I'm new to the forums here, but I'm having an issue that I was wondering if any other swimmers had come across/have tips for...
I've been swimming since I was very young, used to swim on teams but don't anymore. Now, I just swim laps as a workout...it also helps me to relax and take my mind off things. Throughout my years of swimming, I never had any sport-related injuries that affected my swimming...until recently. This past summer, I began having pain in my knee when swimming, particularly when swimming breaststroke. I went in to see a physical therapist, who determined that the problem was patellar tracking disorder...basically, my kneecap in my right knee doesn't always move quite smootly and straight in the socket. She thought it was probably caused by the breastroke kick. I've been doing physical therapy exercises to strengthen my inner thigh muscles, some stretching, etc. It's helped, but I still haven't been able to get back to where I was before I began having problems.
My question is, has anyone else had a problem similar to this, and what's your advice? Currently, I only swim freestyle and backstroke during my workouts, with some breastroke every once in a while. I don't compete, or plan to ever again, really, but I want to be able to continue swimming laps without making my knee worse (I'm currently in college, by the way). I usually swim between 2000 and 2500 meters during a typical workout lasting about an hour...I don't swim extremely fast, but I like to be able to feel like I'm really using my muscles and getting a good workout.
Any advice is appreciated...I've been searching for information on this for a while now, and haven't had much luck, so I thought I'd try asking here...thanks!
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Former Member
txswmr:
Knee problems are very common with breaststoke swimmers. Often the underlaying causes are misdiagnosed, unless you see a sport medicine person who has experience with swimming/training related injuries.
I have knee problems from years of over training (swimming AAU, high school, college and now masters). After seeing several doctors (in college and beyond), I finally got a more believable diagnosis that explained all the symptoms. Most sports knee injuries are from single-event trama and will damage the patella, so that is what the look at first. Swimming injuries are from long-term overuse and may not directly impact the patella. Instead, you may have elongated the tendon and ligaments on the interior of your knees. The elongation will not hold the knee together, creating delocalized issues.
There are some good exercises to strengthen the muscles around the knee, but the best long term solution for me has been to reduce (but not eliminate) the amount of breaststroke in workouts. I still successfully compete in breaststoke events with limited knee pain. At least one doctor suggested surgery to shorten the tendons/ligaments, but I would rather stop swimming breastroke altogether before having the surgery.
Bottomline: See a Sport Medicine doctor with experience with swimming injuries to confirm your initial diagnoses.
Anthony Thompson, Missouri Valley Masters (Kansas City)
txswmr:
Knee problems are very common with breaststoke swimmers. Often the underlaying causes are misdiagnosed, unless you see a sport medicine person who has experience with swimming/training related injuries.
I have knee problems from years of over training (swimming AAU, high school, college and now masters). After seeing several doctors (in college and beyond), I finally got a more believable diagnosis that explained all the symptoms. Most sports knee injuries are from single-event trama and will damage the patella, so that is what the look at first. Swimming injuries are from long-term overuse and may not directly impact the patella. Instead, you may have elongated the tendon and ligaments on the interior of your knees. The elongation will not hold the knee together, creating delocalized issues.
There are some good exercises to strengthen the muscles around the knee, but the best long term solution for me has been to reduce (but not eliminate) the amount of breaststroke in workouts. I still successfully compete in breaststoke events with limited knee pain. At least one doctor suggested surgery to shorten the tendons/ligaments, but I would rather stop swimming breastroke altogether before having the surgery.
Bottomline: See a Sport Medicine doctor with experience with swimming injuries to confirm your initial diagnoses.
Anthony Thompson, Missouri Valley Masters (Kansas City)
