Returning from shoulder injury

i don't recommend BR only workouts as pretty soon you will have knee pain as well. I have done BR and BR pull/Dolphin kick with fins only workouts. I have done dog paddle only workouts. after my rotator cuff surgery in May I did kick only workouts for 2 months and am still not doing full strength pulls with my left arm. Keep swimming whatever you can that doesn't hurt.

Sorry to hear about your shoulder. I, too, have had shoulder injuries. Here's what's worked for me: 1. Ice 2. Voltaren gel - prescription in states, but can get it OTC in Canada and elsewhere 3. one arm stroke -free, back, fly 4. snorkel - try this, it may be okay 5. LOTS of kicking, especially with snorkel, arms at side 6. Sleeping position - you may be sleeping on your shoulder which may aggravate it, I had to train myself to not sleep on the bad side Good luck! Karen

time for you to get a set of bands and learn the in/out/saw modalities buy it in 10ft lengths on amazon for cheapest prices get yellow,green, blue and maybe black. loop it through a closed door pull (ie a loop that had a knob on the end to not pull through) and do 3x15 and work your way up the color list...then 2 bands at a time in color combos. heat/ice or estim/ice sounds very much like infraspurnatus/terres minor issue gotta be nice to those little muscles and tendons or they will tell you about it

Age is really important in terms of planning recovery. An overuse injury when you're 30 something that might take 6 months o heal. A very similar injury when you are 50 might take two years and when you're 60+, there is a real question as to ever recovering. I'm 65. In my 50's, I did a 2.25 mile open water "race" yearly. I did personal best times when I was 57. then 58, then 59. I posted here a lot then. The water was in no danger of catching fire from my 40 minute miles, though. When I was 59, I kept my workouts going in the fall after my race was over, but then pulled back when I started having mild right shoulder pain. When I started again in the spring, I got my doctor to refer me to PT, more-or-less prophylacticly. Three weeks before my race, with considerable assistance from the Big-Medicine-Sports-Medicine-Center that wasn't paying much attention to me in their assembly line process, my right shoulder blew out. Surgery was recommended by one surgeon, but discouraged by the 2nd opinion and my PC doc who I trust. I used to work in a Big-Medicine-Orthopedic-OR,and I have significant issues with surgeons, so no cutting for me. The next year a bicycle fall injured my left shoulder. (Details available, but reading could cause eyeglass damage and facial contusions from excessive face-palming, so I'll just leave it as "jackass."). Again, surgery possible, but not highly recommended. In 2016, I tried to build back up to my end-of-July 2.25 mi. I was successful at a 1.2 mile race at the beginning of june(if you call 70 minutes "successful"), but had some R shoulder pain working out at maybe 1200 yards 3X a week later in June, so I dropped out. I occasionally consult a triathlon swimming coach, who is an ER doc. She uses the Total Immersion method and one consult a year or so was very helpful in my 50's to get my personal bests. She recommended ("FINALLY! AFTER ALL THAT MEANDERING BLITHERING MAYBE HE'LL GET TO SOMETHING USEFUL...") She recommended that I practice my form, try to kick hard, but with my arms, DO NOT PUSH. At all. Like, put my hands where they should be and let the water move them along, then get the arm back in front of me, mindfully, with good form, but slowly. It turns out this is not easy. But it seems to be working with no shoulder issues. Oddly enough, my general fitness is really, REALLY helped by even short slow workouts. When I was ramping up for the race when I turned 60, I was kicking over 1500 yards a week. Had I persisted ust with that, I could have kept in shape, I think. I couldn't motivate myself to go to the pool to kick, though. So in July, I started doing 300 yards 3 X per week. If I keep increasing the workouts, like 100 yards every two weeks, I'll be able to do the 2.25 next July. I'm at 900 yards per workout now, so issues. " I am SO slow continents drift past me when I do my laps. Since I was in my late 20's, I try to do a mile in minutes in under my age in years. I was 29 when I first did that and- for me at least- a sub-29 minute mile was an accomplishment. My milestones include trying to do a sub-65 minute mile before the end of the year. If I can do that I have a chance,-just a chance- at completing the 2.25 next July. ("Team DFL strikes again!"). I calculated a projection of my current time and it's something like an 88 minute mile. I expect to start working on "speed" (i.e. movement in a vaguely forward direction) in early November. If this doesn't work, I might have to become (JFC!) a noodler. (sorry Elaine).

^^^ Funniest post in a long time! I’m not laughing at your injury, of course , but your wonderful, dry tone.

^^^ Funniest post in a long time! I’m not laughing at your injury, of course , but your wonderful, dry tone. :lmao:Agreed! Mick, you cracked me up! Good luck with your shoulder and goal of beating out the continental drift next July. Whatever you do, don't go over to the dark side. :afraid:

I personally tend to have shoulder twinges after open water swimming especially if the water is chaotic. It turns my stroke chaotic!!! I end up with a tight stroke and too fast cadence. I agree with the above mentioned bands for dry land work and the advice for the *** stroke. I would add advice first to calm down. I know you want to get the most out of your workout but for the sake of your stroke - relax! Use fins to help you relax while staying on pace. Second shorten your stroke so that you pull your hand out of the water sooner which protects you from over rotating. Have someone check other parts of your stroke for over rotation.

Totally agree Mick as I too am 65 and i too am 8 years post damaging my shoulder. Very frustrating and with many false dawns of recovery during that time. I was determined not to have surgery. Dont really know why, except i know of lots of folk that have had some with varying degrees of success. My current plan consists of : - having alternative sports activities - i took up golf at age 60 / helped form a walking group / started online rowing - alternative sports use different muscles/ i meet new people/ helps put injuries in perspective and cheers me up a lot. - swimming in very different ways other than my main stroke freestyle - many as suggested above - surprisingly I currently do much more fly than i used to. Actually its flop more than fly, but two arms help each other when synchronised AND more importantly the shoulder rotation action is slightly different from freestyle, allowing sore tendons to rest and recuperate. - take advantage of good days or weeks - i had a good spell during October and used my Nationals entries and got 2 golds & 2 silvers with unexpectedly steady times. I never know when the pain will return so i still enter all the usual meets in the hope i will be okay on the day. Hmmm... actually 1 in 4 meets is all i manage most times now - keeping my metres and miles totals going. No matter how slowly i train, i know that time in the water is good good good. If pain receeds, as it does from time to time, i know i have basic fitness to get a shift on, as we say here in the uk :) BTW my handicap is down to 19 - yeah! T

....If this doesn't work, I might have to become  a noodler... Hello, I'm ba-ack. The yearly race is July 27. I think I might be kind of ready. (Now doesn't THAT fill you with confidence?) I'm up to 3500+ yard slow workouts and 2500 yards "at pace" in other workouts - pace is about 57 minute miles. I workout in a university pool, so that at that speedI have splashy undergrads who don't know how to swim passing me regularly. When I'm doing backstroke it can harsh my buzz. 'm going from my home in Pittsburgh 700 miles to the lovely upper peninsula of Michigan to swim 4000 yards across this lake. I have a good solid intention of looking at the water and if there biggish and wind/surface current in my face, TO DROP OUT and drive back without doing the swim. I mean, I'd still take the T-shirt. I've seen it like that (and it was cold that year too. That was the year I didn't train much.), but it is usually warm, calm and beautiful. The first time I did this race I was really worried about waves and temperature, but it turned out the water was warmer and smoother than that in the Pitt pool. BUT it is a worry because I doubt that I will actually have the discipline to drop out if I'm there in my suit, unless there is ice floating on the lake and surfers coming onto the beach. "Sure I can do it! It's just a flesh wound." My shoulders acted up in June when I first started getting past 7000 yards a week, but then circumstances beyond my control prevented me from getting a good workout in for about 10 days - motel pools with 10 AM opening, but 11 am checkout time, rushed dashes to lakes in the midst of travelling. The last day at the university before travelling, I was going to do a distance - "Longer than I've done in years!" -and they closed the pool and hour early, with no notice, Anyhow the break seemed to revive my shoulders. And I built up again; My shoulders kinda hurt a bit now at 8000 to 10000 a week, but I'll start tapering soon. And, y'know, 90 degree weather makes ice on the shoulders tolerable. I'm doing this odd balance - I fell like a little more and I'll blow the shoulder again. A little less and I might sink in the middle of the lake during the race. "Oh, dear. Whatever happened to #74? Did he come in and we missed him?" Luckily, they tend to have as many kayakers as racers. (I love those Yoopers!) And some of the kayakers might be sober, even. Thanks for the support in this thread. Wish me luck.

I finished the race. The waves and wind were high enough that they changed direction of the race so they would be in our favor. I'm SO glad they did. Even with the wind and waves in my favor, I was getting leg cramps with about 600 or 700 yards to finish. I had my own kayaker. He was wonderful and patient I think the cramps were because I did more than half the race by *** stroke but did exactly zero frog kick workouts. And when I did freestyle, I did a 6-count kick to save my shoulders. Neither shoulder seemed problematic at the end of the race, but my right shoulder has since been whining to me about what I put it through. Partly because I went swimming in the wonderful Michigan lakes in the days following the race, when I should have limited my shoulder activity to lifting beers and icing.