Would you all say there are more, less, or about the same amount of injuries in the sport of swimming now than say 15 years ago?
It seems as if many posters have dealt with an injury during their swimming careers, whether it be shoulder (mainly) or knee problems. Some have alluded to the use of kickboards as being a source of shoulder pain.
What do you think can be done to further minimize the risk of injury in swimming? Or is it just the nature of the sport that there will always be shoulder injuries? Professional baseball pitchers take all the precautions in the world and some are still bitten by the injury bug. Likewise with your conscientious swimmers.
Just looking for ideas/thoughts from everyone on what they do to adequately prepare for and recover from the amount of shoulder activity that is necessary in swimming.
Thanks folks,
RM
Parents
Former Member
Kevin, I agree with your response. Stretching seems in some cases to cause injuries in itself if not done properly. Sometimes I think a more appropriate shoulder exercise prior to entering the water would be light and controlled arm rotations and armswings. Something to merely get the blood flowing in the area, while also getting a little range of motion preparedness.
That wasn't however the main point of my posting, I wasn't looking for a remedy for a personal injury, my own shoulder injuries have all been due to activity outside the pool.
I guess what I'm getting at is it seems more and more swimmers, especially at younger and younger ages are being injured, and the main injuries are obviously shoulder-related. Is there something technical that is being taught that could be contributing to this? I have a hypothesis, but I'm afraid I'm not qualified from a physiological standpoint to make such a judgement. I think the high-elbow recovery with the face-down freestyle puts more stress on the joints than an older-age freestyle. Although it is more efficient, it seems that the better the body position on top of the water, the more overhead-like the recovery motion is. And a lot of shoulder injuries are associated with a repetitive overhead motion.
With all the physicists and dynamics experts and kinesiologists that have poured time and effort into developing the strokes through the years, with research and study after study the sport has come so far. But I think it would also be interesting to get some physio's and ortho's involved to study the potential for injury, and add their 2 cents to the discussion as far as the bodily-wear and tear side goes.
Kevin, I agree with your response. Stretching seems in some cases to cause injuries in itself if not done properly. Sometimes I think a more appropriate shoulder exercise prior to entering the water would be light and controlled arm rotations and armswings. Something to merely get the blood flowing in the area, while also getting a little range of motion preparedness.
That wasn't however the main point of my posting, I wasn't looking for a remedy for a personal injury, my own shoulder injuries have all been due to activity outside the pool.
I guess what I'm getting at is it seems more and more swimmers, especially at younger and younger ages are being injured, and the main injuries are obviously shoulder-related. Is there something technical that is being taught that could be contributing to this? I have a hypothesis, but I'm afraid I'm not qualified from a physiological standpoint to make such a judgement. I think the high-elbow recovery with the face-down freestyle puts more stress on the joints than an older-age freestyle. Although it is more efficient, it seems that the better the body position on top of the water, the more overhead-like the recovery motion is. And a lot of shoulder injuries are associated with a repetitive overhead motion.
With all the physicists and dynamics experts and kinesiologists that have poured time and effort into developing the strokes through the years, with research and study after study the sport has come so far. But I think it would also be interesting to get some physio's and ortho's involved to study the potential for injury, and add their 2 cents to the discussion as far as the bodily-wear and tear side goes.
