I've been having numbness and tingling in the right arm for 2 weeks. I got
an MRI last Friday, and it showed that I had herniated cervical disks
(that's slipped disks in the neck in layperson-speak) at the following
levels: C3-C4, C4-C5, and C5-C6 (this last level is where it's worst). I
haven't experienced any loss of strength and coordination (yet). Based on
the advice of a friend of mine that has had the same problem, I've avoided
any exercise that could involve bending or stretching of the neck (so just
stationary cycling for now), restricted myself to lifting no more than 10
lbs. at a time, and am taking anti-inflammatory medication. I'm awaiting a
(timely) referral to a neurosurgeon.
My questions to my fellow Masters swimmers:
1. Have any of you ever experienced this problem?
2. If the answer to (1) is yes, then what sort of treatment (medical and
non-medical) did you receive?
3. Are there any specific things I should be avoiding, swimming-wise (certain strokes, drills, etc? I assume diving is out of the question) and exercise-wise?
4. Before I saw what my MRI looked like (I'm an Internal Medicine MD, so I
could see my MRI was abnormal), I had continued to swim, and actually felt
that swimming helped me feel better. Does anyone out there know if swimming can actually put you at risk for this type of injury?
Physicians, as a rule, tend to err on the side of rest and inactivity for
recovery from any injury, so if anyone has any evidence that states that I can
keep up with at least some swimming while I find out what my course of
treatment will be, I would certainly be grateful for that. I've only started
to get seriously back into swimming since last fall, and was actually
starting to feel good about my swimming, so this recent setback has me
really bummed out at present :-(
I, too, have had neck problems recently (over the past year or so). I have swum masters now for 3-4 years, and last year I started getting a burning pain in my upper back / neck area, with numbness down into my elbow and 2 of my fingers. When I took small breaks from swimming, it went away. This past summer I was training for a big meet, and the pain increased to the point where I was practically doubled over at the end of my lane between sets. I've taken 2 months off now, and it's about 70% healed now. There was an article on the USA Swimming site about neck pain in swimming (see link below). After I read it, I think the issue is my head position in freestyle (70% of our swimming is freestyle, although I'm a breaststroker). The hyperextension of the neck when using a kickboard is no picknick either - I'll never use one again. I'm seeing a physiotherapist at the moment who was prescribed all kinds of neck exercises and upper back and rotator cuff work to correct some imbablances. I think someone mentioned already that swimmers have a tendency to have the shoulders internally rotated (stronger chest, front delt muscles than rear delt and scapular retractors. Over time and over 1000's of yards of training, it can lead to injury.
www.usaswimming.org/.../ViewMiscArticle.aspx
Good luck, and try to avoid surgery at all costs (if possible)!
I, too, have had neck problems recently (over the past year or so). I have swum masters now for 3-4 years, and last year I started getting a burning pain in my upper back / neck area, with numbness down into my elbow and 2 of my fingers. When I took small breaks from swimming, it went away. This past summer I was training for a big meet, and the pain increased to the point where I was practically doubled over at the end of my lane between sets. I've taken 2 months off now, and it's about 70% healed now. There was an article on the USA Swimming site about neck pain in swimming (see link below). After I read it, I think the issue is my head position in freestyle (70% of our swimming is freestyle, although I'm a breaststroker). The hyperextension of the neck when using a kickboard is no picknick either - I'll never use one again. I'm seeing a physiotherapist at the moment who was prescribed all kinds of neck exercises and upper back and rotator cuff work to correct some imbablances. I think someone mentioned already that swimmers have a tendency to have the shoulders internally rotated (stronger chest, front delt muscles than rear delt and scapular retractors. Over time and over 1000's of yards of training, it can lead to injury.
www.usaswimming.org/.../ViewMiscArticle.aspx
Good luck, and try to avoid surgery at all costs (if possible)!
