Breaststroker's knee warm up exercises

Wow, I can't believe I'm going to give advice to a breaststroker, but I got one so here I go. Hopefully, Allen (who suffers from this dreadful diagnosis) will come along and fill the gaps and give better tips. It could be technique related. (Sorry :eek: ) I can't remember exactly what your kick looked like from your video. I seem to recall pretty wide with a flatter stroke? If you are doing mostly wide kicks with the quads, that could strain that collateral ligament on the inside of your knee that is supposed to stabilize the knee. You really want to use your hips more in the kick and get some hip action going. Exercises: quad sets, straight leg raises, adductor sets, prone leg raises. You could be doing too much breaststroke in practice? Keep at the front crawl and bugfly to vary it up and avoid overusing the knee. Although I note that you can actually get breaststroker's knee from doing other strokes. Don't do any more tiling if you're on your knees. There is a condition called "carpet layer's knee" too. Since you don't like dolphin kicking with breaststroke, you might try a pull buoy. I have also heard that varying your breaststroke kick helps. In other words, doing it wide, medium, narrow on different days to avoid overstraining the ligament. Also, I know a breaststroker who is going to get prolotherapy for his knee. See, e.g., www.caringmedical.com/.../prolotherapy.asp I'm sure there are other sites that explain it too. Ice, ice, ice every 3-4 hours if you can. Long warm ups! Hang in there, SS.

Wow, I can't believe I'm going to give advice to a breaststroker, but I got one so here I go. Hopefully, Allen (who suffers from this dreadful diagnosis) will come along and fill the gaps and give better tips. It could be technique related. (Sorry :eek: ) I can't remember exactly what your kick looked like from your video. I seem to recall pretty wide with a flatter stroke? If you are doing mostly wide kicks with the quads, that could strain that collateral ligament on the inside of your knee that is supposed to stabilize the knee. You really want to use your hips more in the kick and get some hip action going. Exercises: quad sets, straight leg raises, adductor sets, prone leg raises. You could be doing too much breaststroke in practice? Keep at the front crawl and bugfly to vary it up and avoid overusing the knee. Although I note that you can actually get breaststroker's knee from doing other strokes. Don't do any more tiling if you're on your knees. There is a condition called "carpet layer's knee" too. Since you don't like dolphin kicking with breaststroke, you might try a pull buoy. I have also heard that varying your breaststroke kick helps. In other words, doing it wide, medium, narrow on different days to avoid overstraining the ligament. Also, I know a breaststroker who is going to get prolotherapy for his knee. See, e.g., www.caringmedical.com/.../prolotherapy.asp I'm sure there are other sites that explain it too. Ice, ice, ice every 3-4 hours if you can. Long warm ups! Hang in there, SS.