Professional Swim Coach
What is your experience in shoulder injuries related to swimming technique?
Barb Augustin •
I have a female swimmer who has less pain if she rotates her shoulders
more (ie ~ 45 degrees to the water surface), recovers her arm slightly
wider and also focuses on a high elbow catch and NOT applying downward
pressure to the water at the start of her stroke. It would also help if
she did her rehab exercises!
Trevor King •
Flexion, abduction and internal rotation at the Glenohumeral are the
likely culprits when looking at shoulder injuries in swimming. In other
words, the upper arm going towards the centerline while turning in and
going above the head. It's impossible to say without a proper evaluation
but you can likely improve symptoms and better train the shoulder by
reducing any of the three in the beginning of the stroke. Changing the
stroke to protect the shoulder is a great short term strategy to
maintain fitness while rehabbing the shoulder. Using functional
movements rather than isolated strengthening exercises will realize far
faster, longer lasting results.
Yvette Middelman •
Hi Jacky, thanks for the info. It confirms my thoughts on the cause of
the injury. I know need to convince the coaches......
Jacki Hirsty •
Good luck! Not everyone realizes where the damage is done.
Torsten Buhre •
Rotating the shoulder up towards the ear is both favourable for reducing
the force applied in the biceps tendon (which is the probable cause of
pain) and also favours a more longer distance per stroke (given that
they have the ability to rotate the head of the humerus bone in the
shoulder joint)
Kevin McCarthy •
Great comments!
As is the case with most of our joints, the shoulder and all its parts responds best to injury and rehabilitation with gradual increasing range of motion and varying motions. Restricted and isolated high impact repetition is the cause of most injuries. Encourage your athletes to involve a more extended reach with the shoulder placing a better advantage to the joint and less isolated load at the joint. The physics rule of "spreading the load" to avoid isolated shock and impact applies directly in physiology too! Focus on ‘animated movement’ and whole body ‘help and assist’. This can be exemplified in prone arm pulls with pulleys using variable resistances, then apply the technique in the water.
Of course, use of PDF fins to help redistribute propulsion and load, as well as lengthening the swimmer dramatically helps in the case of shoulder injury and rehab.
As is the case with most of our joints, the shoulder and all its parts responds best to injury and rehabilitation with gradual increasing range of motion and varying motions. Restricted and isolated high impact repetition is the cause of most injuries. Encourage your athletes to involve a more extended reach with the shoulder placing a better advantage to the joint and less isolated load at the joint. The physics rule of "spreading the load" to avoid isolated shock and impact applies directly in physiology too! Focus on ‘animated movement’ and whole body ‘help and assist’. This can be exemplified in prone arm pulls with pulleys using variable resistances, then apply the technique in the water.
Of course, use of PDF fins to help redistribute propulsion and load, as well as lengthening the swimmer dramatically helps in the case of shoulder injury and rehab.
Gary Vandermeulen •
Shoulder injuries in my experience are over-use injuries. If a swim
programme is lead by a philosophy of; the further you swim the faster
you will go, then it is likely that he majority of swimming is done on
Freestyle. If a swimmer's stroke over-reaches under their body and then
follows a traditional 'high elbow' recovery, then the shoulder joint
will be taken through its extreme range of motion thousands (possibly
tens of thousands) of times daily. This is a recipe for an over-use
injury.
Additionally if the philosophy is also 'no pain, no gain, then the language of the body (ie Pain) is ignored. This exacerbates the problem even more.
Additionally if the philosophy is also 'no pain, no gain, then the language of the body (ie Pain) is ignored. This exacerbates the problem even more.
Kevin McCarthy •
well said Gary!
Ezra Clarke •
I find after going to the doc rest and alot if gym work, works for my
swimmer but some don't ever come back 100%
Nicolas Messer •
Just recently there was a great article on SwimSwam by Michael Sanders
on how to take care of your shoulders. Read it at
http://swimswam.com/shoulder-maintenance-important-swimmer-levels/
Greg Rasmussen MBA •
Personally I hurt my shoulder last spring training for masters and spent
a fair bit of time rehabbing and researching it. I believe preventative
medicine is by far the best approach. HOWEVER there was one interesting
tidbit that came up that I found very interesting. A lot of injuries
(or worsening of injuries) come when swimmers are diving into the water,
apparently the force and angle of the force on the shoulders can be a
major cause. My own rehab (so far) included a list of ten strengthening
exercises plus certain specific nutritional supplements. So far, so
good.
Edith Clashing •
My younger daughter who is now 21 has struggled with a shoulder injury
for the last 4 years and we have had our rounds of x rays, MRI, physio
and chiropractic therapy to try and get it sorted out. We have however
come to realize that the injury really stems from incorrect pull
technique on the side of the injured shoulder. The best preventative
medicine is for sure early detection of incorrect technique and using
the appropriate drills to make the correction. In her case, the habit
of pulling on the injured side will take quite a while to correct as its
easy to fall back into the old pattern on long sets.....but already,
conscious attention and the right drills are already making an impact.
Mircea Olaru •
Mircea Olaru • Hi, [again by Google translate..., sorry],
"" What is your experience in shoulder injuries related to swimming technique ?""
I saw that the topic is discussed more comments . Unfortunately I did not read all [no I do not know English well ...] but in my experience, such accidents comme from the swimmer also from from the coach (normaly)....
What could be wrong swimmer to get in such a situation? Most seem to come from two causes linked: lack of mobility in the shoulder [ hereditary, genetic ] appropriate practice good swimming technique [ and that means more specific exercise / aerobics , fittnes ] .. . , and the second is weak or superficial heating of large joints before the jump in to water .
From the coach , and his reproach might be dropping out of sight of those two things ... either abuse swimming distance [ top aerobic zone / ' stady -state '] in the notion that endurance is the only way to obtain .. .. , obviously forcing the extension of high tempo joints can lead to cartilage damage and in such cases, fortuitous , swimmer have ' to take it easy ', a convenient time [ not to mention sports medicine procedures offered by fiziotherapie , pharmacopoeia , and so on ] .
Beginners do not raise such issues .. they appear especially large juniors or adults , but especially those in the ' masters ' where some former swimmers think they can do whatever they could to junior age ...
Swimming is a sport movement more remarkable smoothness results are explained by flexibility , this one can have from ' the mother ' or you can educate [ famous Michael Phelps , and always will be his first since the developments as a junior , before ordering ' start ' ... make some moves , he only used the longer require shoulder , once again , to be ' naughty ' and ' relax '. Perhaps this exercise and relaxation and heating shoulder ... it helps , always , the last few meters of the contest to bring victory !
Have a good day
Mircea [ scanave@yahoo.com ]
"" What is your experience in shoulder injuries related to swimming technique ?""
I saw that the topic is discussed more comments . Unfortunately I did not read all [no I do not know English well ...] but in my experience, such accidents comme from the swimmer also from from the coach (normaly)....
What could be wrong swimmer to get in such a situation? Most seem to come from two causes linked: lack of mobility in the shoulder [ hereditary, genetic ] appropriate practice good swimming technique [ and that means more specific exercise / aerobics , fittnes ] .. . , and the second is weak or superficial heating of large joints before the jump in to water .
From the coach , and his reproach might be dropping out of sight of those two things ... either abuse swimming distance [ top aerobic zone / ' stady -state '] in the notion that endurance is the only way to obtain .. .. , obviously forcing the extension of high tempo joints can lead to cartilage damage and in such cases, fortuitous , swimmer have ' to take it easy ', a convenient time [ not to mention sports medicine procedures offered by fiziotherapie , pharmacopoeia , and so on ] .
Beginners do not raise such issues .. they appear especially large juniors or adults , but especially those in the ' masters ' where some former swimmers think they can do whatever they could to junior age ...
Swimming is a sport movement more remarkable smoothness results are explained by flexibility , this one can have from ' the mother ' or you can educate [ famous Michael Phelps , and always will be his first since the developments as a junior , before ordering ' start ' ... make some moves , he only used the longer require shoulder , once again , to be ' naughty ' and ' relax '. Perhaps this exercise and relaxation and heating shoulder ... it helps , always , the last few meters of the contest to bring victory !
Have a good day
Mircea [ scanave@yahoo.com ]
-the programme includes repeated 'getting out of the pool' especially out of the deep end
-if a swimmer is hyper flexible (subluxing)
-if a swimmer is very tight (tendons)
-if a swimmer always carries a heavy bag on one shoulder (imbalance due to strain)
-if a swimmer sleeps on their side on the same arm/shoulder (no circulation)
-if a swimmer changes from low milage to high milage in a very short period of time (ie club or group change)
-and poor technique (huge number of scenarios)
All these issues can be addressed and should be things a coach is aware of.
You as coach should do a detailed analysis of the swimmer's stroke mechanics, and look for factors which might have aggravated it, but don't beat yourself up over it. These things happen. I have a list of factors I will scrouge up and add later.
can you add to that list...hanging by the shoulder on the gutters at the deep end between intervals and sets?
Other factors (ah-hah, found my list), in addition to proper warm-up, and scapular (and other) stretches and conditioning, and insufficient core rotation, mentioned above include,
Crossing over the line on entry, and during pull.
In terms of swinging wide on recovery, vs. traditional high elbow closer to the body, I think there is an optimum distance. Swing too wide and the longer fulcrum arm puts more stress on the rotator cuff, although it does open up the shoulder some to reduce impingement. Keeping too close to the body with low body rotation angle tends to reduce the range of motion of the shoulder and I think increase impingement.
Lack of stroke symmetry, by not requiring bilateral breathing, leads to inadequate inadequate rotation on the non-breathing side, as well as unequal muscle development.
Too high a percent of time spent on freestyle can cause problems, as well as a sudden increase in workout intensity can trigger it.
Growth spurts following development changes can trigger it.
Things which help avoid or reduce problems, include developing a stronger kick,
stronger core, more consistent body rotation, working on catch and pull with "reaching over the barrel" and early vertical forearm (I like the fist swimming idea above), and maintaining vertical hand positon during pull as well as proper release so the swimmer is not pushing upward at the end of the pull.
Havent had any complaints about fly but we always practice a 'floppy' hand in recovery which takes a lot of tension out of the arm during recovery...