I am a bilateral breather but have always been weaker breathing to my left. Almost inevitably, since I have increased my yardage significantly, I have developed some shoulder pain in my right shoulder. The pain is felt mostly when I breathe to the left when it feels as though there is maximum strain on the right shoulder. Now i have been taking it easy this past week trying to figure out what is going on. Probably most significantly, I do not feel any pain when I am doing catch-up drill and my stroke feels much better. What does this tell me? I have also been focusing on finger-tip drills to keep my elbows up and have abolished my habit of thumb first hand entry, with some success. Any more suggestions in terms of drills to work on this, particularly increasing body roll on that side.
not sure of you age, but a couple of years back when I was 31 and just started back I started getting shooting pain in my left shoulder, I breathe every stroke to the right.
I went to see my Dr about something else and asked him what I could do for my shoulder.
I should point out that he's a funny friendly Dr, but he basically told me that my body is not as young as my mind, and I should try to reduce my training and slowly build it up.
At the time I had no intress in racing so I was able to slow down and just work technic for about 6-8 weeks. now I only have problems if we do lots of pulling with paddles.
This is very much the blind leading the blind, but I had much the same issue as you, as a fellow bilateral breather strong right side pain in r shoulder. Mine was poor technique straining the shoulder, with a low elbow during the pull, not enough roll, and reaching with the arm too much versus reaching with the shoulder and arm. Reaching with the shoulder sounds goofy, but try it and you'll feel what I mean.
Mainly, using a pull buoy so I could focus on stroke, I worked on keeping the elbow high during the pull; that was instant relief and fixed almost everything. Rolling the full 45 and reaching with the shoulder and arm fixed the rest.
Obviously, rest it as much as you can and DON'T aggravate it.
not sure of you age, but a couple of years back when I was 31 and just started back I started getting shooting pain in my left shoulder, I breathe every stroke to the right.
I went to see my Dr about something else and asked him what I could do for my shoulder.
I should point out that he's a funny friendly Dr, but he basically told me that my body is not as young as my mind, and I should try to reduce my training and slowly build it up.
At the time I had no intress in racing so I was able to slow down and just work technic for about 6-8 weeks. now I only have problems if we do lots of pulling with paddles.
Yeh this is what I am doing now. I have pulled right back from more intense sets and instead am focusing on technique, kick and the other strokes. I am 29!
This is very much the blind leading the blind, but I had much the same issue as you, as a fellow bilateral breather strong right side pain in r shoulder. Mine was poor technique straining the shoulder, with a low elbow during the pull, not enough roll, and reaching with the arm too much versus reaching with the shoulder and arm. Reaching with the shoulder sounds goofy, but try it and you'll feel what I mean.
Mainly, using a pull buoy so I could focus on stroke, I worked on keeping the elbow high during the pull; that was instant relief and fixed almost everything. Rolling the full 45 and reaching with the shoulder and arm fixed the rest.
Obviously, rest it as much as you can and DON'T aggravate it.
LOL sounds exactly like my problem. I am pretty sure it is technique because, like you, I can relieve the pain by focusing on proper form. I feel it most when I reach out and I really struggle with the roll on my right side. It feels an awful lot like I am raising my head to breathe rather than rotating. I was over doing it for a few weeks with some tough sprint sets and I think tiredness set in and my stroke deteriorated. I guess I need to go back to basics. It has forced me to work more on my kicking too though, which is one good thing!
