Awhile ago, Terry asserted that there was an "epidemic" of shoulder injuries among young USS swimmers, which he asserted were all due to stroke defects. Is he right?
Lately, I've been polling parents of 12-15 year old girls and I have learned that they all seem to have nagging injuries, particularly shoulder problems: Tendonitis, scapular pain, knee pain, etc. From what I know about the practice schedules, I don't think the injuries are due to overtraining, although some put in yardage or have some pretty hard practices. None of the girls I know do doubles. They all appear to be in puberty, and perhaps the changes in their bodies account for some of this pain. I'm sure some of it is due to bad technique too. I see a lot of lack of sufficient rotation on freestyle for example. But it's very annoying. Everyone is in PT or pain. I worry that some of these girls, including my own, will quit because they are tired of battling pain.
Another thought. Elsewhere I read that one program started their girls on RC stuff beginning at age 10 and kids doing these exercises have had fewer shoulder problems. Should this be started at a young age? I know my kid is doing them.
I have also heard of this problem mainly among girls. I don't know boys with shoulder problems. But that is likely due to the fact that I know more girls because I have a girl.
Thoughts?
I know that much of my shoulder problems are due to lax tendons in the RC. Also on average girls have more flexibility than boys(lax tendons?)RC exercises not only strengthen the RC muscles but also help develope better proprioception of the shoulder to help hold it in the right place.I suspect that anytime one is swimming any yardage one should be doing RC exercises.
I don't see why swimming would be any different from other sports these days in terms of premature teen injuries. There was a very interesting report on Real Sports (HBO) concerning the increased rate of major elbow injuries in teen baseball players. Little league is taking steps to institute pitch counts and prohibition on pitches that harm young, still developing, arms (curve ball). I have also known two teen girls lately who had ACL surgeries from soccer.
At the risk of restarting the old debate,*I'm going to inject some complexity into the discussion. I think you could have near perfect technique but still have shoulder issues. The shoulder is a structure that is inherently susceptible to fraying and chronic injury. By virtue of the joint's extensive range of motion, and the fact that its supporting structures (ie tendons) must have both elasticity and as well as tensile strength, we are highly likely to strain our RCs.
Certainly perfect technique will help, as well as limiting yardage, as well as parents with a clue about whose career they are pushing. I would generally agree with Gull's statement since balancing the strength of the muscles supporting the shoulder will be very important.
Awhile ago, Terry asserted that there was an "epidemic" of shoulder injuries among young USS swimmers, which he asserted were all due to stroke defects. Is he right?
Lately, I've been polling parents of 12-15 year old girls and I have learned that they all seem to have nagging injuries, particularly shoulder problems: Tendonitis, scapular pain, knee pain, etc. From what I know about the practice schedules, I don't think the injuries are due to overtraining, although some put in yardage or have some pretty hard practices. None of the girls I know do doubles. They all appear to be in puberty, and perhaps the changes in their bodies account for some of this pain. I'm sure some of it is due to bad technique too. I see a lot of lack of sufficient rotation on freestyle for example. But it's very annoying. Everyone is in PT or pain. I worry that some of these girls, including my own, will quit because they are tired of battling pain.
Another thought. Elsewhere I read that one program started their girls on RC stuff beginning at age 10 and kids doing these exercises have had fewer shoulder problems. Should this be started at a young age? I know my kid is doing them.
I have also heard of this problem mainly among girls. I don't know boys with shoulder problems. But that is likely due to the fact that I know more girls because I have a girl.
Thoughts?
In Soccer, they don't like the kids to play full field until they are older because of the wear and tear. The more advanced teams spend more time on skill mini-game with their young players rather than the old school of making them play 90 minutes on full fields all the time.
I see that similar issue can arise in any sport.
Last night I was berating myself in the shower for not doing another 500 but I stopped when I felt good. Another 500 of tired form would really just have been pointless.
I have to say this once more. One of the major causes of shoulder problems is stretching before mucles are warm. I went to the pool the other day and watched the master swimmers going through their stretching activities. No wonder they have problems.
I know. Mini-Fort had chronic ankle problems playing on a D1 travel soccer team. Soccer kids blow out their ACLs all the time too.
But I'm talking shoulders, dude. This is an SR thread!
I'm just comparing the issue of over use or not etc. don't split hairs blondie...
We've been talking around the issue of heavy yardage and excessive demands on young bodies quite a bit. I'm sure there is plenty of blame to go around.
But to bring up another issue, do our coaches have sufficient insight into shoulder injuries? I really hate to pick on them, because the coaches that I know I have enormous respect for. I doubt I'd ever have the courage to do their job.
Perhaps we could say that coaches are simply responding to pressure from overbearing parents (here's my nod to your other thread). But at some point someone should insist on excellent (if not perfect) technique, and maybe some RC exercises before the yardage goes up.
I think it is so hard to preach prevention to adolescents. Some may get it, but most are riding raging hormones. I would guess you just have to tell them what they can or cannot do while they are at practice, or have some more dynamic or interactive process other than a lecture.
NOTE to dude and blondie…
While your digs are meant in good fun, others have reported the comments as taunting/baiting. Please remember that others may be reading these threads and they may not understand your relationship.
p.s. Feel free to shoot the messenger.
Any other blondes taking exception...I apologise..My sister is blonde and I have highlights...so I'm a wannabe blonde. I hope this evens it out.
;)
I don't think anyone truly knows why there may be an epidemic of shoulder injuries whether it be girls or boys. Something I want to mention here is young children swimming. I know that toddlers don't even have fully developed knee caps until, I believe, two years of age? I read that somewhere. This leads me to wonder if poor technique while a child is growing and has not yet reached puberty, if this could be an attributing factor. It takes awhile to get technique perfected, and as a person grows, they have to make swim stroke changes to accommodate that growth, so they are usually searching for ongoing stroke perfection along the way in conjunction with growth.
Once growth stops, and hopefully stroke perfection achieved to a large degree, then it may be overuse. I know I swam competitvely from age 9 until now; that's 50 years of swimming. My shoulder surgeries came about in the mid-1990s when I was a youngster in my mid-40s. That's almost 40 years of non-stop swimming; lots of mileage, lots of joint rotation, shoulder just couldn't withstand anymore.
I certainly am an advocate of great stroke technique; I see people swimming down here and they are twisting this way and that way and in my mind, I go OUCH. And at a bare minimum, great stroke = faster times. I also know that with children their objective is to get to the end of the pool faster than their friends so many times stroke technique goes out the window. I think shoulder injuries are both poor technique and overuse. And I am the queen of overuse right now building toward an 18 mile swim, but I'll probably retire my swimsuit after that one.
Fort you are not talking to the same experts I have been talking to. The ones I have been conversing with suggest no stretching. I hope you noticed I have been using periods at the end of sentences.
