HI all,

Wondering what tends to be the main cause of neck pain from MTB, wondering anyone who has had it and overcome the issue. I’ve recently gone wide bars 710mm and 70mm stem and I think this might the main issue…..

Any advice appreciated!

If you are over 40 it may be the onset of arthritis. In most cases of neck pain a more upright position helps. Wider bars could mean you are in very slightly more head down position

bars too low and wide causing you to loose the natural shape of your back

It could be a number of things from wider bars to not being relaxed while you’re riding. For example, I’ve got C5/C6 vertebra problems in my neck that put pressure on nerves and cause neck and arm pain. It’s particularly bad when I’ve been standing on the pedals through technical stuff a lot, as my head’s tilted back more as I look ahead and I’m tense because I’m a wuss. It used to be a problem until I learned to swim properly and started open water swimming, which developed the muscles around the neck.

The important thing is, everybody’s different and bad advice on neck pain can cause even more problems. So I’d go to a good physio and get checked out, rather than ask on a forum and get a thousand answers.

The wider bars will make you lean forward more and your head will be tilted back to compensate. A lighter helmet (yes really) will make a big difference.

thanks for all the comments, think the rise on the bar might be the 1st change I will make to see if there is any difference!

And you may also find that the peak on your helmet isn’t helping. If you are lent forward on the bike you may be over-extending your neck forward in an effort to see under the peak.

If you use computers at work you may also find that you adopt this over-extended neck position, which then gets aggrevated on the bike.

Not being able to get to the coast to surf as often as I’d like these days, when I’d go I had begun ( since I turned about 45, to suffer badly from neck pain ( paddling but looking up and forward).
I also used to suffer from it when on my bike too.
However, I’ve at last been able to ride more, at least twice a week ( averagely 15 to 20mile sessions) for nearly the last year. I no longer get any pain at all, I’ve surfed a few times in this period too and I’m much more comfy. I’d figured it was an “age thing”, I’m now 51, however, although maybe things are starting to sieze up a bit, regular use of those muscles has certainly helped. I put wider bars on my bike 3 weeks back too and not had a problem.