When people think of swimming, thoughts of vacation and leisure tend to come to mind. Such a gentle sport, or so you thought!
For the competitive or novice swimmer, the prevailing region of the body we treat is the shoulder. In this blog, we'll be discussing the causes and solutions to help your shoulder pain while you swim.
What are the causes of shoulder injuries in swimmers? As noted in the picture above, one of the most common stroke flaws resulting in shoulder pain occurs when the freestyler's hand crosses the midline of the body as the hand enters the water (should be in line with shoulder, not directly above the head or over). This flaw is usually caused by an overrotation of the body and over time, can result in impingment of the shoulder, which is pain near the front or side of the shoulder when raising the arm to the front or side of the shoulder. In addition, if the swimmer's core is not engaged particularly during breathing, that same overrotation of the body can result in the bottom hand drifting pass midline, causing more stress on the shoulder when the catch phase of the stroke is initiated. Biceps tendonitis and rotator cuff tendonitis can also result from this type of hand entry into the water. Another cause of shoulder pain occurs when a swimmer uses a straight arm pull instead of one with a bent arm, again causing a great deal of strain over time in the shoulder.
Easy solutions-
-point it out to the swimmer!
-swim drills with hands at the 1 o'clock and 11 o'clock positions, aka, "superman" glide (should be able to see your hands in the periphery of your sight)
-work on hand entry, vertical forearm, and bent arm pull drills
-core drills in the water to keep your body in balance
