I have a question regarding lower back pain and flip turns. I've had lower back pain off and on for about two years now. I'm no spring chicken being 50yrs old. I primarily swim front crawl and do flip turns. My doctor has suggested that doing flip turns is not helping my back condition. I never have any pain when do flip turns but my back does seem to be a little sore later in the day after my workout.
I've experimented with not doing the flip turns and really can't notice much difference with my overall back pain. I'm very careful about how I do my flip turns (slower and knees tucked in).
Are flip turns bad for your lower back?
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Former Member
Originally posted by Sydney
Sometimes I whip my legs over when I do a flip turn, and thereby strain my lower back. If I concentrate on tucking my chin to my chest and bringing my knees to my chest, the problem tends to resolve itself. The last time I did this it took about 2 months for the pain to disappear completely. But doing a flip turn wrong can definitely mess your back up.
I would like to avoid repeating the same mistake before it is too late. Can you please explain a little bit more? Let's divide the flip turn in two phases:
1. Roll the leg over the water to approach the feet to the wall
2. Feet contact the wall and push off.
If I understand you well, phase 1 is more dangerous in relation to back pain? I thought that would be rather the explosive push from the wall or slamming the feet to the wall that would hurt more. But I might be wrong.
Thanks in advance for any help.
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Former Member
Originally posted by Sydney
Sometimes I whip my legs over when I do a flip turn, and thereby strain my lower back. If I concentrate on tucking my chin to my chest and bringing my knees to my chest, the problem tends to resolve itself. The last time I did this it took about 2 months for the pain to disappear completely. But doing a flip turn wrong can definitely mess your back up.
I would like to avoid repeating the same mistake before it is too late. Can you please explain a little bit more? Let's divide the flip turn in two phases:
1. Roll the leg over the water to approach the feet to the wall
2. Feet contact the wall and push off.
If I understand you well, phase 1 is more dangerous in relation to back pain? I thought that would be rather the explosive push from the wall or slamming the feet to the wall that would hurt more. But I might be wrong.
Thanks in advance for any help.
