Hi. This is a great discussion board. I'm so glad to have found it.
Anyway, I'm a novice swimmer. I just started in summer when I began to get knee pain from running. I took some lessons in the fall. I was told my breaststroke is quite nice, and I can swim it endlessly. But freestyle is still very difficult for me.
I've read most of the threads, and there's a lot of very good advice for beginners that have precisely the same issues as I do.
However, my flutter kick is still quite weak and I'm having trouble managing many of the popular freestyle drills because of this. The usual advice I've seen is to do these drills while wearing fins. But I simply can't do this because even five minutes very gentle kicking in fins causes a flare up of ITBS in my right knee.
I haven't seen any mention this particular problem as it relates to swimming. Does anyone else have any experience with it? Or any off the cuff suggestions/advice?
I have seen a sports med spec, and his suggestion after seeing me twice was the classic "Well, don't swim then. Try cycling instead." Grrr. I live in Canada, so I don't really have the option of finding a physician with a bit more sympathy who might understand that cycling is cycling and swimming is a very powerful addiction. :(
Thanks. :)
Parents
Former Member
Originally posted by echo
Well, since it's the only stroke I feel comfortable doing, I didn't want to hear that. But I value your opinion. If breaststroke bothers my groin/hip and freestyle bothers my knee, perhaps my doctor is right after all.
Or I could just lay off swimming for few months.
Another option would be to lay off of *** stroke and use of fins for a while and concentrate on freestyle and backstroke, both full stroke and with drills you can do without fins. Most people have learned to swim freestyle without ever using fins, even those of us with lousy kicks. You can also work on improving your kicking without fins, and believe me, I know what it is like to practically come to a stop while kicking :rolleyes: With practice your kick will improve.
Good luck, keep at it!
Originally posted by echo
Well, since it's the only stroke I feel comfortable doing, I didn't want to hear that. But I value your opinion. If breaststroke bothers my groin/hip and freestyle bothers my knee, perhaps my doctor is right after all.
Or I could just lay off swimming for few months.
Another option would be to lay off of *** stroke and use of fins for a while and concentrate on freestyle and backstroke, both full stroke and with drills you can do without fins. Most people have learned to swim freestyle without ever using fins, even those of us with lousy kicks. You can also work on improving your kicking without fins, and believe me, I know what it is like to practically come to a stop while kicking :rolleyes: With practice your kick will improve.
Good luck, keep at it!
