I ended up with a nasty case of shoulder tendonitis from swimming (and probably weight lifting too). Per Physical Therapist directions, I took a month off of swimming. Then he said to add back 10 minutes per workout of swimming every week or 2 and if it hurts back off. Has anyone had to do something like this before? When you did get back to an hour long workout what did you do to help prevent re-injury? The PT thinks I just added on too much at once. I had been doing 40 minutes three times per week for a long time then went to 1 hour 3 times per week and that's when the problem started.
I have searched on injuries but the posts are more about medical help which I've already gotten, not about how to workout afterwards.
Parents
Former Member
Slow and steady is what wins the race. If you try to get back too fast--you'll only have additional troubles the rest of your swimming life.
Follow the therapist's instructions. If you try to get back to what you were doing (pre-injury)--you're gonna find that it just won't heal and you'll never get back.
Each person is an individual. There is no set timetable as to when you're going to fully heal. Some NEVER fully heal. It depends on your age, your sex, your nutrition and what kind of shape you were in BEFORE injury. Some people's shoulders were not made to do workouts 3x a week for an hour. Also--some strokes aren't great for injury-prone shoulders. Were you doing butterfly for most of that workout?
Example--I was fine swimming laps for approximately an hour (with some rest periods) for about 4 weeks of summer swimming 5-6 x a week. By mid-July--I was in some pain. I continued swimming--by Labor Day--in the ER with severe pain. By March--on operating table (after doing PT from Sept-February).
I had been swimming all winter long for about an hour 2x a week. When I jumped to the 5-6x a week and added some distance (lcmeters for the summer vs scy for winter)--that's when I got into trouble.
Again--no specific timetable. However, the longer you take for the injury to fully heal--the better your chances of it NOT happening again. You should be doing the PT exercises on a regular basis for the rest of the time you hope to swim. It doesn't stop just because you're "healed".
Slow and steady is what wins the race. If you try to get back too fast--you'll only have additional troubles the rest of your swimming life.
Follow the therapist's instructions. If you try to get back to what you were doing (pre-injury)--you're gonna find that it just won't heal and you'll never get back.
Each person is an individual. There is no set timetable as to when you're going to fully heal. Some NEVER fully heal. It depends on your age, your sex, your nutrition and what kind of shape you were in BEFORE injury. Some people's shoulders were not made to do workouts 3x a week for an hour. Also--some strokes aren't great for injury-prone shoulders. Were you doing butterfly for most of that workout?
Example--I was fine swimming laps for approximately an hour (with some rest periods) for about 4 weeks of summer swimming 5-6 x a week. By mid-July--I was in some pain. I continued swimming--by Labor Day--in the ER with severe pain. By March--on operating table (after doing PT from Sept-February).
I had been swimming all winter long for about an hour 2x a week. When I jumped to the 5-6x a week and added some distance (lcmeters for the summer vs scy for winter)--that's when I got into trouble.
Again--no specific timetable. However, the longer you take for the injury to fully heal--the better your chances of it NOT happening again. You should be doing the PT exercises on a regular basis for the rest of the time you hope to swim. It doesn't stop just because you're "healed".
