Shoulder injuries

RE: Shoulder injuries

Former Member — Thu, 01 Sep 2011 07:26:55 GMT

I think if you are having pain,back off alittle. You need to work with an MD who can send you to PT for an eval. I think we spend our lives keep our shoulders healthy. Pain is a warning. I find when I have pain and keep swimming my technique falls apart and I am risk to causing more damage to my shoulder. Stop with pain! Work with a coach,athletic trainer. Goodluck

RE: Shoulder injuries

__steve__ — Tue, 30 Aug 2011 12:45:23 GMT

Try a search including shoulder, bicep, injury, etc and see what pops up. But from non-medical anecdotical evidence, various activities either remedied, prevented, or eased swimming related shoulder pain for me. Those things are (with no significance to order): 1) FORM 2) Weight lifting 3) Incorporate a stretching program 4) Warm up prior to performing anything vigorous And the things that made it worst were: 1) bad form 2) certain weight lifting exercises 3) certain stretching movements, approaches, or when (i.e., morning:eek:) 4) Swimming too much in volume in one set :nono:

RE: Shoulder injuries

Former Member — Tue, 30 Aug 2011 07:53:12 GMT

...I watched the link that GMM posted. I do not like how she does the exercise, at least for rotator cuff. This is off topic for Heart's original post, except that it is shoulder injury related.... I agree. Just to say that I posted it "as example". This kind of drills are very good during the normal training, not during the "pain" because is too late for it. Is necessary wait until the pain is over and then re-start with a new training protocol, with these extra drills

RE: Shoulder injuries

Former Member — Mon, 29 Aug 2011 10:48:28 GMT

Hi Heart, that's a real bummer on the bicep tendon. Get it checked out by another - second opinions are good. I have chronic rotator cuff impingement in my right shoulder. Repetitive motion injury > from the computer! #1=carpal tunnel; #2=mouse elbow; #3=rotator cuff impingement. #3 is a real bummer for a swimmer! I keep thera-band in my office, at home and always travel with one. Now, I can say that I'm not as diligent as I could be. I tend to be more diligent when my shoulder isn't bothering me and then rededicate myself when it hurts! :D Orca, it does help. I have switched from mousing on my right to being a lefty at the computer. I have adjusted my stroke. I was over reaching on free entry. I try to be very aware of my entry position. If my shoulder bugs me, I first think about what I did at work the day before or what I'm screwing up with my stroke! The long winded dissertation is me trying to verbally describe my exercises that are different from the you-tube vid! :blah: I watched the link that GMM posted. I do not like how she does the exercise, at least for rotator cuff. This is off topic for Heart's original post, except that it is shoulder injury related. I think the range of motion that she shows is way too large! She also does not isolate the motion to the arm rotation but is rotating her whole body at the extremes. Also, as a function of over rotating the exercise, she is lifting her elbow away from the body. I was trained by a physical therapist to use a much smaller range of travel. I probably only rotate 30 degrees on either side of perpendicular to my body. That is, I set myself up with the thera-band with my elbow at my side and my fore-arm pointing straight ahead. I adjust my body so that the band is also perpendicular to my body in this position. I was also taught that it was better and more secure for the elbow and the isolation of the muscle groups to have a small cushion between the elbow and the ribs. At home I use a tiny pillow, at work I use one of those little packaging air bags as my cushion. Looking at the links, my range is a little different than all, but these are way closer to what I do than what CarolAnn demonstrates! I only do 12 to 15 reps and then switch exercises. I do a full set 3 times. If I can do too many reps w/o feeling any burn, then I either tighten the band by stretching it more or go to the next color. I think the 20 reps the video says is way too many - I want to build strength, not bulk up! When I do the exercises correctly, there is no pain in my shoulder. Though, and especially when doing the external - I can feel the burn in that little muscle underneath my shoulder blade that I'm working on! I also did the internal rotation, what CarloAnn starts with in her video, but I've recently been told this is of little value since my front side is so developed. Other exercises are shoulder flexor and extensor (punching.) I do still do this and the range of motion is also rather small. I've recently added two more. The one is arm straight, about 15* forward of being parallel to my body, little finger up - holding a 2# weight. Lift the arm up, but do not go through the shoulder plane - in other words lift from about the hip, but only upwards until either the arm is parallel to the ground or you find any discomfort. The second is nearly the same, but the arm is straight ahead, perpendicular to my body, weight is held thumb up. lift only to parallel to the ground. Way too wordy....:blah:.....how many did I .... :bed:! www.webmd.com/.../external-rotator-strengthening-exercise www.webmd.com/.../internal-rotator-strengthening-exercise www.webmd.com/.../shoulder-flex-and-extension-exercise Cheers, PT

RE: Shoulder injuries

Former Member — Mon, 29 Aug 2011 06:55:52 GMT

...My chiropractor says it's a displacement of my bicep tendon, complete with inflammation. .... Hi, unfortunatly this problem is very important. U have to reset immediatly your training and do more fitness drills to "compensate" ur muscles front/back. U can start immediatly looking this video Strengthening Exercises : How to Strengthen an Injured Rotator Cuff - YouTube or search "rotator cuff prevention" on You Tube. Is not easy and u have to wait, but, this is the only right way to success. ciao

RE: Shoulder injuries

orca1946 — Mon, 29 Aug 2011 03:20:21 GMT

Does any of the above help? Tell us what you are doing now !

RE: Shoulder injuries

Former Member — Sat, 27 Aug 2011 08:29:50 GMT

I would suggest having someone check out your technique, because that is what caused all of my shoulder problems. Make sure that you are stretching before and after, doing a full warm-up and cool-down. As for anti-inflammatories, I would highly recommend Aleve for any shoulder pain. I tried Tylenol and Advil for years and nothing worked nearly as well as aleve.

RE: Shoulder injuries

Former Member — Sat, 20 Aug 2011 13:58:25 GMT

Have you thought about working with a swim coach to make sure your technique is sound. Also be careful using hand paddles. Goodluck

RE: Shoulder injuries

Michael Heather — Sat, 20 Aug 2011 01:46:14 GMT

Have your stroke examined by a sports med doctor or a good PT. Most shoulder problems result from uncorrected stroke (mostly recovery) issues.

RE: Shoulder injuries

Former Member — Wed, 17 Aug 2011 09:16:12 GMT

I am the voice of chronic shoulder issues. I have had multi shoulder scopes for injuries,recovering from a bicept tendon transplant now. So always make sure you have good technique,keep flexible and keep rotator cuff strong. One thing that has helped me is acupuncture,helped with the pain and discomfort so I could swim. My ortho suggested it and has been very helpful. Goodluck .

RE: Shoulder injuries

orca1946 — Wed, 17 Aug 2011 06:15:23 GMT

Have you gone to a doc? You might back out of the 1 1/2 miler this week end !

RE: Shoulder injuries

aquajock — Tue, 09 Aug 2011 05:09:56 GMT

Oh, one more suggestion... Always cool down after you race. I did an open water race once, didn't cool down afterward and couldn't even raise my arms over my head an hour later, my lats were so tight. So I had to get back in the lake and cool down before I could drive home...

RE: Shoulder injuries

aquajock — Tue, 09 Aug 2011 05:07:38 GMT

Hi, Everyone, I did a three-mile race yesterday and felt fine for several hours afterwards. Then, I woke up from a nap feeling intense pain in my shoulder. My chiropractor says it's a displacement of my bicep tendon, complete with inflammation. Has anyone had any experience with this? It hurts like crazy and I very much hope it'll disappear before my mile-and-a-half swim this Sunday. I actually tore my infraspinitus once and since then occasionally have shoulder discomfort. I don't know what's going on with you exactly, but anytime I have inflammation somewhere, I ice it 3 or 4 times a day and take an anti-inflammatory. Sometimes if something is out of alignment or I have a muscle spasm, I will roll or stretch the muscles until the affected area settles down. I have piriformis/IT band/gluteal tightness almost daily as a breaststroker, so it has become a routine to roll and stretch out those areas after swimming and then again before bed. I'm rambling on, but perhaps something here is relevant. :)