gyozadude

Depends on age, weight, occupation, etc. Lots of factors, including being chesty. But if doing mild impact while upright is causing you to have pain in the upper back but stretching it out or being in a prone position relieves that pain (or aggravates it when returning back to upright) then a couple of things that might help.

1. Go see your ortho doctor or chiropractor and determine if this is spine/joint related or muscle related. It could be a combination of things. For example, if you don't work lower abs and do sit-ups, the core is weak so you tense up more upper body to balance (especially for big folks who have barrel chests, big heads, etc.).

2. If it's joint related and you're just getting old like the rest of us, one doctor I've ridden with, she goes 20 miles and then curses herself for not bringing ibuprofen (awesome for joints). She pops 2 tabs and she's about 130 lbs. She does this to -prevent- excessive joint swelling. (I usually carry a first aid kit with aspirin, acetaminophen, and ibuprofen - and for caffeine addicts getting that caffeine headache, I'm thinking of adding some naproxyn sodium with acetaminophen for super caffeine migranes on rides - so I'm her pharmacy on these rides). If it's muscle related, you need to build up those muscles and not only by hunching over during cycling. Other exercises and good diet with electrolytes will build it up over time.

Other than that, you might think about your job and how your ergonomics are at the office. Mine are terrible. I sit at a desk all day and deal with lines of code.