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
I've read many of the same things you have about stretching cold muscles. My physical therapist confirms the idea that stretching a cold muscle is difficult and more importantly for your use as a coach, time consuming.
In the perfect world our friends in the health field would have us warm up, stretch, exercise, then stretch again at the end of the workout. In real life however I'm sure most of them wold consider it a step up if we stretched just once per workout.
I think you could work in some stretching either after warm up or after the workout. As for proper technique, I think a local physical therapist would be the way to go.
Once you explain that you are an age group coach and you are concerned about the children's health I am certain he or she would spend 30 minutes or so with you demonstrating no only which stretches to incorporate but also exactly how to do them properly and how to recognize if someone is doing it improperly.
Lastly, if you don't have the swim magazine article from a year ago maybe one of our friends in internet land can email you or I and we can make sure you get a copy.
I've read many of the same things you have about stretching cold muscles. My physical therapist confirms the idea that stretching a cold muscle is difficult and more importantly for your use as a coach, time consuming.
In the perfect world our friends in the health field would have us warm up, stretch, exercise, then stretch again at the end of the workout. In real life however I'm sure most of them wold consider it a step up if we stretched just once per workout.
I think you could work in some stretching either after warm up or after the workout. As for proper technique, I think a local physical therapist would be the way to go.
Once you explain that you are an age group coach and you are concerned about the children's health I am certain he or she would spend 30 minutes or so with you demonstrating no only which stretches to incorporate but also exactly how to do them properly and how to recognize if someone is doing it improperly.
Lastly, if you don't have the swim magazine article from a year ago maybe one of our friends in internet land can email you or I and we can make sure you get a copy.
