My daughter swims for USS Swim Club in Ohio. SHe has been dealing with a Rhomboid strain in her shoulder for almost a year now. This injury mostly occures when swimming butterfly. However repetitive motions for a prolonged period also seem to irritate the shoulder.
I am looking for advice because the problem seems to stem from Swimming butterfly. Long Course season started and she was doing very well - no shoulder pain until they swam fly in the last practice.
My questions are as follows:
1.) Is there a way that she can train and continue to provide additional strength with butterfly? Or is it best to just not deal with the butterfly until the shoulder is in better condition and closer to full recovery?
2.) What would be the best training method for a swimmer with shoulder injury?
3.) Is more laps always better training? Can she achieve the same benefit or better training by swimming less laps with a specific purpose during practice?
Coaching advice is welcome and appreciated - as I am concerned for her welfare. She has very high goals and I would like to help her achieve her goals without injury.
Thank you!
Parents
Former Member
I absolutely agree with the agressiveness of this coach.
I have had some luck with him. Had a little chat with him and we discussed her technique - he stated that there were subtle technique problems but nothing that should cause this pain.
We also agreed on not swimming fly for the remainder of the summer unless directed by her Sports Medicine doctor that it was okay. Needless to say - it was getting a little tense. He did not want to take her off fly and wants to train her as an IM'er, blah blah blah!
At any rate, it feels like we've made some progress in the area and it was much easier to discuss knowing some of your experiences and suggestions.
As in any sport - you don't want to train until fail. This coach specifically was discussing this theory with the kids at practice in dealing with dryland excercises. Some of the kids were doing too many push ups, etc. So upon hearing this I asked what the difference was doing push-ups to fail VS swimming laps (fly, etc) to fail? He then changed his tune a bit.
She has another doctors appointment coming up - hopefully he will be able to pinpoint what is causing the shoulder muscle to be irritated during fly. And, even though it has been a long process, maybe this is the last problem she will have to deal with and will be able to move forward when it is corrected.
I absolutely agree with the agressiveness of this coach.
I have had some luck with him. Had a little chat with him and we discussed her technique - he stated that there were subtle technique problems but nothing that should cause this pain.
We also agreed on not swimming fly for the remainder of the summer unless directed by her Sports Medicine doctor that it was okay. Needless to say - it was getting a little tense. He did not want to take her off fly and wants to train her as an IM'er, blah blah blah!
At any rate, it feels like we've made some progress in the area and it was much easier to discuss knowing some of your experiences and suggestions.
As in any sport - you don't want to train until fail. This coach specifically was discussing this theory with the kids at practice in dealing with dryland excercises. Some of the kids were doing too many push ups, etc. So upon hearing this I asked what the difference was doing push-ups to fail VS swimming laps (fly, etc) to fail? He then changed his tune a bit.
She has another doctors appointment coming up - hopefully he will be able to pinpoint what is causing the shoulder muscle to be irritated during fly. And, even though it has been a long process, maybe this is the last problem she will have to deal with and will be able to move forward when it is corrected.
