Injuries/Illness - Recent Threads

The Survivor’s Lane: Radiation, Fear, and the Body of a Masters Swimmer

swimfastatlanta — Wed, 08 Apr 2026 12:37:29 GMT

The Survivor’s Lane: Radiation, Fear, and the Body of a Masters Swimmer

What it means to face radiation at 60 — as an athlete, a survivor, and a woman fighting back through cancer.

By Leann Rossi

I had my first appointment for radiation treatment the other day, and I didn’t expect the wave of emotion that hit me. I’ve always been someone who manages anxiety by talking it out — bouncing it off my spouse, leaning on someone who can share their experience, strength, and hope. But when the radiation tech came to get me from the waiting room, something inside me cracked open. I immediately started to cry.

The fear was overwhelming.

The vulnerability was sharp.

And for a moment, I felt small — smaller than I’ve felt in years.

It’s strange how you can be surrounded by people and still feel alone in a moment like that. The tech did his best to comfort me, but fear has a way of shrinking the world down to a single point. And in that point, I was just a woman facing something I never thought I’d face again.

Because yes — this is my second cancer era.

What Radiation Means for a Masters Swimmer

Radiation is a powerful tool in cancer treatment, but it’s also a stressor on the body — especially a body that has lived, trained, aged, healed, and adapted the way a Masters swimmer’s body has.

While every person’s experience is different, radiation can affect:

- Muscle strength and recovery

- Fatigue levels

- Range of motion

- Energy production

- Soft tissue flexibility

Radiation isn’t designed to harm healthy tissue, but it can still affect the muscles, fascia, and skin around the treatment area. For swimmers — who rely on fluidity, rotation, extension, and power — these changes can feel especially personal.

And for a seasoned athlete, the emotional impact can be just as real as the physical one. We know our bodies intimately. We know how they move, how they respond, how they recover. When something threatens that relationship, it shakes us.

Facing Radiation at 60 Hits Differently

I’ll be 60 in a few months. I never imagined I’d be facing cancer again at this stage of my life. Fifteen years ago, when I had malignant melanoma removed — along with lymph nodes in my groin and under my right arm — I was stronger. More resilient in that almost reckless way you can be in your 40s. I powered through. I didn’t question my body; I trusted it.

Now, things feel different.

Not worse.

Not weaker.

Just… different.

There’s a gravity to facing cancer later in life. A weight. A deeper awareness of what’s at stake. And yet, there’s also a wisdom — a knowing — that I didn’t have the first time around.

The Water Still Holds Me

Through all of this, the water remains my sanctuary.

My USMS Masters team — the camaraderie, the laughter between sets, the shared language of effort — is part of my healing. The water wraps around me like a full‑body hug, a God‑hug, reminding me that I’m held even when everything else feels uncertain.

Swimming is where I remember who I am.

Swimming is where I feel whole.

Swimming is where I feel strong — even when I’m scared.

I can’t imagine what it’s like for those who have been pushed out of our community, or those who have had to navigate life’s hardest challenges alone. The pool has always been my anchor. My compass. My place to breathe.

For the Women Who’ve Walked This Path Silently

As I move through this next phase of treatment, I’m mindful of something important: I’m not alone. I know there are many women in our sport who have gone through breast cancer quietly, without ever sharing their story.

To them, I want to say this:

You don’t have to be silent about your breast cancer journey.

Your story matters.

Your voice matters.

Your presence on the pool deck matters.

There is space for you in this community.

There is space for your fear, your strength, your questions, your healing.

There is space for your hope.

The Lane Ahead

Radiation is just one part of this journey, but it’s a part that has already taught me something: resilience isn’t always loud. Sometimes it’s quiet. Sometimes it’s tear‑streaked. Sometimes it’s lying on a treatment table, breathing through fear. Sometimes it’s showing up to the pool even when you don’t feel like yourself.

I don’t know exactly what the next months will look like. I don’t know how my body will respond or how my training will evolve. But I do know this:

I’m still here.

I’m still swimming.

I’m still learning what it means to be resilient in a body that has lived, endured, and adapted more than I ever gave it credit for.

This is my lane.

This is my journey.

And I’m choosing to swim it out loud and courageous.

About the Author

Leann Rossi is an elite United States Masters Swimming (USMS) athlete, coach, and advocate for inclusive, evidence‑based conversations at the intersection of sport, health, and identity.

toe cramps

Marieke — Tue, 07 Apr 2026 19:02:46 GMT

I had two knee replacements last year and didn't kick hardly at all for four months before that. For years before that, I was a minimalist on kicking because when I put in a hard kicking set my IT band would act up. I also have hammer toe.

The problem is that I get into the workout my toes cramp really hard. Last night they cramped up and I looked at them and there were two toes that were 90 degrees in the second joint. When this has happened, I cannot continue even to the other end of the pool and it will happen again very soon. Coming back from knee replacements, I have done and still do a lot of pulling. Now there seems to be more pressure between the water and the top of the foot than there was before. It almost always happens in the foot with the worse hammer toes on the leg that had an IT band issue before knee replacements. It happens when I get excited and try to make an interval, when I don't pull enough in warm up, and towards the end of workout, but sometimes near the beginning. I want to swim in the ocean again, but what if my toes cramp?

Does anybody have any suggestions? Has anybody else dealt with hammer toes and swimming and severe toe cramps? How does one deal with a swim meet where one cannot use a pull buoy in warm up? Is this something that might get better as I get more used to kicking after knee replacements?

When Hormones, Cancer and Swimming Collide

swimfastatlanta — Thu, 26 Mar 2026 13:19:54 GMT

I’ve learned more about hormones in the past few weeks than I ever expected to in my lifetime. When my biopsy results came back, the explanation was both simple and devastating: my estrogen was feeding the cancer. Suddenly, something I never thought about — a hormone quietly doing its job in the background — became the center of my treatment plan and the reason everything in my life was about to shift.

Part of that plan is hormone suppression. And like any athlete who trains with intention and purpose, my mind immediately went to the same place it always does: How is this going to affect my swimming? I had goals for 2026. I had meets circled on my calendar. I had been building toward something for over a year. Now I’m staring at this new reality and trying to understand what it means for my body, my training, and the future I thought I was stepping into.

Will I be able to train the way I’m used to? Will fatigue take over? Will I need to pivot entirely? These questions don’t come from fear — they come from the discipline of someone who has always planned, prepared, and pushed.

Then came a question I never imagined would be part of a cancer diagnosis: Will the medications I need to survive put me at risk for a doping violation? Tamoxifen — a standard treatment for estrogen‑driven breast cancer — is prohibited in competitive sport unless an athlete secures a Therapeutic Use Exemption. Testosterone therapy, if it ever becomes part of a treatment plan, requires the same. It’s surreal to think that fighting cancer and following the rules of my sport can collide like this, but here I am, navigating both at the same time.

This whole experience has cracked open a world I didn’t know I was living inside of.

I always thought of hormones as something abstract — background chemistry quietly doing its job while I focused on splits, stroke counts, and training cycles. But now I’m seeing how much of sport, medicine, and identity is built on assumptions about hormones that we rarely question out loud.

Take prostate cancer. When men are treated for certain types of prostate cancer, their testosterone is often suppressed. Their estrogen levels rise. Their bodies change. They lose muscle mass, gain fat, feel fatigue, experience hot flashes, mood shifts, and changes in libido. In other words, they go through a hormonally induced transition too — but we don’t talk about it that way. We call it “treatment,” not “transition.” We frame it as survival, not identity.

And yet, physiologically, there are parallels.

If it weren’t for the recent wave of lawsuits and debates over transgender athletes in United States Masters Swimming, I might never have connected these dots: hormones, cancer treatments, performance, and doping regulations are all part of the same ecosystem. The same hormones that are central to gender debates are also central to cancer care. The same medications that save lives can trigger anti‑doping flags. The same bodies we categorize so confidently on paper are, in reality, far more complex.

My mind keeps spinning out questions.

What about women who’ve had complete mastectomies because of breast cancer — how are they seen on the pool deck? As “less female”? As “inspirational survivors”? As something else entirely?

What about women who naturally have higher testosterone levels? They exist. They’ve always existed. How are they perceived when they step onto the blocks? Are they quietly judged as having an “unfair advantage,” even if they’ve never taken a single banned substance? Are they asked to prove their womanhood in ways others never are?

And now I’m in this strange intersection myself: a woman with breast cancer, on hormone‑suppressing treatment, navigating anti‑doping rules, thinking about testosterone and estrogen not as abstract markers of gender, but as levers in my medical chart and variables in my training.

It’s fascinating and absolutely mind‑boggling.

What I keep coming back to is this: we talk about fairness in sport as if it’s simple, as if bodies can be neatly sorted and regulated. But once you start looking at hormones, cancer, surgeries, natural variation, and medical treatments, the picture gets a lot more complicated.

There are men whose testosterone is medically suppressed.

There are women whose breasts have been removed.

There are people whose hormone levels sit outside the “normal” range their whole lives.

And all of them are still showing up, still swimming, still trying to belong in lanes that were never designed with this complexity in mind.

Maybe the real question isn’t just who fits the rules, but who the rules were written for in the first place — and who gets left out of the conversation when we pretend bodies are simple.

I don’t have all the answers. I’m still learning, still adjusting, still figuring out how to train while my hormones are being rewritten by medicine. But I do know this: I’m not alone. There are countless athletes navigating cancer, surgeries, hormone therapies, and bodies that don’t fit neatly into categories.

And maybe if we talked about it more — openly, honestly, without fear — we’d build a sporting world that reflects the real diversity of human bodies, not the simplified version we’ve been taught to believe in.

This is not the season I planned for. But it’s the one I’m in. And I’m trying to hold space for both truths: that I am a person fighting breast cancer, and I am still an athlete with goals, discipline, and a future worth fighting for. My path may change. My training may look different. But I’m still here, still asking the hard questions, still imagining the lane lines and the water and the possibility that I can come back stronger — not because of what I’ve lost, but because of what I’ve learned.

About the Author:

Leann Rossi is an elite United States Masters Swimming (USMS) athlete, coach, and advocate for inclusive, evidence‑based conversations at the intersection of sport, health, and identity.

Swimming through Breast Cancer

swimfastatlanta — Mon, 02 Feb 2026 19:04:25 GMT

I am just a week into my recent diagnosis and looking for swimmer support. I am hoping to have a scheduled surgery in March followed by treatment. Swimming definitely got me through my first diagnosis back in 2010 but this is different and I am older, so bouncing back mentally and physically is going to be some of my biggest challenges. Hopefully our swimming community will have some experience, strenght and hope to share- I am definitely going to need it.

Swimmers Elbow

swimfastatlanta — Mon, 02 Feb 2026 13:21:31 GMT

I have been dealing with an elbow issue for the past 5 months. I regularly ice, use a compression sleeve and use ibuprofen and this seems to work tentatively but then a flair up occurs and I am right back to the same regiment. It almost feels like I have fluid buildup in my forearm. Has anyone else had this ongoing issue? If so , what is your regiment for healing?

Compression Fracture of the L1

02SUY — Sat, 06 Dec 2025 13:53:32 GMT

I sustained a compression fracture of the L1 while doing yoga confirmed by an x-ray and MRI. I didn't go to a doctor for 5 weeks and managed my pain with ibuprofen and rest on my own. On

week 5, I thought it best to get more information on the issue. I already have a diagnosis of osteoporosis and suspected that was likely the cause of the fracture after the tests came back. I

haven't swum in 6 weeks. I'm going to rest for a couple of more weeks before getting back in the pool. I started walking already and the back is fine. I have already started PT. I have a long

history of swimming and find it difficult to be out for so long. I read that compression fractures heal on their own and I can get back in the pool soon. Fortunately, mine was not too serious.

What I don't know is if this means that other vertebrae are compromised and doing a flip turn should be avoided. Does anyone have any thoughts on whether a flip turn is safe or should be

avoided from now on? I appreciate any and all input.

Thanks, Mary

Dry & irritated skin around eyes

0B6TA — Tue, 18 Nov 2025 23:22:56 GMT

Any tips for very dry and irritated skin around the eyes?

Retinal Detachment

01TR3 — Tue, 11 Nov 2025 16:01:08 GMT

I don't see any recent post about this so hoping someone can provide some insight. I have recently had two surgeries for detachment (first one failed at 7 weeks post op). i have an oil bubble this time so i know i won't be back in the water anytime soon. I do compete and work out really hard. Just wondering if anyone else has experienced this and were they able to return to competitive racing, pushing themselves in practice and diving off the blocks? I know many people return to "normal" activities, but wanting to get the perspective of the swimming community.

Thanks

Thoracic Outlet Syndrome, Upper shoulder i.e. Clavicle region of the top of the shoulder.

F0HYA — Wed, 11 Jun 2025 22:45:08 GMT

Hi, first time on this site for an injury. Had an injury two years ago, April 2022, after a swim with our masters club in Wichita. Did a normal swim with some drills with Kick board and afterwards some dry land workouts including working with a Kettle ball, and stretching too. Was doing seated overhead press with a 10lb kettle ball, and had been doing that drill for about a year but not every day and not every workout.

The next day I woke up with a severe pain in the upper shoulder, left side, not rotator cuff, but below and around the clavicle area. Sever pain in that shoulder lifting the arm, swimming was out of the question, doing any pushing down with that shoulder i.e. using arms to stand up or roll out of bed.

Pain continued for like 9 months, went to my Dr, and a specialist and and PT no one seemed to know what it was. Just did lots of stretching with the arms and shoulder, and limited swimming.

Was watching Chicago Med a Month ago and some patient came in with the same issues. Diagnosed as a Thoracic Outlet Syndrome, nailed it same thing that I had or very close to it.

Googled it and it is a repetitive injury causes Swimming, Weights etc...

Anyone else ever had an issue similar to this.

Help a competitive breaststroke swimmer in the UK with knee replacement question

MJ — Mon, 07 Oct 2024 20:20:43 GMT

USMS received the following email from a breaststroke swimmer in the UK - please reply to her email directly if you have any information to share - thank you!

Hi, do you know of any members I could contact via email from my home in the UK who have had a knee replacement with a Conformis artificial joint and who can still swim breaststroke competitively. Many thanks, Cat Whiteaway whiteawaycat@gmail.com

Training Programs with Parkinson's Disease

XSTPD — Sat, 03 Aug 2024 14:03:42 GMT

Hello! I was diagnosed 7 years ago with Early Onset Parkinson's Disease, I am now 55. I was wondering if there is anyone in this community who has been training successfully with a program catered to our specific challenges. For me, I have a constant train/ crash cycle that is not helping me progress with my goals. My goals are to improve my overall health, improve and manage my pesky symptoms. train consistently each week because I enjoy it, and maybe swim in the occasional regional meet. However, I find I have a tendency to push my own sessions too hard, then put myself into a 'crash' mode which can take 2-3 days to recover. And the crashes also keep me from doing my other day to day activities , so that puts me into an even worse cycle mentally, personally, etc. I am super frustrated, but know that swimming is a great exercise option for those of us with PD, my question is: Has anyone figured out the ideal training program that helps you be consistent and improve (health, goals) and not put you in the spin cycle the other direction? Thanks everyone for any help or ideas you can send my way. Pamela

ITBand Issue

F7JRC — Thu, 18 Jul 2024 15:49:13 GMT

Started back swimming after 40 years off. Started having issues with hips and knees. Been told I have ITBand issues. Anyone else had this? Dealt with it?

Competitive Swimming Post Reverse Shoulder Replacement

022BN — Mon, 27 May 2024 16:08:03 GMT

I have been a competitive masters swimmer for 35 years. Due to numerous dislocations, I have developed osteoarthritis in my right shoulder with misalignment of the humerus head and shoulder blade with a bone on bone condition. Due to the misalignment and wear I am not a candidate for standard shoulder replacement as it’s too risky so my only option is reverse shoulder replacement. I was wondering if anyone in the USMS community has had this type of shoulder replacement and been able to continue to compete at a high level? How long was the recovery period? I am I destined to become a recreational swimmer?

Fused ankle

RF6M5 — Thu, 14 Mar 2024 01:32:44 GMT

Anyone swimming with a fused ankle (90 degree angle)? Any tips? Are you using shin fins?

broke shoulder while rehabbing shoulder surgery

01U7T — Sat, 12 Aug 2023 13:18:00 GMT

Out walking, 17 weeks from rotator repair surgery, fell and landed on surgical shoulder, Broke it at the top, did not ruin my suregery, thanks God! What a great surgeon! The pain is intense, I am basically immobile for now, in the sling again, blah blah blah. Anyone else ever have a setback like this? I'm told I can still meet my Aprll 2024 goal of swimming free and back again. Breaststroke a few months before that, Trying not to be too depressed but it sucks. I was back in the pool...using a noodle, kicking and water-walking, it just felt good to be in there. So I'm out again for a few ore weeks and PT will be another long climb.

Broken Femur recovery

Viva O Fear — Thu, 23 Feb 2023 21:41:17 GMT

Anybody recover from a fractured femur and have information on recovery tips? I fractured my left femur in a boating accident fall at the boat ramp. Which involved water, algae and not being focused. 10-23-22 , day later a titanium rod inside inserted into femur, then screwed in both ends to femur, some repair ring around femur at break. I had 3 areas of staples removed good healing. Swimming only 1 time a week, since jan 5th. Only 5 miles so far on flog. Noted improvement after 4 weeks of 1 foot flip push off, I can do 2 foot light push off the wall flip turns now. I swim and don't kick much, use pull bouy and paddles to train faster.12 weeks out. I walk slow, have a cane but use it after parking and walking into pools or stores. Hurts a lot, not sure if that ever goes away?

Thanks for any comments, I wonder how close I would ever come to pre injury times again?

shin splints from swimming?

4NSTW — Thu, 19 Jan 2023 20:38:29 GMT

Has anyone experienced shin splints from swimming? I took up swimming a year ago and trained for competition after 45 years of not training. I started getting severe calf cramps at end of workouts. Dr initially said it was due to taking statins and had me stop them. I reduced the intensity and distance of my workouts but now it feels like shin splints. I also am getting tingling in calf and foot when I sit.

Polymyalgia Rheumatica

Mark Usher — Fri, 30 Dec 2022 19:53:24 GMT

I was diagnosed with Polymyalgia Rheumatica (PMR) about nine months ago. I started on 20mg per day of prednisone and have been on a slow taper to reduce the dosage and hopefully get off of it at some point.

I tried to keep swimming a couple of days per week, but the joint pain and side effects of the prednisone have kept me out of the pool for the past two months. About all the exercise I can manage is walking a mile or so twice a week.

Anyone here had to deal with PMR? What was your experience?

Complicating things, I've now also been diagnosed with carpal tunnel syndrome and osteoarthritis in my right hand. Looking at surgery in late January.

Not a good time right now.

Mark Usher

Spondylolisthesis

03E4X — Sat, 17 Sep 2022 17:55:38 GMT

I have been diagnosed with spondylolisthesis at the L4 and L5. The doctor immediately recommends surgery.

I am doing PT to strengthen my core and got an epidural injection yesterday. Sadly, swimming seems to exacerbate the pain. It doesn't hurt during my swim but I am in pain the next day.

I also have had to drop flip turns. Twisting and arching the back are not good! The doctor who gave me the injection thinks that I can start swimming again once the steroid takes effect (if it does). I am concerned about causing more damage to the vertebrae. I am going through major withdrawals without my swimming.

I wondered if anyone out there has experienced this condition and how they are doing?

My gills are drying out! Diana

Breathing difficulties , Pulmonary Fibrosis

09357 — Thu, 18 Aug 2022 18:30:03 GMT

Long term swimmer, healthy until 1st of this year. Chronic cough and breathing issues , low blood oxygen and wheezing.

Never had COVID or the vaccination. Any others experiencing something similar?

Anyone out there with a shoulder replacement?

02J1U — Sun, 10 Jul 2022 15:03:40 GMT

I have severe arthritis in my shoulder. I have had several injections that work for a while. My doc says that a replacement maybe in order when the injections stop working. I was wondering if there is swimming still an option for me. I have been fairley competitive in the past but over the past couple of years I have had some injuries that have really slowed me down. If I have the replacement what will my training options look like?

Medical ID Bracelets

03GEZ — Thu, 31 Mar 2022 20:14:35 GMT

ISO recommendations for the best Medical ID Bracelet for a 6 days/week swimmer?

Type 2 diabetes

G8TS1 — Thu, 24 Feb 2022 19:06:45 GMT

I have searched the forums and have only found a Type 1 diabetes thread, which doesn't necessarily apply to my condition... I have found that when, during and after, I swim my blood sugar spikes. I normally swim between 2k to 4k yards at a time and am fairly aggressive in maintaining my pace. Yesterday my BS before I started was 92 then afterwards it was 220. All I had to drink was a coffee and a tablespoon of butter. (Blech) I have watched a ton of YouTube videos pertaining to exercise and how the body produces glucose from muscles, liver then body fat. I fear taking insulin before a workout and then my BS crashes... big fear. How do you cope with swimming and Type 2? What do you eat before, during or after swimming? Am I missing something biologically happening to me that I should be aware of? Am I asking the right questions? Today was my worst swimming session ever. I felt like I was drowning. I took 20 units of insulin before swimming thinking that might help. Any thoughts/experiences/sage wisdom will be very much appreciated.

swimming after carpal tunnel surgery

Michael Martin — Tue, 01 Feb 2022 01:53:58 GMT

I'm having Carpal tunnel surgery in a couple of weeks, and I'm wondered if any other swimmers have had this surgery and how long did it take you back to training?

getting back in the pool after a total hip replacement..

01T7H — Mon, 24 Jan 2022 15:56:52 GMT

Broke my right hip with replacement surgery 11/1/21.. I am curious to know what it is like getting back in the water the first time? I see my Ortho Doc this Friday and it is on the top of the list of what i can start doing again. I am back waking 5 miles and lifting light weighs.. Thanks for any information you would like to share.