Recovering from shoulder surgery; feeling crummy...
Former Member
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....:(
Kari!
Hang in there and in the words of Dori from Finding Nemo.........
"JUST KEEP SWIMMING!!!"
I too have battled shoulder problems for years now. My shoulder was popping in and out of joint from years of swimming. I had to have a thermal-capsular shrinkage done....fancy medical jargon for having the cartillage around my shoulder tightened. The 6 months of physical therapy were so painful and scary. I literally could not lift my arm! My doctor told me I would probably never swim like I used to. I missed swimming so much that I cried when I used bleach in my laundry! ;( I couldn't lift my arm for weeks much less swim. I finally decided that no matter how silly I looked and felt, I was going to dog paddle with my right arm as well as I could and stroke with my left if I had to to get back in the water. I did my PT exercises religiously and just kept plugging away. It took time and most of all a LOT OF PATIENCE. The swimming helped more than anything!! The day I could do normal freestyle was one of the happiest days of my life. I eventually got back to swimming with my masters team and recently did close to lifetime best times!!
I still have pain occasionally but I just listen to my body and know when to push it and when to take a day off. I HAVE to do my PT exercises the rest of my life....if I don't, my pain comes back!! The things I have found to work....WARM-UP SLOWLY!!,stretch after warm-up and before you start working too hard, ice after your workout if it hurts, RELIGIOUSLY doing rotator cuff exercises and LOTS OF PATIENCE AND TIME. It took about 2 years to completely recover to where I am almost pain free (shoulderwise at least!) during/after swimming workouts. I can still tell the weather better than the Weather Channel! ;)
Kari!
Hang in there and in the words of Dori from Finding Nemo.........
"JUST KEEP SWIMMING!!!"
I too have battled shoulder problems for years now. My shoulder was popping in and out of joint from years of swimming. I had to have a thermal-capsular shrinkage done....fancy medical jargon for having the cartillage around my shoulder tightened. The 6 months of physical therapy were so painful and scary. I literally could not lift my arm! My doctor told me I would probably never swim like I used to. I missed swimming so much that I cried when I used bleach in my laundry! ;( I couldn't lift my arm for weeks much less swim. I finally decided that no matter how silly I looked and felt, I was going to dog paddle with my right arm as well as I could and stroke with my left if I had to to get back in the water. I did my PT exercises religiously and just kept plugging away. It took time and most of all a LOT OF PATIENCE. The swimming helped more than anything!! The day I could do normal freestyle was one of the happiest days of my life. I eventually got back to swimming with my masters team and recently did close to lifetime best times!!
I still have pain occasionally but I just listen to my body and know when to push it and when to take a day off. I HAVE to do my PT exercises the rest of my life....if I don't, my pain comes back!! The things I have found to work....WARM-UP SLOWLY!!,stretch after warm-up and before you start working too hard, ice after your workout if it hurts, RELIGIOUSLY doing rotator cuff exercises and LOTS OF PATIENCE AND TIME. It took about 2 years to completely recover to where I am almost pain free (shoulderwise at least!) during/after swimming workouts. I can still tell the weather better than the Weather Channel! ;)
