Hi! So I am a serious competitive swimmer. I've been swimming since I was little (over a decade by this point) and I had never had any shoulder pain until this March. It was the end of my season and we were tapering down for NCAA's and all of the sudden my shoulder starting hurting more and more everday. Swimming backstroke caused the most pain (kind of a problem since I am a backstroker) and it got to the point where I couldn't take a stroke of backstroke without being in agony. I also couldn't sleep on that side. I took a lot of aleve and swam through it b/c I needed to be able to race at NCAA's. Once I stopped training backstroke the pain was less acute and more tolerable. I thought that with some time off it would go away. However, even with 2 full weeks of no swimming something still didn't feel right. As time has gone on (very minimal off season training) I've developed extreme tightness in my pec and all across the top of my back and neck.
I went to a sports doc at home and they did an MR arthrogram and diagnosed me with a Labral tear (he said it was a slight tear) and some impingement. My doc said that he thinks some of the pain I am experiencing could be related to the way my back and shoulder muscles have developed after so many years in the pool; but if that was the case it seems strange that my shoulder would all of the sudden start hurting like this. Anyway, he said that he doesn't think I need surgery at this point and I should be able to resolve the problem with physical therapy. I'm just worried that once I get back to serious training (4-5 hours and 12,000+yards a day in the pool plus dryland) it will just start hurting again and it will affect my season.
Does anyone know anything about/experienced this kind of problem? Especially serious athletes or swimmers? My hope was that I could resolve this over the summer so I would be ready to go once my college seasons starts up in the end of August. I was a 6 time All American this past season as a freshman so oviously I feel a certain amount of pressure to follow up on that with a great sophomore season. I have my first PT apptment on Monday but any advice or personal anecdotes would be great appreciated!
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Former Member
I had a torn labrum about 3 years ago - I am older (39 now) - but I never had even a sore shoulder from swimming - then all over sudden my symptoms started exactly like yours - related to backstroke, not terrible pain, but enough to cause some serious problems. I had surgery and a very long recovery - but I think my PT was way too conservative.
Here are some very good swimmers who had this -- Lenny Krazelburg (more than once), Natalie Coughlin (before 2000) and Nick Brunelli (last summer).
For sure contact Nick Brunelli through the Race Club Board - he will for sure give you his opinion + rehab schedule and all of that. He even posted a forum blog on race club about his rehab.
Not all torn labrum require surgery - but for swimmers most of them seem to have surgery (Coughlin did not - but also did not do any arm pulls swimming for I believe 6 months). Brunelli's rehab was quick - I believe he swam US open after doing the surgery in August.
Also go to another doctor - best one that deals with baseball players + throwing motion sports. This is not the end of swimming - but this is very serious for a swimmer. The problem is that - at least that's what they told me - the labrum does not heal on it's own at all --- so depending on how bad the tear is, you are somehwat limited in terms of options.
Let me know what else you need + where you are located -
Hoc
I had a torn labrum about 3 years ago - I am older (39 now) - but I never had even a sore shoulder from swimming - then all over sudden my symptoms started exactly like yours - related to backstroke, not terrible pain, but enough to cause some serious problems. I had surgery and a very long recovery - but I think my PT was way too conservative.
Here are some very good swimmers who had this -- Lenny Krazelburg (more than once), Natalie Coughlin (before 2000) and Nick Brunelli (last summer).
For sure contact Nick Brunelli through the Race Club Board - he will for sure give you his opinion + rehab schedule and all of that. He even posted a forum blog on race club about his rehab.
Not all torn labrum require surgery - but for swimmers most of them seem to have surgery (Coughlin did not - but also did not do any arm pulls swimming for I believe 6 months). Brunelli's rehab was quick - I believe he swam US open after doing the surgery in August.
Also go to another doctor - best one that deals with baseball players + throwing motion sports. This is not the end of swimming - but this is very serious for a swimmer. The problem is that - at least that's what they told me - the labrum does not heal on it's own at all --- so depending on how bad the tear is, you are somehwat limited in terms of options.
Let me know what else you need + where you are located -
Hoc
