I'm going to see a neck and spine specialist this week to figure out why I have chronic neck pain. I've read on the arthritis foundation website that they don't recommend freestyle swimming - in fact it's one of the exercises they say to Not do - for neck arthritis. I am very much worried that the doctor's going to diagnose arthritis, which runs in my family, and tell me no more freestyle, breaststroke, or any other swimming that requires turning or lifting my head. Aside from using a mask and snorkel, I can't figure out a way around it.
Do any of you have arthritis in your neck? Usually, swimming is one of the best exercises for arthritis, but apparently head turning causes inflammation and pain. Am I to be a part of the shameful shower cap, noodle crowd? Input appreciated.
I have arthritis in my neck (and a boatload of other neck issues, too, some stemming back to an old injury and others the result of decades of desk work). I swim 4-5 miles per week, a mix of strokes, kicking, pulling, drills, etc. I also do drylands 2-3 times per week: a mix of cardio, weights, and strength exercises given to me by my physical therapist. If I stay on this regime, watch my stroke mechanics, don't slack off on my drylands, and don't try to go crazy with the yardage, I'm fine. I would not, for example, try to do a two mile swim of nothing but freestyle. And when I do swim freestyle, I always alternate the side I breathe on. I do specific sets where I breathe only to the left or only to the right or alternating right and left. And in my daily life, try to remember good posture.
Knock on wood, my neck is rarely an issue. Once in a while, I'll have a muscle spasm in my neck or shoulder that requires PT to get under control, but these days that's the exception rather than the rule. For milder issues, I can work those out myself with foam rollers and strategically placed tennis balls (ow ow ow, but it works).
I assume, based on the little twinges of pain I get sometimes, that I have arthritis elsewhere in my body--my mom has it, and my father had it pretty badly. But I'm living almost completely pain-free (knock on wood), and I credit a lot of that to exercising every day.
So, IMO, you can swim with neck arthritis, you just need to be careful about it.
I have arthritis in my neck (and a boatload of other neck issues, too, some stemming back to an old injury and others the result of decades of desk work). I swim 4-5 miles per week, a mix of strokes, kicking, pulling, drills, etc. I also do drylands 2-3 times per week: a mix of cardio, weights, and strength exercises given to me by my physical therapist. If I stay on this regime, watch my stroke mechanics, don't slack off on my drylands, and don't try to go crazy with the yardage, I'm fine. I would not, for example, try to do a two mile swim of nothing but freestyle. And when I do swim freestyle, I always alternate the side I breathe on. I do specific sets where I breathe only to the left or only to the right or alternating right and left. And in my daily life, try to remember good posture.
Knock on wood, my neck is rarely an issue. Once in a while, I'll have a muscle spasm in my neck or shoulder that requires PT to get under control, but these days that's the exception rather than the rule. For milder issues, I can work those out myself with foam rollers and strategically placed tennis balls (ow ow ow, but it works).
I assume, based on the little twinges of pain I get sometimes, that I have arthritis elsewhere in my body--my mom has it, and my father had it pretty badly. But I'm living almost completely pain-free (knock on wood), and I credit a lot of that to exercising every day.
So, IMO, you can swim with neck arthritis, you just need to be careful about it.
