Nooo...Shoulder

Originally posted by Draconis He said that I had a small bicep tendon pain, and it should heal within 3 weeks. Yes, it wil heal with three weeks of rest, but then you'll siwm again and you'll have the same pain again. This is what doctors do. For most of their patients, it works fine. Guy helps his kid move one weekend and strains his muscle. Sees doctor who tells him to lay off of it for two weeks and sure neough the guy is good to go. Or someone falls andjams his shoulder on the ground as he braces himself. Same story. You, on the other hand, swim every day. Importantly, it is the swimming motion that CAUSES the tendon irritation. You will get absolutely nowhere until you fix the motion in your shoulder that is causing the trouble. You can do that with appropriate strengthening and perhaps some stroke modifications. Go to the USA swimming shoulder injury preventin page and DO the exercises listed there. www.usaswimming.org/.../ViewMiscArticle.aspx If it persists you can look at your stroke with an eye to injury prevention using the information at coaches iinformation service. cis.squirming.net/.../ Doing anything else is wishful thinking, "Boy I hope my shoulder gets better in two weeks even though I am doing absolutely nothing to fix it." Embark on a program to fix it and maintin it and you'll be good for the rest of your career.

Draconis, you need someone knowledgable to look at your shoulder. I will digress for a moment, years ago in a far off place there was a man trekking in an area I was living in. He got acute upper abdominal pain with all the symprotms of appendicitis (quiet gut, hurts on release of pressure etc). At great expense he was bundled onto a yak then runshed to the city where they prepared im for an airlift to a hospital in another country. If I described his symptoms, the docs would all agree this was the right course of action. WHile waiting at the airport, the nurse deicded to lift his shirt and examine the patient's skin (out of curiosity) she found a large tick, whose venom was producing the other symptoms. Teh could have removed the tick in the field and treated him. Before we airlift you off for surgery, you need someone to look at you who knows what to look for. My experience is that a physical therapist or sports med doc can identify this best. I expect such a person to have me move my arm different ways against resistence. I also expect them to look at my arm (I once had a biceps tendonitis dx but the horrified pt found the "bulge was not a swollen bicep but the "head" of the shoulder displaced agianst the tendon). So go find someone to look. A PT might look wihtout an RX or you could call the original doc and ask for a pt RX. After that my own personal subjective finding is a swim coach can address the long-term solution in the water and the pt on dryland (unless it needs a surgeon). Your mileage will vary.

Originally posted by Draconis The pain is not severe. It's just noticeable, yet I'm not sure that I should be swimming through the pain. From what I have heard it is never a good idea to swim through injury induced pain. Unfortunately people use the word pain to refer to many different things, there is lactic acid induced muscle pain which is normal, there is muscle and tendon tear pain, and there is impingment/joint pain. The latter two are injury induced pain and will be made worse by swimming through them. In my own experience with shoulder pain I have found that all movements of my arms behind the plane of my body, not just overhead movements, lead to problems. The most common problem movement for me is a high elbow recovery in crawl done without sufficient body roll. With enough roll my arms need never move behind my back. Unlike many people I am more likely to have shoulder problems during freestyle than butterfly. I also find that shoulder pain can either occur during swimming, which in my case is usually a result of bad technique, such as insufficient roll, or can occur at times seemingly unrelated to swimming. Shoulder problems are often caused by muscle inbalances that result in the shoulder joint not being held in its proper position in the shoulder socket. I have found that if I work one set of muscles particularly hard those muscles may be too tired and weak to properly hold the shoulder in place resulting in pain in the period after swimming. I also have found that when one set of muscles gets stiff and sore it may shorten up and pull the shoulder out of its correct position. Right now, most of my shoulder problems occur out of the pool when I make certain movements. Also in my experience clicking in the shoulder is a sign the joint is not being held steadily in place and is a sign that all is not well. I find that too much aggressive stretching can cause problems as can jumping into arm swinging without starting with slow movements to slowly expand the range of motion. Long sets of *** stroke pull can cause me shoulder problems so I don't think you can safely assume that *** stroke is completely safe. Other people have had different experiences so your milage may vary. Good luck.

Okay, now this stupid shoulder's getting annoying. The pain is not severe. It's just noticeable, yet I'm not sure that I should be swimming through the pain. So, today, I spent about an hour in the pool with that stupid pain, and when I got out, the pain is gone. Now my shoulder feels completely normal. This is what's so annoying. I can never tell when the pain will come. Its sometimes when I'm swimming, sometimes not. I don't think there is one during the night, and during the day it's random. When all the shoulder problems I've checked and researched on the internet says that the shoulder should feel pain when moving above 90 degrees elevation, my shoulder feels pain when moving BELOW, and only below 90 degrees elevation. How unorthodox. Oh and can someone answer the questions in the above post? Thanks very much!