The Butterfly Lane

Hello Fly-Folks, One of my goals upon returning to swimming was to conquer 100m Fly along with 200 IM and 400 IM. Our coach has me in the lower IM lane and we do short fly sets 3 times per week such as 8x25 with a decent bit of rest. I seem to be doing better as I can, at least, finish the sets with what I believe to be decent form. The problem I have is shoulder pain. The pain is not during the fly set but rather it shows up 30 mins or so after the workout is over. The pain is directly over the crease of the armpit on the front of the shoulder. Strangely, its only on the left side. A friend who is a rehab PT has told me to heat-stretch-ice and eat ibuprofin like candy. He has no special knowledge of swimming so I thought I would ask here as I have searched the forums and not found much. Has anyone else experienced this type of pain? Will it diminish as I get in better shape (general fitness as well as shoulder specific drylands)? Fly must not win (again)... Bill Unfortunately, it's impossible to tell what the etiology of the pain is without having a shoulder doc of some sort look at it. It could be anything from a tight pec minor, rotator cuff tendonitis, AC joint arthritis (depending on your age), to thoracic outlet syndrome. The asymmetry could be related to technique or functional limitations on that side. Trust me on this. I spent three years going from shoulder doc to neck doc and back again for shoulder and neck pain that was aggravated by fly only on the left side only to find out it was thoracic outlet syndrome. I just had part of my first rib and a neck muscle taken out for it, which fixed the pain. The point is, it could be something directly related to your shoulder or referred from another area. In general, don't swim through joint pain, though most of us do. Swimmers tend to have "upper crossed" syndrome, so you would likely benefit, even if your shoulder were normal, from "prehab" work on your scapular stabilizers, rotator cuff, core strengthening, and posture. G. John Mullen has a good program for this at www.corswimmershoulder.com, but your PT friend and Google search for YouTube videos could get you a lot of the information. Many people have experienced great success in managing/relieving shoulder pain just with this. Avoidance of exercises that aggravate impingement (bench press, dips, etc.) also is important. Most long-term overhead athletes (swimmers, pitchers) have a lot of shoulder pathology, and MRIs of their shoulders look like crap, even in those without pain. Lots of people have had good symptom relief with Active Release Therapy, if you have a practitioner (they're usually chiropractors or physical therapists) in your area. Finally, although shoulders are great for butterfly, it's amazing how much improvement you can get by working on your core strength, streamlined dolphin kick, turns, and breakouts. Read Ande Rasmussen's SDK tips and get serious about it. I've made big improvements and have been able to place high at nationals with one bad wing by emphasizing these other aspects of fly. Good luck!

Hello Fly-Folks, One of my goals upon returning to swimming was to conquer 100m Fly along with 200 IM and 400 IM. Our coach has me in the lower IM lane and we do short fly sets 3 times per week such as 8x25 with a decent bit of rest. I seem to be doing better as I can, at least, finish the sets with what I believe to be decent form. The problem I have is shoulder pain. The pain is not during the fly set but rather it shows up 30 mins or so after the workout is over. The pain is directly over the crease of the armpit on the front of the shoulder. Strangely, its only on the left side. A friend who is a rehab PT has told me to heat-stretch-ice and eat ibuprofin like candy. He has no special knowledge of swimming so I thought I would ask here as I have searched the forums and not found much. Has anyone else experienced this type of pain? Will it diminish as I get in better shape (general fitness as well as shoulder specific drylands)? Fly must not win (again)... Bill Unfortunately, it's impossible to tell what the etiology of the pain is without having a shoulder doc of some sort look at it. It could be anything from a tight pec minor, rotator cuff tendonitis, AC joint arthritis (depending on your age), to thoracic outlet syndrome. The asymmetry could be related to technique or functional limitations on that side. Trust me on this. I spent three years going from shoulder doc to neck doc and back again for shoulder and neck pain that was aggravated by fly only on the left side only to find out it was thoracic outlet syndrome. I just had part of my first rib and a neck muscle taken out for it, which fixed the pain. The point is, it could be something directly related to your shoulder or referred from another area. In general, don't swim through joint pain, though most of us do. Swimmers tend to have "upper crossed" syndrome, so you would likely benefit, even if your shoulder were normal, from "prehab" work on your scapular stabilizers, rotator cuff, core strengthening, and posture. G. John Mullen has a good program for this at www.corswimmershoulder.com, but your PT friend and Google search for YouTube videos could get you a lot of the information. Many people have experienced great success in managing/relieving shoulder pain just with this. Avoidance of exercises that aggravate impingement (bench press, dips, etc.) also is important. Most long-term overhead athletes (swimmers, pitchers) have a lot of shoulder pathology, and MRIs of their shoulders look like crap, even in those without pain. Lots of people have had good symptom relief with Active Release Therapy, if you have a practitioner (they're usually chiropractors or physical therapists) in your area. Finally, although shoulders are great for butterfly, it's amazing how much improvement you can get by working on your core strength, streamlined dolphin kick, turns, and breakouts. Read Ande Rasmussen's SDK tips and get serious about it. I've made big improvements and have been able to place high at nationals with one bad wing by emphasizing these other aspects of fly. Good luck!