Recovering from shoulder surgery; feeling crummy...

hi kari, nice to see you back here sorry to hear about your shoulder pain you mentioned changing the side you breathe on you just gotta force yourself to do it concentrate maybe try breathing every 3 so you'll alternate sides when you quit thinking about it, you'll probably revert to your old habit until you replace it with a new one. ande Originally posted by Fishgrrl and actually considering giving up swimming. I am so discouraged these days.... I fell and hurt my shoulder about 9 years ago. I didn't have surgery at the time (was told I didn't need it) and thought I healed correctly. Fast forward to today...after swimming 6 years I start to feel an ache in my "bad" shoulder when I swim longer than a mile. So off to the sports med doc I go....I get an MRI which looks like I might have torn cartilage, which is causing the pain. Surgery is scheduled....they find nothing. Nothing is torn; nothing to fix. So now I will have to swim with the pain.... I know that some of the tension is a result of an imbalance in my freestyle...I always breath to my left, which means I pull harder with my strong (right) side. When I try to breath to the right it all falls apart. I don't feel balanced in the water; I am sure there are a million things wrong with my stroke...I should kick more...blah blah blah. I just started swimming again...been in the water for the last few days and I am very discouraged. I'd love to hear from folks out there who have taught themselves to breath to their uncomfortable side.... and how you did it, how long it took, etc. Anyone else out there going through a discouraging time...or if you have in the past, how'd you get over it? Ande - what are your thoughts? I used to box...maybe I should just go back to the ring and stay out of the water....:(

hi kari, nice to see you back here sorry to hear about your shoulder pain you mentioned changing the side you breathe on you just gotta force yourself to do it concentrate maybe try breathing every 3 so you'll alternate sides when you quit thinking about it, you'll probably revert to your old habit until you replace it with a new one. ande Originally posted by Fishgrrl and actually considering giving up swimming. I am so discouraged these days.... I fell and hurt my shoulder about 9 years ago. I didn't have surgery at the time (was told I didn't need it) and thought I healed correctly. Fast forward to today...after swimming 6 years I start to feel an ache in my "bad" shoulder when I swim longer than a mile. So off to the sports med doc I go....I get an MRI which looks like I might have torn cartilage, which is causing the pain. Surgery is scheduled....they find nothing. Nothing is torn; nothing to fix. So now I will have to swim with the pain.... I know that some of the tension is a result of an imbalance in my freestyle...I always breath to my left, which means I pull harder with my strong (right) side. When I try to breath to the right it all falls apart. I don't feel balanced in the water; I am sure there are a million things wrong with my stroke...I should kick more...blah blah blah. I just started swimming again...been in the water for the last few days and I am very discouraged. I'd love to hear from folks out there who have taught themselves to breath to their uncomfortable side.... and how you did it, how long it took, etc. Anyone else out there going through a discouraging time...or if you have in the past, how'd you get over it? Ande - what are your thoughts? I used to box...maybe I should just go back to the ring and stay out of the water....:(