Swimming Injuries - Solutions?

Be sure to read the book "The 7-Minute Rotator Cuff Solution" by Horrigan and Robinson. We do a set of exercizes at every practice that are derived predominantly from that book. This, coupled with proper "neutral shoulder" technique, has virtually eliminated shoulder problems in our program. I've got an article on my site www.H2OustonSwims.org that gives details - "Hops, Whirlpools, Shoulder Thangs and Stretches"

I've had shoulder, knee, hip and elbow problems in my years of swimming. If it hurts, and it is not muscle soreness, stop right away. Pushing it too far can mean a year off to recover. Take the time to find out what motions and situations are causing the joint pain. Are you warmed up enough? Is it a technique issue? Some joint problems are due to bad technique, but probably not all of them. I had good breastroke technique and weak quadriceps, and got knee problems. This problem rarely bothers me anymore, but I am very careful warming up, and my quads are much stronger. I found for my elbow (medial epicondylitis) that traditional therapeutic exercises irritated the injury rather than helped. Also, the traditional "can of soup" weights are silly since I was doing wrist curls with 35s before I got injured. I did a lot of kicking and "invented" my own exercises to strengthen the forearms. I liked juggling with weights (exerballs) because it was more of a weight bearing exercise than a flexing exercise. This was a masters injury. I also stopped swimming all the strokes that irritated it. For me, the real issue is body awareness. I've gone over the edge enough to know when I'm overtrained and prone to injury, and I know what bursitis and tendonitis feel like when I get them. Run away to fight another day when you get the warning signs. My shoulder injury was as an 18 year old, just plain sprinting without enough warmup. I was probably 1000 yards and 8x50s build short of enough warmup for the speed we did and the level I was training at. Now, of course 1000 and 8x50 might be the whole practice. Ha! I learned that bench press/pushups/dips are very dangerous for the kind of injury I had. I also learned my freestyle technique was weak. Try to see a sportsmedicine doctor that has experience with swimmers. Ask around, college coaches might know someone. Swim fast, Greg

Duncan, I've successfully treated many cases of "swimmer's shoulder" over the years. As a non-surgical option, I suggest you find a competent chiropractor to help with the biomechanics of the thoracic spine/scapula/shoulder structures. I'm happy to "consult" with any doctor you get hooked up with if contacted by e-mail. Being a swimmer, having daughters who were all swimmers and being a chiropractor gives me a unique perspective on this particular problem and I don't expect that the ordinary DC out there will have the same background to know how to approach treatment; nor would I expect most MD's to be open minded enough to consider another view. Let me know if you need my help.

Greg, Greg, and Emmett -- Thanks for your replies! I'll follow your suggestions. Emmett -- can you provide a quick description of "neutral shoulder" position? My recent focus has been on entering the water with the fingers straight ahead (a little bit "pinky first"), instead of thumb-first as I learned. Besides body roll and high elbow catch, is there anything else in particular I should be concentrating on to keep a "neutral shoulder" position? Thanks again! Duncan

As one who has suffered several swim injuries, my advise would be to back off anything that causes pain. Seems obvious, yet I am surprised to see people with sore shoulders continuing to use those garbage-can sized hand paddles. About two months ago, my coach chastized me for not doing enough bi-lateral breathing on freestyle. I get lazy sometimes. So I began doing a lot of left side breathing for compensation. Sure enough, pectoral and triceps pain developed on the right side - so severe that I could only swim one-armed. We finally figured out that it was the way I turned my head that was causing undue pressure on those areas. When I changed that, the problem went away. So: bottom line - check your stroke and experiment around some......... Bert

Never allow the elbow to venture behind the body plane. This is most common when trying to do a "high elbow" recovery with insufficient body roll. Pulling the elbow behind the body plane even slightly can be very hard on the shoulder - especiall in ballistic recoveries in sprinting. Another action the puts detrimental stress on the shoulder is pressing down on the water in front of you with your extended arm.

I started swimming with Masters a couple of months ago - very out of shape. A couple of weeks ago I experienced very sore shoulders as my Monday morning workout progressed. I felt very "bound" up, finding extreme difficulty in upper body/shoulder movement. Needless to say, I was very worn-out when the workout was over (more than normal). Very sore shoulders and neck. While in the showering after practice, I was still experiencing stiff shoulders - it was difficult to raise my arms up to wash my hair. In a split second, I realized the problem - I had my daughters swim suit on - which had to be ATLEAST 3 sizes smaller than mine! Now, at 5:30am, I double check to make sure that I have my own swimsuit in my bag. Just thought I would throw in this "shoulder" humor.......... Loreta Eugene, Oregon :D

I have a shoulder injury from last summer that has not gone away despite physical therapy, icing, and anti-inflammatory medications. Resting is helpful but in large doses has not proved beneficial; my shoulder often hurts more after I've been away from the water for a few days or even a couple of weeks. My coach and I also spent an entire season revamping my freestyle technique to mitigate stress on my shoulder. Recently we have worked out a solution to my shoulder pain that I am comfortable with and that seems to be (gradually) decreasing the overall level of pain. Of course, this would not work if I did not continue to ice my shoulder and do shoulder exercises. First, since I'm the kind of swimmer that feels "out of shape" if I take 2 days in a row off, I swim 6 days a week BUT I take a mandatory easy day one day a week (usually Thursday). So I get in a good workout M, T, W; go easy on Thursday (and focus on technique... and have fun!!!); then a good workout on Friday and Saturday. Second, if there are long freestyle sets (which always aggravate my shoulder), I consult with my coach and we change the routine a little. I started off not allowing myself to do more than 100 freestyle at a time; so I would do 75 free, 25 no free; 75 free, 25 no free. This was great because it challenged me to keep up with other swimmers who were doing all freestyle!! I have been gradually adding the amount of freestyle I can do in a row (usually adding a 25 every 1-2 weeks). Currently, I do 200 free, 25 no free. Third, I never pull. The pull buoy puts my shoulder in immediate pain. Sometimes if others are wearing paddles, I will wear short positive drive fins and then concentrate on using my core strength and my kick to help my arms. I'm really not an expert and this isn't necessarily "the solution" - It's just an approach I'm trying out, and so far, I'm happy with it. The most important thing for me is to come up with a plan tailored to my needs that will allow me to continue improving. Because of the systematic and consistent nature of this plan, it's much better than just getting out of the water when I feel pain in my shoulder, and feeling terrible about missing a workout or getting out earlier. The systematic approach to easing back on the things that hurt and finding other ways to keep the fun and challenge in swimming also prevent me from feeling "mentally guilty" about having to pull back from the full routine.

Glucosamine HCI and Glucosamine Sulfate. BEST JOINT REPLENISHING ANGENT ON EARTH. I have swimmers elbow, and even though it is chronic I can swim 1000's of meters pain free. When it does act up, I take about 3 days to rest and support it with either an ace bandage or an elbow support device. Works for me, but I am still young. (No offense meant, but I really am just a baby at 24, compared to most of the swimmers that I talk to)

I'm entering this thread late, but hope I can still be heard. I want to second Vermont Swimmer's suggestion that there be a special area for the injuries we Masters swimmers sustain. The last time I wrote in it was because of a shoulder injury. The solution my coach came up with was for me to kick for two whole months. Now I am swimming full strokes again and we are working on correcting my stroke and easing me back into my previous workout patterns. Those two months were long ones, but my kick is now much more effective and I come off the wall faster. But equally important to my recovery was the input and support of other masters swimmers on this list. So I'd very much like to see a forum for discussion of injuries.