Hey there
My knees have been quite sore with the swimming ( probably pushing off the wall and kicking drills seem to bother me) My hubbys Uncle is an ortho and he told me just to swim through it ( as I am not going to do anymore damage). Which I am. I guess losing weight is key. Also strengthening the muscles around the knees.
Obviously they don't hurt enough to stop but they are more sore than before I swam. I kind of thought swimming was supposed to be good for this type of thing.
So I want to hear other peoples stories about arthritis and swimming.
Thanks
Katie
Hi Katie,
I am 32 and have documented arthritis in the left knee and "Carrie-suspected" arthritis in the right. Swimming is my sport of choice! At the moment, it's about the only way I can get a good cardio workout. All of slknights tips are dead on. Here's a couple more things I do:
When my knees are hurting, I am cautious with my push-offs. I will tend to push off a bit more on my tiptoes to spare the knees. I also currently have a self-imposed breaststroke kick limit of about 400 yards per practice (I swim 3-4 times/week). I am a breaststroker who used to rely entirely on my kick so this kinda sucks. However, I do a lot of *** pull with dolphin kick in place of real breaststroke. I use fins with great caution.
Last spring, both knees really flared badly. I had been kicking too much breaststroke, had used fins excessively one day and then swam again the next day and decided to 'attack' all my walls. The stabilizing muscles that keep my knees happy were pooped and I paid for it. Stupid, stupid, stupid. I went to PT for about 6 weeks 2x/week, limited my *** kicking to 50 yards MAX per practice, did all my PT exercises at home with religious zeal, and went to bed every night with an ice pack on each knee. I ended up having a great shave and taper meet at the end of the season... so I think you can do fine swimming with knee arthritis, you just have to be smart about it. :)
Good luck!
Carrie
Hi Katie,
I am 32 and have documented arthritis in the left knee and "Carrie-suspected" arthritis in the right. Swimming is my sport of choice! At the moment, it's about the only way I can get a good cardio workout. All of slknights tips are dead on. Here's a couple more things I do:
When my knees are hurting, I am cautious with my push-offs. I will tend to push off a bit more on my tiptoes to spare the knees. I also currently have a self-imposed breaststroke kick limit of about 400 yards per practice (I swim 3-4 times/week). I am a breaststroker who used to rely entirely on my kick so this kinda sucks. However, I do a lot of *** pull with dolphin kick in place of real breaststroke. I use fins with great caution.
Last spring, both knees really flared badly. I had been kicking too much breaststroke, had used fins excessively one day and then swam again the next day and decided to 'attack' all my walls. The stabilizing muscles that keep my knees happy were pooped and I paid for it. Stupid, stupid, stupid. I went to PT for about 6 weeks 2x/week, limited my *** kicking to 50 yards MAX per practice, did all my PT exercises at home with religious zeal, and went to bed every night with an ice pack on each knee. I ended up having a great shave and taper meet at the end of the season... so I think you can do fine swimming with knee arthritis, you just have to be smart about it. :)
Good luck!
Carrie
