Shoulder pain after cycling is mainly suspected among ambitious mountain bikers who must absorb hundreds of hard blows from the handlebars with pure arm strength and the upper body during downhill riding. Riders of trekking bikes with their more upright seating position are not usually considered here. Wrongly so. Whether you feel shoulder problems during or after cycling is less about the type of bike and more about the seating position, the corresponding pressure on arms and hands, the length and type of routes covered, the training condition of the muscles in the shoulder area, and finally, the clothing. It is essential to distinguish which symptoms originate from everyday life and only appear when cycling and which pains originate from cycling. Complaints that are purely due to cycling can mostly be eliminated.

A healthy shoulder should withstand several hours on the bike without complaints and overload – if the bike is optimally adjusted to the person! And this means much more than just the saddle height. The shoulder joint is often equated with the ball joint in the hip, but despite its mobility in every direction, it is significantly different in structure. The head of the shoulder joint is not surrounded by a socket but is pulled against an undersized, slightly curved surface. It looks somewhat like a basketball rotating on a saucer.

This design allows maximum freedom of movement to the upper body in all directions, including rotation in the joint. However, this construct is also quite fragile, as some strong ligaments and the surrounding muscles or tendons only hold the joint head on the sliding surface. Depending on their training condition, a shoulder can quickly become unstable. The less muscle mass and muscle tension secure the joint, the more susceptible it is to pain and injuries. Women, with generally less muscle mass, need to pay even more attention to their training condition. At the same time, these muscles around the joint are very different and intense, and depending on the arm position, very thin muscle bundles must exert high force. This partial overload is the reason for many shoulder problems.

In most cases, the upper arm head is pressed against the shoulder roof without sufficient holding forces, pinching tendons, the bursa, and even muscles and nerves. This narrowing is quite well known as impingement syndrome. Raising the arm from the horizontal becomes very painful at the latest. Stretching and strengthening exercises create more space here again. Jumping rope with weighted handles has proven itself here, among other things.

Especially for longer or rougher days in the bike saddle, it is logical to use the strong and enduring parts of the shoulder muscles. This happens almost automatically in an ergonomically well-adjusted seating position, so you don't have to constantly pay attention to your posture or the position of the joints. The body posture does not change significantly on a poorly adjusted bike, possibly even in the wrong frame size and with an incorrect handlebar setup and non-ergonomic saddle height. Still, arms, legs, wrists, knees, and pelvis no longer work at optimal, efficient angles. An example to illustrate this would be the classic rounded back with too small a distance to the handlebars. It is hardly noticeable visually but causes immense neck pain over time.

The same applies to the shoulder. If the arms form a right angle to the upper body and the hands grip the handlebars slightly wider than shoulder-width, the triceps muscle on the back of the upper arm, the latissimus dorsi from the shoulder along the side of the ribcage, and the large pectoral muscle (musculus pectoralis major) bear most of the load. This is the optimal position as the largest and strongest muscle involved in movements in the shoulder joint. This also applies to absorbing blows from the front wheel. The pectoralis can unfold its full effect when the elbows point outwards. You should rotate the arms outwards by 80 or 90 degrees to optimally use the shoulder whenever great holding force is required.

EXPERIMENT: To experience for yourself how the efficiency of joint angles decreases, Go into the push-up position alternatively also, with the knees/kneecaps instead of the feet on the floor, place the hands slightly wider than shoulder-width apart, the stretched arms form a 90-degree angle to the torso when viewed from the side. Now, carefully push the body slowly forward over the hands, and the stabilization in the shoulder becomes noticeably harder. The effect is similar when shifted towards the feet. Also, turning the elbows towards the feet and 90 degrees to the side will make you feel the difference immediately.

The seating position and posture sound similar but mean something different. The former has to do with the bike's settings, while you can influence your posture while riding with this setup. The number one posture mistake on the bike is locked elbows (article on elbow pain). The arms serve the body as additional shock absorbers while cycling. But the force goes straight to the shoulders if the forearm and upper arm are perpendicular. As mentioned, only muscle strands and ligaments have to absorb this shock unfiltered.

The shoulder ligaments do not run parallel from the arm to the shoulder blade and shoulder blade height, where the small socket is located. The shoulder ligaments are wound around the joint as a so-called rotator cuff. The higher you raise the arm, the less diagonal and thus stable the cuff runs. Athletes on a racing bike and triathletes, who sometimes have very stretched positions on the aero bars, should avoid hard blows from the front wheel even more.

This is true. Especially on routes with climbs and descents, phases of sweating and drafts alternate. Notably, the shoulders exposed to the wind cool down very quickly. Moreover, it is an involuntary reaction of the body to raise the shoulders when freezing. This is done, among other things, by the part of the large trapezius muscle that runs visibly downwards from the neck. Cooled down by the wind and overstrained to the point of cramping from continuous lifting, this muscle generally hurts first. Countermeasures are quickly drying cycling clothing made of synthetic fibers and, if necessary, putting on a windbreaker on every descent. If this is not possible or not enough, you can consciously force yourself not to cramp up because of the cold on the descent. You also do this when completely different body parts freeze that do not affect the shoulders themselves.

TIP: Jackets that are too tight and poorly fitting, as well as heavy backpacks, can also trigger the involuntary continuous raising of the shoulders.

The shoulder is quite an extensive area. It consists not only of the joint that moves the upper arm but also of the shoulder blade, its purely muscular connection to the torso, and the muscle strands that radiate to the middle of the back, laterally along the ribs, and into the cervical spine. Therefore, the possible causes of pain in the entire shoulder area are very diverse. To avoid being too extensive, here are the less likely reasons or tips in brief form: