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
If you are anywhere within the Connecticut or NYC regions I suggest looking up Dr. Jo Hannafin. She repaired my shoulders in two surgeries (1 for each shoulder) one in September and one in October. In December I won Rookie of the Meet at the ECAC conference championships. I was a unique case I realize that--I didn't have a labrum tear actually, I had muscle and tissue growth into the rotator cuff by some freaky fluke and she had to cut this muscle and tissue out of the joint and shave some bones and rebuild some areas--but everyone I know who has used her has had great results. She was an Olympic rower, her son is a college swimmer and she was the orthopedic on call at the Olympics in Athens.
Regardless, I definitely recommend seeing another doctor for a second opinion and make sure that they are just as concerned about your future as an athlete as you are. Make sure that they are going to be in contact with the PT that they recommend to ensure that you are getting the proper regiment at PT to get you back to the strength you need to stay healthy through the next season. That was the best part about my doctor--she called my PT at least once every two weeks to discuss my progress and she would fax or e-mail my therapist swimmer specific exercises to include in my rehab...that's so important that the doctor and PT understand the mechanics of swimming so they can understand what exactly needs to be strengthened
If you are anywhere within the Connecticut or NYC regions I suggest looking up Dr. Jo Hannafin. She repaired my shoulders in two surgeries (1 for each shoulder) one in September and one in October. In December I won Rookie of the Meet at the ECAC conference championships. I was a unique case I realize that--I didn't have a labrum tear actually, I had muscle and tissue growth into the rotator cuff by some freaky fluke and she had to cut this muscle and tissue out of the joint and shave some bones and rebuild some areas--but everyone I know who has used her has had great results. She was an Olympic rower, her son is a college swimmer and she was the orthopedic on call at the Olympics in Athens.
Regardless, I definitely recommend seeing another doctor for a second opinion and make sure that they are just as concerned about your future as an athlete as you are. Make sure that they are going to be in contact with the PT that they recommend to ensure that you are getting the proper regiment at PT to get you back to the strength you need to stay healthy through the next season. That was the best part about my doctor--she called my PT at least once every two weeks to discuss my progress and she would fax or e-mail my therapist swimmer specific exercises to include in my rehab...that's so important that the doctor and PT understand the mechanics of swimming so they can understand what exactly needs to be strengthened
