When I ride long distances I get a very sharp and distracting pain between the upper portion of my left shoulder blade and my neck. So bad that it actually feels like it's been cut open if I pull at the right angle and hurts when I try to massage it. And then it'll hurt off an on for a week after a long ride and feel like something is catching when I move my shoulder the wrong way.

I've used a bike fit calculator to try to get close to my ideal setup and have subsequently raised my bars. This had no effect on the pain.

A friend suggested I work on my core muscles so they can take on more of the load. Something I should be doing, anyway.

Just wanted to see what you folks think or if anyone here has experienced something similar and found a solution.

Thanks.