Hi All - I'm a late onset adult swimmer, meaning I hadn't been in a pool for decades but a few years ago got turned on to open water swimming. For the past couple of years, I was swimming 2 miles/day freestyle about 3 or 4 days/week, with a few open water lake/river/ocean swims in the summer. Not that I go particularly fast (those 2 miles take me just shy of an hour) but it felt so good! And it's the only sport I figured was sustainable and not overly demanding on my bum knees...
But now my 50 yr old shoulder evidently has decided that may not be such a good idea, and I've got a massive rotator cuff tear (as documented by an unequivocal MRI) and have been advised to have surgery.
Does anyone have thoughts on this? Anything I should do before or after surgery to skew the odds to get back into swimming and avoid re-injury?
Does anyone know a good rehab in Westchester County or NYC with someone who knows about swimming? I'd prefer to rehab smart and targeted, rather than otherwise... And I really need to get back in the water... I'm getting fat and sad! All suggestions very very welcome!
Parents
Former Member
Whatever you do--don't rush getting back into the water and actually swimming.
While I haven't managed to tear the rotator cuff bad enough for surgery (I have a small tear but the surgeon doesn't want to operate) I'm a veteran of 6 shoulder surgeries. Most times you won't feel like rushing to get back into the water as the therapy will show you how little movement you have. On at least 1 surgery--I rushed back to swimming with the result of having to have a surgery about 12 months later for scar tissue (that we thought might be a tear per the MRI).
Depending on your surgeon--you may do some therapy before surgery and see if that helps but most surgeons do the surgery and then you're faced with months of recovery. I had one surgery in April, was able to be on the kickboard in late June and finally allowed some very light swimming in August.
good luck!
Whatever you do--don't rush getting back into the water and actually swimming.
While I haven't managed to tear the rotator cuff bad enough for surgery (I have a small tear but the surgeon doesn't want to operate) I'm a veteran of 6 shoulder surgeries. Most times you won't feel like rushing to get back into the water as the therapy will show you how little movement you have. On at least 1 surgery--I rushed back to swimming with the result of having to have a surgery about 12 months later for scar tissue (that we thought might be a tear per the MRI).
Depending on your surgeon--you may do some therapy before surgery and see if that helps but most surgeons do the surgery and then you're faced with months of recovery. I had one surgery in April, was able to be on the kickboard in late June and finally allowed some very light swimming in August.
good luck!
