Shoulder Problem

That’s the funny thing about shoulders… The funny thing about shoulders is that if you are experiencing the popping/cracking/hyperextension, there is a real possibility that the shoulder is telling you that it’s already injured. It doesn’t feel like much --which is why there are so many thread in here about shoulders and little ouches. The conversations tends to go from “it doesn’t feel ‘'that' ’ bad…” to “Ok guys, I cant move my arm(s)” very quickly --like NASCAR speed! The rotator cuff is usually the culprit, and pulling back (sorry for the pun there) on yardage and strokes that use pressure on the shoulders (fly, back and free) can also be helpful. Another chime in for rotator cuff exercises. I too would recommend seeing a doctor… ;)

Originally posted by mrcnwmn In the pool I've noticed (during crawl mostly) that my left shoulder (when I breathe to the right) feel like it's hyper extending. I've been trying to compensate by breathing to my left more, but it seems like it's getting a little worse over the last few weeks. Since you mention that it depends to some extent on which side you breath on it may be that you are not rotating enough to the nonbreathing side. With my own shoulder I find that any arm movement behind the plane of my body tends to cause problems. As illustration, in the extreme, if you were to swim perfectly flat and recover with a high elbow your arm would be moving mostly behind the plane of your body and be very prone to stress and infringement. If you rotate all the way onto your side, keep your elbow high and your hand low your arm will stay entirely in front of the plane of your body. You don't have to rotate all the way onto your side to avoid the problem, it is just something to monitor and experiment with. I have found that if I complete my exhale before my face comes out of the water to breath in and then take a quick breath and return my head to facing down that I get a more natural and fuller roll to the non-breathing side, i.e. extending the breath too long can interfere with a smooth natural roll. I have also experienced shoulder issues related to way I was extending my arm out in front, but can't nail down what was wrong or what I did to fix it, but it is no longer a problem. Sounds like you are already getting a handle on that aspect. I've read that rotating your wrist when the arm is fully extended and exerting a force is a BadThing(TM). Doing some rotator cuff exercises certainly can't hurt. I think the important thing is determine what causes the pain and adjust to avoid the problem - swimming through the pain is definately a recipe for bigger problems. Good luck!

As stated, there are a lot of exercises you can do to strengthen the shoulder in general. It's all basic stuff with a 5 or 8 pound dumbell. I try to do high reps (35-45) and do each one once or twice a day a few times a week. I had some bad shoulder injuries in college from strenuous competitve volleyball, but doing these exercises and properly stretching seems to ease my pain when swimming. Front Lift: Arm down at your side, palm facing forward, raise up your arm until it's parallel to the floor and lower it. Reverse Front Lift: Like above, but with palm facing back. Adduction: Bend forward at your waist with your arm hanging straight down and your palm facing in. Raise your arm across your body to the side and then lower it Abduction: like above but raise your arm to the other side Bicep curl Reverse bicep curl

I did find www.bodyresults.com/E2RotatorCuff.asp and what's been said about the rotator cuff makes allot of sense. It's certainly the culprit. The website above says to use an 8lb to 12lb dumbbell for men, 3lb to 5lb for women. A 3lb dumbbell was about all I could lift repetitively. My muscles appear to be equally weak on both of my shoulders. I think this tells all. I'll be gentle, continue the exercises, and see if it improves. There is no pain/popping when I move or exercise normally. The popping is when I stretch my arm to the side and twist my wrist - it's like cracking a knuckle. The very slight pain is when I'm reaching forward during freestyle. LindsayNB - You may be right. Though, I do think I'm rotating enough. I'm probably breaking my body plane with my left arm. I'll bring the video camera to my workout today and we'll see if it's something obvious. Also, I can swim without feeling pain. I just have to keep a conscious effort not to extend my left arm too far. 330man / Seagurl51 / Alicat - It's not pride. It's a money. I can't afford the worst case scenario alone and Medicare doesn't handle problems until they're disabilities. Even then, they like problems you can see. We have a crappy healthcare system in this country for those who are poor (of which, I qualify). You have to be in lots of pain or bleeding profusely before you can get financial help. I'm not in any pain to speak of and have slight discomfort when I swim in a particular way. I can't imagine going to Medicare with that. When I say "I'm not going to a doctor" I mean, "I can't reasonably be expected to get treatment for the worst case scenario." - I had an opportunity to ***, so I took it, sorry. ;) Anyway, it's certainly a rotator cuff problem. My cuff muscles are really weak and I've been swimming 100's on the minute. The weakest link is feeling the effects. If all I can lift repetitively is what's recommended as the lightest female weight - I think a conclusion can safely be made.

Originally posted by mrcnwmn I just got back from swimming. I kept it nice and easy and my shoulder actually feels better than before I swam. I still did a 3000 yard workout, but I left out the butterfly. I also stretched in between sets. The patient knows his body better than the doctor. Forgetting the fact that there no way I can afford the worst case scenario (no job, no insurance, no money). I mentioned that I'm having some popping in my shoulder. I also mentioned that it doesn't really hurt. And you guys want me to see a doctor right away? I think you're being a little overly cautious. My inquiry is completely preemptive. I was noticing that wasn't quite right and wanted to know if other people have techniques to help this kind of thing. If everyone's technique is "see a doctor" then... I don't know what to say. That's not what I was looking for. If it felt like a tear, I couldn't move my arm, or it felt like something was out of place I would stop swimming until it healed or I could find someone to look at it. I don't think it's any of that. It's uncomfortable, seems to heal with two days rest, but isn't nearly as uncomfortable as a even a strained muscle. I don't think it's even 1/10th of what 330man describes. It may be the beginning of the same problem, but I don't see that there are many options. I should pay attention to it... that's what I'm doing right now. But I'm not someone who goes to a doctor for every sniffle. Really, I feel that I may have pushed myself a little too quickly. Within six months I'm already knocking on the door of some of my high school swimming times (Well, they're at least in sight). I've also changed my stroke so that I'm reaching forward more. I believe the extended stretching toward the wall in freestyle is the cause of the irritation. That, and today I found that when I was reaching I tend to push slightly downward with my hand as I breath. This is the moment of most discomfort: just after the hand enters the water, palm slightly down, pushing slightly toward the bottom of the pool as I breath. I swim a pretty good forward quadrant now - something I never did in high school. So, the whole technique is probably putting strain on parts that have never felt it. I may also be exaggerating it a bit, or maybe I don't have the breathing stroke correct. It's been 20 years since I worked out at all. What do I expect? I'll try not to put any downward pressure on my hand when I breath. This alone (and no fly) seemed to work with today's practice. Not to mention that downward pressure is wasted energy. I should be pulling myself forward, not pushing myself upward. I think I'll bring my camcorder to the pool tomorrow. BTW: I really do appreciate the concern. For your sake I hope that you are right about me being wrong. I am not usually one to run off seeing a doctor for every little thing but shoulder problems tend to be compounding and what seems like nothing today can be something significant tomorrow. I wish you the best of luck and I hope that weeks from now you will have a hard time remembering any shoulder discomfort whatsoever.

I don't know why I didn't really think of it until the "Hand Paddles" thread, but I think I'm going to switch to mostly swimming with fists for a while. This way I can work on my technique while keeping a bit of pressure off my shoulder. I agree with laying off the sprints. It's more than a month until my next event, so now is a good time to work on technique, regardless.

I don't think going to fists and not sprinting will necessarily work. Of course sprinting tests control limits, which you don't want to do. but most shoulder injuries are impingement injuries that come from your recovery, not your pull. I'm attaching an article which really helped me understand the problem.

I'm sorry, my attachment apparantly didn't work. The essence of the technique info was this: Most shoulder impingement comes during recovery, not stroking. There is two parts to it. First there is the body rotation issue. Good body rotation, among other things, helps you keep from bringing your elbow behind your shoulder. Second, there is the arm rotation issue. Impingement comes from a lack of external rotation of the hand as you bring your hand forward. More simply put, if you lead with the back of your hand, you are hurting yourself. You want to come forward thumb first. A little demonstration to show what I mean. Stand with hands at your side, palms facing in toward your legs. Raise your arms up and somewhere around shoulder height you'll feel the impingement. Try it again with your palms rotated to face forward. Raise your arms to your head and voila! No impingement. The more like that you can make your recovery, the easier on your shoulder it will be. I hope this helps. Good luck.

lay off the sprint work. lay off whatever you feel aggravates it (you mentioned fly). if you are having general soreness, we heat before exercize (you can buy electric heating pads for less than 30$) and ice after. several have mentioned that you should strengthen your rotator cuff- thats probably good advice. technique wise....i know from exprience.... my first season in college, i was having alot of problems with my shoulder. (some popping, shooting pains, general soreness) i had to take a couple weeks where i reduced my yardage (by half) and did heat before practice, and ice/stim after practice. we did lots of stretching before practice and did cuff strengthening with a thera-band in addition to lat pulldowns and rows. when i reduced my yardage, we worked alot on technique. Most of my problems were coming from freestyle; i needed to start breathing bi-laterally (which fixed alot of it), and i needed to keep my elbows high. When you drop your elbow, that puts more pressure/strain on your shoulder. Dont run to the doctor unless you feel there is a real issue. You know your body. best of luck!

I concur. My injury is not from pulling. I attribute it to my left arm's entry. I video taped myself and saw that I was crossing my midline a bit with my left arm. My idea to use fists today worked pretty well. I didn't swim the entire workout with fists, but it helped me get my stroke back to a proper position as well as kept me from putting excess pressure on my shoulder during entry. As I said in another message: My shoulder cuff muscles are fairly weak. I'm continuing with the cuff exercises, but I suspect that it's going to take a few months before I notice any real strength improvement. I didn't think that using fists would fix my shoulder as much as it would give me something else to work on while I wait for my shoulder to strengthen and heal. The only time my shoulder bothers me is if I exaggerate my left arm movement. If I keep my left arm to what I think is a proper position (I should tape myself again to be sure the adjustments are right) then there is no discomfort.