Hi all,
I've been swimming regularly since June and have developed an annoying clicking sound in both shoulders. I've started doing some rotator cuff exercises witha theraband daily to try to alleviate this. Anyone else have experience with this?
Tendonitis, yep. This should go away with time and rest. I think the clicking is due to inflamation. This is just something that occurs with taking up something new. It freaked me out.
I woud recommend a few things:
1. Get someone who knows what they are doing to look at your stroke, preferrably a coach. Sometimes great swimmers can't convey in words what is wrong, but a good coach can. If you don't have a coach or team, get to a meet anyway and have an on hand deck coach look at your warmups. Just ask, everyone helps.
2. Forget the short repeats for a while. Your intensity is going to naturally skyrocket in a workout like that which can be hard on the shoulders. Especially if your technique is poor (recommendation 1).
3. I can't recommend this, but I swam with the tendonitis and used it as feedback to experiment with my catch. I found that placing my hand in the water and letting it fall into deeper water before applying real power created a pain free stroke. I also learned not to over reach.
4. Go for longer comtinuous swims of 1000 to 1500 yards. This will help create a base ( a new swimmer needs this) and reduce the forces on your shoulder because you will be fatigued. Swimming fatigued will help you concentrate on your glide, balance, rythm and timing. The base you develop in longer swims will help you get through higher intensity interval training later. Practice and Learn bi lateral breathing in your longer swims.
Tendonitis, yep. This should go away with time and rest. I think the clicking is due to inflamation. This is just something that occurs with taking up something new. It freaked me out.
I woud recommend a few things:
1. Get someone who knows what they are doing to look at your stroke, preferrably a coach. Sometimes great swimmers can't convey in words what is wrong, but a good coach can. If you don't have a coach or team, get to a meet anyway and have an on hand deck coach look at your warmups. Just ask, everyone helps.
2. Forget the short repeats for a while. Your intensity is going to naturally skyrocket in a workout like that which can be hard on the shoulders. Especially if your technique is poor (recommendation 1).
3. I can't recommend this, but I swam with the tendonitis and used it as feedback to experiment with my catch. I found that placing my hand in the water and letting it fall into deeper water before applying real power created a pain free stroke. I also learned not to over reach.
4. Go for longer comtinuous swims of 1000 to 1500 yards. This will help create a base ( a new swimmer needs this) and reduce the forces on your shoulder because you will be fatigued. Swimming fatigued will help you concentrate on your glide, balance, rythm and timing. The base you develop in longer swims will help you get through higher intensity interval training later. Practice and Learn bi lateral breathing in your longer swims.
