Shoulder Problems

As a new swimmer I went through a shoulder problem several years ago. I trained easier and kept swimming and eventually it went away. Now I just have occasional sore shoulders, but nothing acute. Have this coach be sure your mechanics are correct, like not having too deep an underwater pull and/or dropping elbows. Are you relatively new, or been swimming a long time? What is your yardage per workout on average? Is it all freestyle? Go into detail about these things and alot of people here can give good advice.

If your shoulders are bothering you, you definitely need to do some rotator cuff and scapular stabilizing exercises. I had the same problem when I started back two years ago. I still have grumpy shoulders, but found out from an arthrogram that I have a frayed labrum, mostly likely from overuse from age group training. The worst fraying or tearing is in the back of my labrum, or shoulder socket, so fly and free hurt me more. Could be, don't know, that your issue is in the front of your shoulder and that's why backstroke hurts more. Or you don't have those snazzy hyperextended elbows. The exercises in the prior post are good. Check out posts #57 and 59 in forums.usms.org/showthread.php, which lists many threads on the origin and treatment of shoulder problems. In that same thread, toward the end, swimr4life gives some great advice on RC exercises too. Good luck. If the pain does not abate with the exercises, you may need to go see a good orthopod. If it comes to that, hopefully not, try to find one who knows something about swimming. My problem was misdiagnosed as tendonitis from the beginning. (I probably did have tendonitis, but that was not the chronic problem.) Good luck, Nicole! Welcome back!

Thanks for the link. I will definitely start working on the exercises.

OK, background: was on an age group swim team from 12-17, when I graduated High school. By the time I got to college, I was burned out and quit. Eight years later, I took one of my classes (i'm a teacher) to the local pool for a field trip, and while sitting on the deck, realized how much i missed being in the water, so that following Saturday, I grabbed a suit, and headed down to the pool for some laps. My workouts are a mixture of all the strokes, but a majority of my workouts are freestyle based. I have been doing anywhere between 2000 -2500 yards per night. More recently, I have been hitting the 2500 mark until my shoulder started hurting. It is most painful on backstroke, followed by free. Oddly enough, fly doesn't seem to cause too many problems. My *** stroke is horrible, but causes no problems. My coach says my freestyle pull is great, not too deep. He did spend some time with me on getting my elbows up higher, which is now corrected. I hope that helps!

This article discusses shoulder strengthening to prevent injuries. www.usaswimming.org/.../ViewMiscArticle.aspx

Thanks for the replies everyone. I looked into the rotator cuff and scapular stabilizing exercises, and they look like a lot of what I did when i dislocated my other shoulder. So I have started those exercises again. At one point, I had some elastic cords given to me by while i was in PT, but I have no clue where they are, so I am using therabands from an old ankle injury. Hopefully I will get some small, light weights to begin some of the weight exercises instead of just the band ones. The posts Fortress referred to were interesting. I know I have always had very loose shoulders, to the extreme that the physical therapist did not want me to regain my original range of motion. She also nailed exactly where the pain is, right in the front of my shoulder. Thanks for the great advice everyone! Crap, another victim of the genetic loosey gooseys. All I can say is that Beth and I are RC exercise devotees. I also lift weights (no bench press!). When I stop lifting weights, my shoulders hurt more. My doc says the weight lifting (moderate) is what allows me to keep swimming. Pain in the front of the shoulder is the most typical symptom of tendonitis. If that's what it is, avid RC exercises and some recovery swims should help. PTs sometimes tell you to rest. Unless it's bad, I don't like rest. Neither do others. I get stiffer with rest. Watch those stretches too! You don't want to make yourself more loosey goosey than you already are. Flexibility is great, but it also makes you more injury prone.

Thanks for the replies everyone. I looked into the rotator cuff and scapular stabilizing exercises, and they look like a lot of what I did when i dislocated my other shoulder. So I have started those exercises again. At one point, I had some elastic cords given to me by while i was in PT, but I have no clue where they are, so I am using therabands from an old ankle injury. Hopefully I will get some small, light weights to begin some of the weight exercises instead of just the band ones. The posts Fortress referred to were interesting. I know I have always had very loose shoulders, to the extreme that the physical therapist did not want me to regain my original range of motion. She also nailed exactly where the pain is, right in the front of my shoulder. Thanks for the great advice everyone!

All great advice here. One thing I would add is that these exercises should be done after swim practice or several hours before practice. You will be fatiguing the cuff muscles with the controlled exercises so you don't want that fatigue to carry over into swim practice where your shoulder movements are not as controlled.

I just use surgical tubing from the pharmacy for the exercises. Back in the 80s I had a coach who was big on surgical tubing for stretching and strengthening. Has anyone actually gone and bought therabands and are they better than surgical tubing?

My PT gave me the therabands the first time around and when I wore them out they sold me some new ones for five bucks. Surgical tubing should work fine as well..as long as the reistance is appropriate.