and most of the soreness and stiffness are gone, but I still have the numbess in the fingers and the issue with my arm starting to go numb occasionally.
So, first thing is to get myself healthy again (wish this could have happened in May instead of the now as I am probably going to miss much of the summer riding season). I have lots of experience with back issues so I feel that I can handle that.
Second issue is? how do I stop this from happening again. Any advice on ergonomic suggestions, physical conditioning, etc would be much appreciated. I really love everything else about this bike and would hate to have to trade it in on something else.
