Can you get shoulder injuries even if backstroking correctly
Former Member
If you swim backstroke very frequently say every day, even if your movements are correct, can you still get shoulder injuries due to too many repeated rotations? Have most backstrokes had shoulder injuries or not?
Backstroke can be very hard on the shoulders. The great Lenny Krazelberg, for instance, had numerous surgeries to repair various types of damage over the years, and his form was superb.
There are a bunch of shoulder discussions on this forum, which you might want to read. If you have access to a college team, ask the coach to recommend a doctor for swimmers shoulder. The key, for the vast majority of these problems, is some active rest and exercises designed specifically to stabilize the myriads of other muscles that helps stabilize the inherently unstable shoulder joint in its capsule.
Lenny, by the way, spent much of his time training for his final Olympics by only kicking, sometimes with tennis shoes on. You can modify activity in many ways and not have to give up swimming with your team while the shoulder calms down.
Good luck.
Backstroke can be very hard on the shoulders. The great Lenny Krazelberg, for instance, had numerous surgeries to repair various types of damage over the years, and his form was superb.
There are a bunch of shoulder discussions on this forum, which you might want to read. If you have access to a college team, ask the coach to recommend a doctor for swimmers shoulder. The key, for the vast majority of these problems, is some active rest and exercises designed specifically to stabilize the myriads of other muscles that helps stabilize the inherently unstable shoulder joint in its capsule.
Lenny, by the way, spent much of his time training for his final Olympics by only kicking, sometimes with tennis shoes on. You can modify activity in many ways and not have to give up swimming with your team while the shoulder calms down.
Good luck.
