I'm putting together an article on shoulder problems for USMS Swimmer with a different slant. With your help, I hope to identify different types of typical shoulder problems swimmers encounter, symptoms, treatment, and your experience with the outcomes for these problems - a resource for swimmers who experience shoulder problems and how other swimmers have dealt with them and managed them.
If you'd like to be a part of this article, please respond to me with answers to the following questions.
1. Diagnosed name of injury and date it occurred (or how long ago it happened).
2. Initial symptoms.
3. Initial diagnosis - by self, PT, MD, other?
4. Initial treatment - as prescribed by self, PT, MD, other?
5. Additional treatment (including surgery).
6. Length of time out of the water. Please include type of training when resumed.
7. Length of time until back to previous level of training.
8. After treatment do you feel you're at the same level of training and performance as before your injury? A higher level? Have not reached previous level of training and performance.
9. Any other useful comments.
Thank you for your feedback. I appreciate your taking the time to help!
Nancy
Parents
Former Member
1. Diagnosed name of injury and date it occurred (or how long ago it happened).
Right shoulder only. Ultimately determined to be Impingement. Summer 2006.
2. Initial symptoms.
Relatively sudden occurrence – built up very quickly
Pain on freestyle recovery only. Did not hurt during the pull.
Could lift the arm up from the front but not from the side (backstroke recovery was OK)
Have a 6 speed manual shift car and even had trouble changing gears
3. Initial diagnosis – PT:
Rotator cuff tear and calcification of the tendon.
4. Initial treatment - as prescribed by PT:
Theraband (sp?) exercises for the rotator cuff and ultrasound.
This made almost no difference over 6 weeks.
5. Additional treatment (after lack of progress from PT)
Surgeon took xrays and diagnosed impingement causing tendonitis
Gave a cortisone shot.
Immediately after the cortisone it was possible to swim again
Iced the shoulder after each swim as a precaution
Took ibuprofen if things flared up.
At a 6 week follow-up to the surgeon he said if the shoulder could be managed with the with the occasional ibuprofen, he would not recommend surgery (scraping the acromion). Surgery only if it was getting worse.
6. Length of time out of the water. Please include type of training when resumed.
Trying to rest the shoulder there was no swimming for about 3 weeks
Careful build up in swim training over time
Same careful build up with weights (not just shoulder stuff)
7. Length of time until back to previous level of training.
Probably about 4 months
8. After treatment do you feel you're at the same level of training and performance as before your injury? A higher level? Have not reached previous level of training and performance.
Am at more or less where I figure I might be without it but am being very careful with shoulder now – odd movements can hurt.
(as you get older it is tougher to reach previous levels regardless of shoulder)
9. Any other useful comments.
I think what helped the most (other than the cortisone which kick-started things) was weights. I could do some weights at the same level as before but others I had to start from a much lower level.
My shoulder has always been touchy but from a lot of competitive tennis and squash, not from the swimming. Swimming never bothered it - I’m not a huge trainer anyway (3x per week) sticking to racing 50’s with an occasional 100.
I still don’t know what precipitated such a sudden shoulder problem – it did not build up over a long time as I would have thought it would with impingement.
1. Diagnosed name of injury and date it occurred (or how long ago it happened).
Right shoulder only. Ultimately determined to be Impingement. Summer 2006.
2. Initial symptoms.
Relatively sudden occurrence – built up very quickly
Pain on freestyle recovery only. Did not hurt during the pull.
Could lift the arm up from the front but not from the side (backstroke recovery was OK)
Have a 6 speed manual shift car and even had trouble changing gears
3. Initial diagnosis – PT:
Rotator cuff tear and calcification of the tendon.
4. Initial treatment - as prescribed by PT:
Theraband (sp?) exercises for the rotator cuff and ultrasound.
This made almost no difference over 6 weeks.
5. Additional treatment (after lack of progress from PT)
Surgeon took xrays and diagnosed impingement causing tendonitis
Gave a cortisone shot.
Immediately after the cortisone it was possible to swim again
Iced the shoulder after each swim as a precaution
Took ibuprofen if things flared up.
At a 6 week follow-up to the surgeon he said if the shoulder could be managed with the with the occasional ibuprofen, he would not recommend surgery (scraping the acromion). Surgery only if it was getting worse.
6. Length of time out of the water. Please include type of training when resumed.
Trying to rest the shoulder there was no swimming for about 3 weeks
Careful build up in swim training over time
Same careful build up with weights (not just shoulder stuff)
7. Length of time until back to previous level of training.
Probably about 4 months
8. After treatment do you feel you're at the same level of training and performance as before your injury? A higher level? Have not reached previous level of training and performance.
Am at more or less where I figure I might be without it but am being very careful with shoulder now – odd movements can hurt.
(as you get older it is tougher to reach previous levels regardless of shoulder)
9. Any other useful comments.
I think what helped the most (other than the cortisone which kick-started things) was weights. I could do some weights at the same level as before but others I had to start from a much lower level.
My shoulder has always been touchy but from a lot of competitive tennis and squash, not from the swimming. Swimming never bothered it - I’m not a huge trainer anyway (3x per week) sticking to racing 50’s with an occasional 100.
I still don’t know what precipitated such a sudden shoulder problem – it did not build up over a long time as I would have thought it would with impingement.
