Shoulder Poll

Pain or functional impairment that forces you out of the water Had shoulder issues last year, left shoulder only. It felt like a small tear somewhere inside the shoulder, or impingement, or a combination of the two. Took a month off out of the pool, but that didn't cure it. Pain resumed after about 2 days of swimming. Started lifting lots of weights, combination of rotator cuff exercises with very light weights, and standard full-body weight workouts. Lots of shoulder exercises with good, slow form. Lifted through feelings of pain and shoulder clicking, but always felt better after lifting. Tried to take it easy during swim workouts. Swam lots of fist drills, used fins a lot. Tried to focus on improving technique and making both arms' pulls match. Gradually progressed to the point where any soreness in shoulders felt like the good tired muscle sorness instead of strange scary things inside the shoulder torn soreness. After about 2 months of consistent lifting, the shoulder pain pretty much disappeared. Now my shoulders are both fully pain-free. I've been using paddles lately, but I force myself to take 1 or 2 days off of paddles out of the 4 that I swim per week. As a result I now look forward to the days when I get to use the paddles, and can fully use them to my advantage, much like I do with the fins.

Pain or functional impairment that forces you out of the water Had shoulder issues last year, left shoulder only. It felt like a small tear somewhere inside the shoulder, or impingement, or a combination of the two. Took a month off out of the pool, but that didn't cure it. Pain resumed after about 2 days of swimming. Started lifting lots of weights, combination of rotator cuff exercises with very light weights, and standard full-body weight workouts. Lots of shoulder exercises with good, slow form. Lifted through feelings of pain and shoulder clicking, but always felt better after lifting. Tried to take it easy during swim workouts. Swam lots of fist drills, used fins a lot. Tried to focus on improving technique and making both arms' pulls match. Gradually progressed to the point where any soreness in shoulders felt like the good tired muscle sorness instead of strange scary things inside the shoulder torn soreness. After about 2 months of consistent lifting, the shoulder pain pretty much disappeared. Now my shoulders are both fully pain-free. I've been using paddles lately, but I force myself to take 1 or 2 days off of paddles out of the 4 that I swim per week. As a result I now look forward to the days when I get to use the paddles, and can fully use them to my advantage, much like I do with the fins.