Originally Posted by
cyclezen
you obviously are putting some good thought into your situation, and the 'bar disalignment' is certainly an out of the box idea of merit. how much this can help and the eventual consequences - a more psersonal and longterm assessment by you.
FWIW - I don;t have an arm length disparity, but in '04 I had a fairly serious motorcycle mishap - serious enough to lay me up for almost 6 mos. The good news was, other than some serious bruising, from the hips down I was ok. Bad news was I destroyed my left upper side. 5 ribs, punctured lung, pulverized scapula - suprisingly the shoulder joint made it through in better shape. Anyway, I have chronic pain/discomfort in the upper left back and neck because of structural imbalance.
If I don;t pay attention, those back and neck muscles, because of the constant imbalance, eventuallly will go into spasm.
What helps me...
I try to have massage done at least every 2-3 wks. And I've also learned to do some basic self-massage for the neck and shoulder areas that I can reach. I do strengthening exercises. Since the mishap, I've found Yoga to be HUGE in helping me cope with all the related issues of my skeletal imbalances.
Massage, with direction from you, and some basic instruction, having someone work that area is way better than not having it at all. Frequent professional massage can become expensive. But having someone who care about you to be a regular basic 'therapist' goes a long way to being a good supplement to Pro massage therapy.
If you have a diverse yoga culture in your area, as we do here in Santa Barbara - there could be regular 'practices' of 'therapeutic yoga' - designed to open you up as much as strengthen you.
I was off the bicycle for 7 mos, after the mishap. SO it was like starting over, with a new hand of cards. My left side reach was very much limited, so after about 2 mos. of 'downdog' (Adho Mukha Svanasana), I could actually ride for 30 mins.
Never thought of disaligning the bars - guess I wasn;t creative enough.
But I did move the left brifter up the bars/bend about an inch - which helped a lot. And over the next 6 mos. slowly moved it back downward to the matching position of the right side.
I guess there really is no one solution, just us trying to find things which work for each of our situations.
Keep us posted... we can learn from you
Hi Zen,
Never heard that story before about your motorcycle crash. What happened? I sold my last motorcycle last year. I basically sold it...I love motorcycles...to avoid exactly what you went through...an inevitable crash. Motorcycling like bicycling is about when you will crash not if. The big difference is...with motorcycles...even ATGATT...its the speed that kills or maims. Riding 60 and having a car cut you off is a lot different than riding 20mph. I am glad you lived through it as there is a long list that don't but sorry to hear you suffer from it. I basically made a choice. I love motorcycles but at the end of the day I liking cycling more because it promotes such great overall health and I didn't want to incur an injury on a motorcycle that would keep my off my bicycle.
Let me know how your crash occurred. Btw, the reason I ask is because you are a thoughtful guy. Most that crash motorcycles...I would say 70% of crashes that occur on them are because of operator error aka poor judgement. One can ride a motorcycle to the letter of the law but still not know how to survive on the road as you know. I figured I could compensate for 99% of the idiot cagers on the road but was worried about that 1% that blew an intersection when I was coming through. In that case, vigilant or not, it doesn't matter.
Best Regards.