Swimmers... particularly Masters Swimmers... tend to develop unique injuries. It is really hard to find information and solutions for these problems outside of the aquatic world. I would appreciate it if folks who have overcome shoulder/elbow injuries (or other swimming related problems) could post information on what your injury was, and how you solved it.
My selfish reason for this new thread? I've been dealing with "swimmer's shoulder" for about 6 years (I'm 32). I'm trying to find a non-surgical solution that will allow me to continue to swim (relatively pain-free?). I swim everything from sprints to open-water marathon swims -- and my shoulder pain (which has spread to my neck and elbows) is making it less enjoyable.
Looking forward to hearing some success stories. Thanks!
Duncan
Parents
Former Member
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
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
