Tendinitis of the Shoulder??

Do some therapy exercises for rotator cuff.

I got a diagnosis of tendinitis in my left shoulder last March. I didn't swim a hard stroke for five weeks. All I did was kick. Here we are in November, and I'm relatively pain free. On a scale of 1 to 10, the pain is a 1.5. In April, it was a solid 6 every day. If I had decided to swim through rehab, I wouldn't be in the pool right now, in my opinion. Skip the meet and get the shoulder healed. Your body is too precious to waste on one meet. Sure, you might be able to do a start and feel OK during the race, but it's a different story when the adrenaline wears off.

For me ice has been the ticket. Buy a couple gel packs and keep in the freezer ice your shoulder 2 or three times a day. It can really help.

This story is an absolute classic: Comeback swimmer (training for the first meet in 15+ years) overdoes it and discovers that his or her joints and core just aren't what they used to be. Maybe in a perverse way I am lucky, because I had shoulder trouble when I was a teen. When I decided to return to swimming after 10 years away I already knew what I needed to do to protect my shoulders. What you need to do in the short term is follow your PT's advice, first of all. If you don't have a PT, find one who knows swimmers and swimmer's shoulder, and then follow that person's advice. Icing and kicking are certainly going to figure heavily in your training plan for the next several weeks. Kicking is really good for your swimming anyway, if you take kicking seriously and kick hard. In the long run, what you need to do is strengthen the small muscles that stabilize your arm bone in your shoulder socket and that control your shoulder blade. You may also need to alter your stroke mechanics. You can find some excellent advice regarding maintenance exercises for healthy shoulders here and here. But since you do not presently have a healthy shoulder, you should be working with a professional rather than just guessing which of these exercises will be best for you.

The best thing for you is rest and ice. I injured my shoulder 4 weeks ago doing too much fly. I too, am trying to get in shape for meet season starting in January. I strained/tore three major muscles in my shoulder/back and STILL have not done a hard pull set. I've been kicking this whole time to let the joint heal. The pain is constant. I also have rheumatoid arthritis in all of my joints, so that doesn't help either. Skip the meet and let your body heal. If you don't, it will only get worse and you'll regret it. A few weeks of healing is better than a few months of pain!

Thank You all for the input, I am planning on kick sessions for the next couple of weeks, but as for putting off the meet, I know I should, but probably will not. I am planning on making an appointment come Monday with my PCM but I know it will be in vain due to the great medical care offered aboard our military installation. I can always pray and hope I see a doctor willing to refer me out or really take the time to diagnose. Oh, and guess that answers the question if I have sought any medical attention thus far. I honestly thought the first sign of pain was just because I slept on it wrong, but it has persisted morning after morning and much like a shin splint, the pain subsides after ignoring for awhile during a workout so I thought no big deal. So the long and short is I am self-diagnosing, and will try to get it officially diagnosed, but in the meantime I will ice, kick, and take it easy with the arm work. Again thank you all for the advice!! Diana

I suggest rest and ice until you feel no pain and then doing some easy shoulder stability exercises with resistance bands at least twice a week to stabilize the muscles that support the shoulder girdle. When you do start swimming again, increase yardage very gradually and do different strokes to change up the muscles that are working. I would avoid fly until you are sure your shoulder can handle it. You might have someone look at your stroke to see if your stroke needs tweaking. Crossing over midline upon entry can be especially harmful.