Many of you already know that I have been dealing with a shoulder injury for the last month. It gets better and then it gets worse. The worse seems to come after I do something foolish like pulling myself out of the pool without the ladder or picking up my youngest daughter with extended arms. My question is this, is exercise that causes me no pain okay for the recovery of my shoulder; ie swimming? I ask this because I have been swimming more regularly now and my shoulder seems to feel better afterwards, except for last night when I pulled myself out of the pool. Immediately I felt the strain/pain and knew I just set myself back again. It seems like I will never get past this injury.
Former Member
The short answer that I have is No. Exercise that is not painful is not a problem. HOWEVER.
Poor biomechanics in a exercise or rehab. program are a problem.
It is improtant to address the biomechanics of the shoulder. If you work your shoulder improperly during training to avoid discomfort your problem will not go away and may evolve into the need for surgery.
Any rehab. program that just treats an inflammed or torn rotator cuff muscle/tendon will fail.
Weakened muscles must be strengthened, shortened mls. stretched and poor training techs. eliminated from your routine.
Typically a swimmers pectoralis major and minor are tight and need stretching. Strengthing a rotator cuff mls. is done doing "LIGHT" weight in external rotation. Lay on one side, anchor your elbow a the waist, hold a can of soup and lift upward towards the ceiling without lifting the elbow. Consider avoiding the fly.
You may have various other shoulder problems, other tight or fibrotic mls. tendons ect. Have it evaluated by someone who really knows shoulders.
Good luck
Former Member
I have had an MRI and seen an ortho. He told me that I had a rotator cuff strain and that light exercise that was not painful is okay, just take it easy. I just want to make certain that my relapses of pain are due to stupid mistakes and not to my painless exercises. I have not altered my stroke at all to avoid pain but I do notice that the muscles in the back portion of my shoulder are sore after I swim. Remember that I took about 2 1/2 weeks off from any upper body exercise. I do avoid the fly by the way. I never really learned it that well and I can only imagine that it will only make my shoulder problems worse.
Former Member
330 man, Go to the below mentioned site. You will find there and excellent shoulder rehabilitatiion program. Includes text pictures, etc. Developed at the Oregon Health Sciences University by orthopaedists. Get well soon!
www.ohsu.edu/academic/som/orthopaedics/dc
Former Member
It's been a month or so since I mentioned the fact that if you swim with your fists lightly closed it will have a tendency to allow sore shoulder problems to cure themselves.
Sure, it feels strange if you're not acustomed to it, but it won't for long. An added benefit is that it tends to improve your stroke techniques. You can prove that something is going on when you notice that your times are ten percent slower and your stroke count is ten percent higher.
