I seem to have chronic low grade shoulder problems, but so far these have not forced me to stop swimming. I no longer do butterfly, and not much backstroke, either. I don't use paddles or kickboards. Otherwise, I just muddle through the discomforts, which are sometimes greater and sometimes lesser.
I have definitely become depressed over shoulder pains in the past, especially when the pain gets fairly significant and I fear it will eventually force me out of the water. Mood and pain are powerful reinforcers for one another. Exercise is one of the best ways for me to fix a bad mood. If I can't swim with an optimal level of effort because of shoulder pain, I put on zoomers and find I can still get my heart rate up high--if not higher--and this lets me stay in the pool and enjoy the camaraderie of my teammates.
I answered "symptoms serious enough to make you modify workouts and/or avoid strokes but does not sideline you." I hit significant shoulder pain, so first I stopped using a kickboard and switched to streamlined kicking on my back. That worked for a while but eventually caused a different, more severe shoulder/upper arm problem so I stopped doing kick sets longer than 50 yards. My shoulders have been generally fine in the few weeks since making that change. And since getting rid of the kickboard a couple months ago, I have had zero toys on the pool deck. :)
Last year I had shoulder problems severe enough to keep me out of the water for a month,go to PT for 4 mo. and modify my workouts.I still must modify my workouts,doing little fly and back.and little free sprinting:cane:.I am also doing more of my free swimming with fins and sometimes fist swimming with fins if my shoulders start to get twitchy.At least I can pretty much do my regular breaststroke workouts.I couldn't last year and that was depressing.:violin:
That would be a very serious (or large) appendix that affects the shoulder..... No?
Seriously, I did have a shoulder strain that was swimming-related to the third degree:
1- It was at the Summer open-air pool.
2- I was trying to help an older gentleman move a chaise-longue one-handedly (and impress the ladies at the same time).
3- He stumbled and dropped his end and the sudden drop and weight of the whole darn thing pulled my shoulder.
................ about three months (and several physio sessions) later, I was able to swim again.
I have shoulder issues every once in a while when I slide back into bad habits. It reminds me to correct my stroke and it goes away by the next practice.
That's how it is now for me too. But growing up I would definitely push pass the pain and first ended up in therapy at 10. And with responses from the coach to complaints of shoulder pain like "that's why God gave you two, keep going"...it's no wonder it took me so long to realize it was my stroke technique not just a part of swimming.
As a youngster I managed to survive the 10-20,000+ meters/day at Cal with nothing more than the occasional bout of bursitis.
Now, after getting back in the water 6 months ago after a 20+ year lay-off, I find myself with what has initially been diagnosed as AC joint athritis.
Basically, unable to move right arm across body.
Have received an injection in the AC joint, and am severely restricting my yardage buildup after having taken 9 weeks off.
I'm confident that I will be ready for LCM Nat's in August. We'll see about Austin... Sometimes, you just gotta say ":censor:"
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.
occasional mild symptoms that resolve on their own
I have been swimming for 4+ months but weight training for 17 years as of this summer. I have yet to have any shoulder problems from swimming. I have also found I do not get sore from swimming; however the most I have swam in one session so far is 3200m in a 25m pool. I DO get sore from weights!
Jim -
At one point in college, I was doing so much backstroke that my shoulders would roll out of socket and "pop" back in. I went to specialists and they told me surgery had a 50-50 chance of making it better or worse.
So... I rested for a week, then swam other strokes for a few, and then slowly went back to backstroke, but with a much more balanced workout (back to free). I finished the season (my senior year) with some of my best times, laid off for a year and then started in Masters, but always keeping a balance.
No surgery, no "PT", just common sense and balance.
