Are shoulder injuries caused solely by improper stroke mechanics? Can we avoid all pain using perfect technique? Can we throw away the ice pack forever? Or can shoulder pain be caused by other factors as well? Vote if you have an opinion.
To put it in my own words, one has to consider not only a swimmer's technique as exemplified when swimming a 25 when well rested, there is also the technique they are swimming the final 25 of the last 200 in a 10x200 set! Ok, not many of us do such sets but I have seen a few people talk about having done them, and more importantly many of us will suffer deterioration of technique even on much more modest sets. So, a defensible hypothesis would be that some of the people who find butterfly is hard on their shoulders even though they have good technique are actually suffering from training butterfly beyond the point where they could maintain their good form.
Leslie: in your case I seem to recollect you commenting that your shoulder problems occurred after doing major fly sets, I think you may have even refered to overdoing them? So, assuming that you are correct that your technique is sound perhaps a good question is whether you did some sets that pushed beyond what you could maintain strict technique on? Or perhaps just that the sets so tired out some of the stabilizing muscles that they couldn't subsequently do their job properly.
I have not done 10 x 200 fly sets since youth. About a month ago, I swam some long IMs and race pace fly with fins. I felt like I was having a nice "power" set and not straining much. But I wouldn't swear that my technique didn't break down on that or other occasions. I think it's just as likely, as you said, that I "tired out the stabilizing muscles."
To put it in my own words, one has to consider not only a swimmer's technique as exemplified when swimming a 25 when well rested, there is also the technique they are swimming the final 25 of the last 200 in a 10x200 set! Ok, not many of us do such sets but I have seen a few people talk about having done them, and more importantly many of us will suffer deterioration of technique even on much more modest sets. So, a defensible hypothesis would be that some of the people who find butterfly is hard on their shoulders even though they have good technique are actually suffering from training butterfly beyond the point where they could maintain their good form.
Leslie: in your case I seem to recollect you commenting that your shoulder problems occurred after doing major fly sets, I think you may have even refered to overdoing them? So, assuming that you are correct that your technique is sound perhaps a good question is whether you did some sets that pushed beyond what you could maintain strict technique on? Or perhaps just that the sets so tired out some of the stabilizing muscles that they couldn't subsequently do their job properly.
I have not done 10 x 200 fly sets since youth. About a month ago, I swam some long IMs and race pace fly with fins. I felt like I was having a nice "power" set and not straining much. But I wouldn't swear that my technique didn't break down on that or other occasions. I think it's just as likely, as you said, that I "tired out the stabilizing muscles."
