I have been swimming for 50 years and have had 3 swim injuries. I know of some great, great swimmers who have been doing the same and remain untouched. How do they do this? If it is because their greatness is due to technique, they sure need to share. But I also wonder if it is because they swim smart, train smart, know their limitations and train accordingly. Do they listen to their bodies first and train second? Something many people don't do, me included in the past.
I've watched Laura Val (The Machine) and heard of Susan Heim Brown. I am amazed.
Is it also stroke related?. I know I swam only backstroke for 40 years and voila, 1993 rotator cuff surgery; 1995 impingement surgery; 1996 torn SI joint (sigh). And I learned technique very early on by world class coaches and swimmers; we did all the right things and were doing hip rotation back in the 60s before a lot of swimming folks were doing it.
Any thoughts on how this comes to be for some and not others?
Donna
Parents
Former Member
Wow, some great replies here and we have HUMOR today (Yippee)!! Since I have been a previously injured swimmer having surgical repairs, (I'm like George, I have metal in lots of places now so I almost glow in the dark), I think Beth and Fort's sister are thinking like I do now.
After the surgeries and upon returning to competitive swimming, I did all the right things with PT, exercises, proper warmups, etc. But over and over again, my left shoulder just screamed at me when I piled the yardage on.
But now I do something much different, and I will say that I do believe my technique is very sound when swimming slow or swimming fast; very consistent in my swim movements; I swim controlled by nature. The thing I do differently is I now know for certain I need an extremely long warmup. At least 1000 yards minimum, but a full mile is even better. Now I know in masters' swimming time constraints can prevent this for many, but I don't have that issue. The longer I warmup, the better my main sets and sprinting are.
The second component to my now being able to swim with no shoulder pain is not how far I swim, but how often. I used to swim 5 days in a row, this year I have decided to do it differently; train smarter. I swim Mondays, Wednesday, Fridays and Saturdays. Those inbetween days are working miracles for my previous bad shoulder. It is like I never had a shoulder problem, I am not icing at all. And today's swim was a mile warmup, rested for 5 minutes, then swam two, 2 mile swims for time with 5 minutes inbetween.
Now my 2 mile swim time is still not what it should be but I have only been back swimming since Jan. 15th. Today's 2 mile swim was a 51:08; two weeks ago it was a 54:02. And the beauty is my shoulder was so happy it was singing the song we all know: Keep On Swimming!
So, for this swimmer here, I have figured out how to offset pain from a previous injury, at least for now, and it is of course swimming with technique, but it is giving my body a break and not swimming every single day like I used to do. But on the days I train, the mileage is going up.
And I am not strength training any more, I am letting swimming give me the strength.
Donna
Wow, some great replies here and we have HUMOR today (Yippee)!! Since I have been a previously injured swimmer having surgical repairs, (I'm like George, I have metal in lots of places now so I almost glow in the dark), I think Beth and Fort's sister are thinking like I do now.
After the surgeries and upon returning to competitive swimming, I did all the right things with PT, exercises, proper warmups, etc. But over and over again, my left shoulder just screamed at me when I piled the yardage on.
But now I do something much different, and I will say that I do believe my technique is very sound when swimming slow or swimming fast; very consistent in my swim movements; I swim controlled by nature. The thing I do differently is I now know for certain I need an extremely long warmup. At least 1000 yards minimum, but a full mile is even better. Now I know in masters' swimming time constraints can prevent this for many, but I don't have that issue. The longer I warmup, the better my main sets and sprinting are.
The second component to my now being able to swim with no shoulder pain is not how far I swim, but how often. I used to swim 5 days in a row, this year I have decided to do it differently; train smarter. I swim Mondays, Wednesday, Fridays and Saturdays. Those inbetween days are working miracles for my previous bad shoulder. It is like I never had a shoulder problem, I am not icing at all. And today's swim was a mile warmup, rested for 5 minutes, then swam two, 2 mile swims for time with 5 minutes inbetween.
Now my 2 mile swim time is still not what it should be but I have only been back swimming since Jan. 15th. Today's 2 mile swim was a 51:08; two weeks ago it was a 54:02. And the beauty is my shoulder was so happy it was singing the song we all know: Keep On Swimming!
So, for this swimmer here, I have figured out how to offset pain from a previous injury, at least for now, and it is of course swimming with technique, but it is giving my body a break and not swimming every single day like I used to do. But on the days I train, the mileage is going up.
And I am not strength training any more, I am letting swimming give me the strength.
Donna
