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Shoulder Impingement

Former Member
Former Member
Looking for some of your experience with shoulder injuries. I am 26 year old male and have swam masters for years, and injured my shoulder about 5 months ago while training vigorously for the 200 IM and 200 free. I developed it from backstroke because i was not rotating body enough and over strained left shoulder. MRI showed impingement and tendonitus, did 8 weeks of PT religiously, but still have issues and cannot swim without residual pain. I definitely cannot compete anymore and haven't swam but a couple times this year. Doctor says he can scope it and clean the bursitus out. I think he's offering arthroscopic decompression. Anyone have any experience with roughing it through shoulder injuries or anyone have any shoulder surgeries? Were they successful?
  • Former Member
    Former Member
    Looking for some of your experience with shoulder injuries. I am 26 year old male and have swam masters for years, and injured my shoulder about 5 months ago while training vigorously for the 200 IM and 200 free. I developed it from backstroke because i was not rotating body enough and over strained left shoulder. MRI showed impingement and tendonitus, did 8 weeks of PT religiously, but still have issues and cannot swim without residual pain. I definitely cannot compete anymore and haven't swam but a couple times this year. Doctor says he can scope it and clean the bursitus out. I think he's offering arthroscopic decompression. Anyone have any experience with roughing it through shoulder injuries or anyone have any shoulder surgeries? Were they successful? I'm not sure that we had the same injury but the procedure that was offered to me was a subacromial decompression. The doc wasn't wild about doing it but said if I was insistent, he would oblige. I wound up sticking with PT and it eventually resolved. This occurred back in 2004 or 2005 so my memory of the specific course of recovery is cloudy, though I seem to recall that I could swim in a limited fashion after 2 to 3 months and it took more than 6 months for me to really be pain-free and not having to baby the shoulder. I will say that my injury seemed to heal more quickly when I stopped taking Ibuprofen, and there is some science behind that.
  • Looking for some of your experience with shoulder injuries. I am 26 year old male and have swam masters for years, and injured my shoulder about 5 months ago while training vigorously for the 200 IM and 200 free. I developed it from backstroke because i was not rotating body enough and over strained left shoulder. MRI showed impingement and tendonitus, did 8 weeks of PT religiously, but still have issues and cannot swim without residual pain. I definitely cannot compete anymore and haven't swam but a couple times this year. Doctor says he can scope it and clean the bursitus out. I think he's offering arthroscopic decompression. Anyone have any experience with roughing it through shoulder injuries or anyone have any shoulder surgeries? Were they successful? in the meantime Iâ€Tmd invest in a snorkel and fins and hit that hands-at-side (H.A.S.) kick hard. Itâ€Tms what I do when I need to give my shoulders a break. You can definitely still train while rehabbing and letting your shoulder(s) rest.
  • ive had it had 2 surgeries had the end of the glanus clipped off (part of 2nd surgery) to help prevent more impingment. honestly it all depends on the level of impingment on what all to do/have done. let me tell you right now jeff, shoulder surgery hellasucks there is no gap (like in your knee...ive had 2 surgeries there too) it all goes through a muscle. when they are done you have 3 holes bigger than what most people talk about in rotator cuff tears if its your primary arm....oh it sucks even more. that said, waking up with no pain is nice. steve
  • Breathe to your non-breathing side. Then transition to alternate breathing. A snorkel is OK in the short term, but it will mess up your body rotation, hence your stroke efficiency. Iâ€Tmve had this more than once. Injections work to calm down the inflammation so you can stay in the pool, but you need the above strategies to take the pressure off of the joint. Good luck!
  • Former Member
    Former Member
    Thanks for everyone's input. It has been improving and I will get back slowly and cautiously not to aggravate. Thank sunruh for leveling with me on the surgery being quite brutal. Ill just stick to my rotator cuff PT drills.
  • Former Member
    Former Member
    I wanted to post an update, Its been 1 year since injury and my shoulder has healed. I no longer have any pain sleeping, working out, stretching etc. I do not swim competitively anymore, and only swim for leisure, as I inflame the issue when trying to keep up with my elite teammates at practice, but I can swim for fun with good form with no issues. I wanted to encourage anyone going through shoulder impingement to hang in there, do the PT exercises, and give it 6months-1year to heal. DO NOT try to swim through the issue because this is what delayed my healing.

  • I was getting shoulder and neck pain. I had been doing 2 miles of breaststroke per week. I am laying off for now and wondering if I should even continue. I am 55.

  • in reply to YDH4P

    Do you do any other stroke? Drills? I am the queen of doing too much of one thing, currently going through labral tear, but I can tell you, and I am 63, long time masters swimmer, that trying to swim relaxed is one goal, also having someone look at your stroke and see if you are doing anything wrong that could be causing your issues. My neck hurts after a lot of backstroke, so I have to constantly remind myself to relax and keep head BACK, not tucked. 

    Pain is a sign to back off, and we don't want to hear it, but it's necessary. Don't give up. I'm not. I have had this tear for ten years!! I go hard, then I hurt, I stop, then back at it when the pain stops. I'm looking into stem cell procedures; I don't want surgery.

    Chiropractic and massages are a good options, too. Hang in there. 

  • in reply to 01U7T

    Original Poster here: I stumbled upon a new therapy that has cured my shoulder impingement. Its simple too! Read Dr. John Kirsch book "Shoulder Pain?" - it's on amazon. All it involves is hanging and over time the shoulder space increases and the join is reformed with more room for tendons to move around. This has totally saved my love of swimming and I will continue to hang. I use weightlifting wrist straps to help me hang for longer. I do about 5 minutes a day and after 1 or 2 months I noticed big improvement in the water. Try it out! helps neck and back pain also. 

  • in reply to Former Member

    Tell me more about stopping the use of ibroprofen. Did you switch to acetaminophen or tumeric? Or nothing?

    Andy