Bill, My commuter and road bike have drop bars and I ride in a standard, moderately aggressive, racing position, as I've always done. My unscientific take is that this actually decreases vertical shock loading of the spine which is how I think I screwed up my neck (running). Other than minor sensory changes in the hands and feet from spinal cord damage and a few degrees loss of neck extension, I am 100% recovered from that little inconvenience. I have pissed and moaned about my ruptured lumbar disk episode in another thread.

I'm a neurologist with fellowship training in movement disorders, although that's not what I do, and you're the one deserving of the big "good on."