Paddle help!

Cliff, Jim and Mark (and others) I have noted somewhere in these forums previously that I am a chiropractor, hence my e-mail moniker gmgdc. I have also refrained from entering this discussion since I know from my own patients that there is no one cause for back pain, as you have indicated, Cliff, with your "herniation" and your spondylolisthesis being two separate problems right there. Therefore, there is no one answer for everyone with "back pain". There is no one exercise that will help everyone with the generic problem of back pain. It's interesting to see comments about my profession as if I'm a fly on the wall listening in, but it's best I identify myself so that discussion participants can use some discretion in their comments. While I agree there are some in my profession who deserve criticism, the same is true for MD's, DDS's, DPM's and DO's as well as us DC's. I personally believe that we seem to get more criticism because what we do is very misunderstood, not only by the general public, but by our MD brethren as well. Sorry, that's enough of my editorializing, but I thought I needed to explain who I am, and why I would never begin to try to give advice of a specific nature for problems which I can't be sure is appropriate without direct communication and some assurance of the specific etiology of the pain. You are welcome to contact me directly, but I can't offer blanket advice over a forum and be comfortable that it wouldn't be applied by someone who has a different problem altogether and suffer as a result.

Greg, Every professional should be as observant as yourself. I absolutly agree with what you have said about back conditions being very specific to each individual. I think that handing out advice can sometimes be counterproductive and even dangerous. Given my herniation and spondylolisthesis, I have educated myself on all the literature and research as well as seeing top spinal surgeons. This way, I feel best equipped to devise an exersize routine that is effective and most important safe for me. Swimming has helped strenthen my lower back muscles as well as every other muscle that is around the spinal column. The result is reduced pain while sitting and overall reduced pain. I haven't seen a chriopractor because there isn't anything a chriopractor can really do for me personally. Some other people may benifit from chriopractic treatment but usually those with my problem don't. As you know Greg, there isn't any "fix" for the spondy except for surgery and I don't want a fusion nor am I suffering from severe nurological deficits that would warrent surgery. Even surgery is not a complete fix. Without ranting on and on, you know all about the different treatments anyway. Thanks for your insightful and personal post! And... thanks to everyone else as well. :)

Jim, that was some relaly thoughtful advice. I appreciate it. Actually, I have a pretty bad lower back. I have a herniated disk and a fracture of my L5 vertabre that doesn't heal. The fracture is congenital defect. It never bothered me till 2 years ago when I injured it weight lifting. Now, I sometimes have some pretty bad sciatica. Swimming has really helped me strenghten my lower back muscles as well as walking. Jogging isn't really that good for me because of the impact. But as you stated, butterfly and sprint freestyle should be avioded!! Thanks again for your genuine help Jim. :D :D

I'm 73 and use the red xtra large Strokemaster paddles for large (1200 m) pulling sets about 3x a week. It's my strength and technique workout. Never had shoulder problems. I agree with Paul, that the shoulder problems occur when the thumb enters the water first and creates a twist and strain in the shoulder.

Give me a break. Shirley Babashoff used paddles a lot and had fewer injuries than current top swimmers. I have not used them in over 25 years and if a person in their 20's wants to use them, then I don't see why not. I don't know if they make one better or not it depends on the person using them. I agree that for older swimmers they may lead to more injuries.

I have used the TYR Catalyst paddles and found them overly addicting so I switched to the Speedo Swim Foil devices. They don't have the addictive quality and, I believe, have helped me improve my stroke. However, on pull sets, I still go without paddles about 80%-90% of the time. They are a nifty little training aid in my opinion. My opinion is that these little toys aren't going to do irretrievable damage every 5th pull set or so (maybe once a week). I swim because I love it and find a little deviation from time to time actually helps my overall enjoyment. Maybe you should use them if you like them.

I think one of the misconceptions and misueses of paddles is that of "strength building". Certainly that can be accomplished to some degree, however I see far more benefit in their aability to enhance stroke corrections. I've been using the TYR paddles for a couple of years now and have a bit of a love hate thing going on with them. The hate part comes from the fact that these paddles can seduce you into ripping a really fast/hard pull set and create the exact problems Matt describes. My wife is a good example, she has minimal rotation and needs to work on higher elbows, amazingly with a set of these paddles she pulled a 3:06 300 free the other morning (she would swim that about 10 seconds slower). The love part for me came after quite a bit of time spent on focusing in on body rotation, arm extension, high elbows, etc. These oversizeed paddles allow me to enter and extend with a "floating" sensation and get an incredible feel of the exact rotation we all aspire to. Interestingly enough I've been able to increase my DPS and lower my stroke count even more.

While I can certainly see where paddles could contribute to injury, especially if not used properly, there is risk of injury to the shoulders inherent in our sport anyway. I personally have found that both use of paddles and fins can be extremely helpful in getting a good muscular work out. I avoid them when I am swimming for speed of distance, but when I am aiming to work my muscles along with cardio, they are the first things I advocate.

Cynthia, I think the underlying point of most of the postings is not that paddles are universally good or bad, but that it depends on how you use them. I personally do not use paddles at all for specific reasons. First, I have had shoulder problems in the past, and I am not inclined to risk having them again for whatever benefit paddles might bring. Second, I do not think I will benefit from increasing the leverage on the water I get from my hands alone. The style of swimming I am trying to teach myself emphasizes using my core body trunk muscles to generate power, and getting my arms, abs and legs all working in coordination. Isolating my arms and shoulders is not going to help me learn how to coordinate my whole body, and increased strength in my arms alone will not necessarily make me faster. However, others may have different training objectives where paddles might help. I can't visualize how paddles would teach me to swim better, but when a swimmer as accomplished, and as scientific in his training methods, as Paul Smith says he can, I pay attention. I think the bottom line here is paddles can be counterproductive. Don't use them just because everyone else is, but do use them if you have a specific purpose in mind and know what your limits are. Finally, I think it extremely dangerous to argue paddles are OK because Shirley Babashoff used them alot, and she had no injury problems. I've riffed on this before, but to sum up... Just because a training method works well for extraordinarly gifted world class athletes who are preparing for world class meets, DOES NOT MEAN that these methods are best (or even safe) for other swimmers whose goals are more modest. I know of plenty of swimmers in their 20's, or their teens even, with blown-out shoulders. Lastly, I really appreciate the analogy to scythed chariots, and let me develope this theme further. Not only are paddles and scythed chariots potentially items of mass mayhem, for the most part they are wholey ineffective. Darius tried to use them against Alexander the Great, and Alexander's highly trained army had no problem neutralizing them. You've touched on my other obsession--military history--and I could riff for hours on that one, but you REALLY don't want to get me started. (Unless, of course, you are just like me, and when you here of a movie titled "Hannibal," you think Hannibal Barcid rather than Hannibal Lechter.) Matt

I use some paddles make by Lane 4, I think. They are small, triangular, and have a fin on the pushing surface, and attach only by the middle finger. Any stroke errors and they fly off into the next lane. That is annoying, but great for getting and maintaining a good freestyle stroke (I have to be careful not to grab the sides with my thumb and little finger). Let me explain - any sideways motion (as from a bad entry) pushes sideways on the fin and pulls the paddle off. Also, a careless recovery causes the bottom corners of the paddles to catch also, and again fly away. As I see it, they will only allow me to push hard when I can do it correctly. I have yet to have a shoulder problem (knock on wood) and I think one reason is I approach paddles cautiously. Some day I will be using paddles as big a Gail's.