Need more info. How long have you been training/swimming? How much swimming are you doing? Did you recently up your yardage significantly? Where exactly is your pain? Do you have a technique coach? Are you doing a lot of paddle training? Any other info you could provide might get you some good advice.

I got it about a year and a half ago from drastically increasing my yardage and my effort at the same time. I stopped swimming for about a month, did some very light lifting. Eased back into the pool and built the yardage and intensity slowly. Might be an indication of a flaw in your stroke too, so you probably want to have a coach look at you. Also, I credit my massage therapist with helping me stay healthy (no hard evidence on this, but I think it works).

Andy

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Andy

'You'd be surprised how many people violate this simple principle every day of their lives and try to fit square pegs into round holes, ignoring the clear reality that Thinsg Are As They Are.'

Last year I did up my yardage a lot and on T and Th we had a swim group that tended to go hard. I have only used paddles a couple of times but just lightly. Not using them anymore. There is a coach there. No noticeable swim technique issue. I started to get the impingement at the end of last season so I stopped swimming from Sept to Jan. Now that I have joined the group it has come back so I am back to the no overhead and elastic bands for strength. Any other recommendations?

Check out Gordo's tips page for some info on swimmers shoulder.

I have used ART on a calf injury and it worked well for that. I would say it is worth a try.

Great piece on Gordo's site right now re: swimmer's shoulder:

http://www.coachgordo.com/forum2/upload/index.php?showtopic=2488

I did ART on two (close together - to help with one problem) occassions and it seemed to help. Worth a try.

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http://www.clevetriclub.com

rob reddy

I do a few things to strengthen my shoulder to prevent this. I used a strengthening band and I do a couple rotator cuff exercises. They're pretty easy to find on the net with a search. I then do forward raises with light dumbbells. The last thing I do are pushups with my arms just a little wider than my shoulders. These exercises have helped keep the pain away.

Mike

Swimmer's shoulder responds reasonably well to both proper strengthening and form changes. If you don't fix them you'll continue to suffer.

In the strengthening side, commonly we get overdeveloped in certain parts of the shoulder capsule and the rest of the capsule doesn't keep up. So you need to balance things out to help your sholder stay healthy. Balancing things out means doing exercises that work muscles that are underworked in the pool. So you wouldn't go to the gym and start doing bench presses, that would strengthen your chest and internal rotators even more than they are now.

USA swimming has published a reference for strength training of your shoulders to keep them healthy. It's here, http://www.usaswimming.org/...d=700&ItemId=700

Coaches info service has an article regarding technique changes to keep your shoulders healthy here. http://www.coachesinfo.com/category/swimming/118/

Stay on top of the exercises and take a close look at yourt form and you'll be able to stay healthy.

I second Rowdy's comments about strengthening the shoulders. Swimming larger volumes without complementary strengthening (and stretching) exercises will often create a muscle imbalance.

The first time I encountered this problem the therapist had me place my arms at my side tucked against my torso, elbows bent 90 degrees with my hands straight out. First test was to push my hands inwards while the therapist held them apart - no problem. Second test was to push my hands outward - the therapist could resist my efforts using a couple fingers.

End result, I do weights to strengthen my rotator cuffs and stretches to keep them loose.

You can also try doing off-strokes (especially back) for some relief. This at least keeps you in the pool.

Ditto.Screwed my shoulderup last September.....started ART in November.Seemed to help but could just have been the passsage of time plus theraband exercises.They definately work(start with the easiest band and gradually progress up)but you have to do them religiously.I am back in the pool with refined yardage and a slightly modified stroke...I think my problem was on the pull with my hand crossing the midline and placing undue stress on the rotator cuff(that or I am just an old git).Anyway take a look at this website for a few exercises.Hope it helps.....pain in the arse injury

http://www.whsd.k12.pa.us/...20Injury.htm#Prevent

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non illigitamus carborundum

this might be completely off the mark but my swimmers shoulder is caused by having my work area poorly set up - basically the mouse and key board as I use the PC a lot during the day.

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Simple Simon
Where's the Fried Chicken??

I've had it before. Nasty little bugger.
Mine was caused by sloppy butterfly, and made worse by a slight chink in my freestyle.

No butterfly, and correction to my stroke. Presto chango, no problem now.

If it's really bothering you, take some time off.
Otherwise, I'm going to guess your messing something up in your stroke. Freestyle should not hurt. Period.

All I have to say is Tennis ball!!!

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Proud member of Team Tooth Pick (TTP): like a leaf in the wind.

ART has helped me with my swimmers shoulder but as the previous postes have stated, check your form as well.

Swimmers shoulder is an inflammation of the long head of the biceps tendon. This tendon rest in a groove in your shoulder. AS you rotate your arm inward the tendon moves up and down in the groove. If you initiate your stroke too fast (pull too hard in the beginning of the stroke) you cause the head of the humerus to jam into the tendon. Eventually it become inflammed. You will notice pain, swelling and heat coming from it. In some cases the tendon pops out of the groove and you can actually hear a snapping sound when you are swimming.

Remedy: Back off your yardage and swim with fins for a while to lesson the stress on your shoulders. Ice your shoulders several times a day. Take anti inflammatory drugs. If your pain is acute take several days off. When you resume swimming do lots of finger drag drills to keep your hands close to the water on recovery. Ease into your stroke. The flexing of your wrist and initial downward press have very little propulsive value. They are set up. Do them slowly! Once your stroke is set hammer away.

A good test each day is to press on the front of your shoulders. If you are experiencing any soreness it is a sign of swimmers shoulders (biceps tendonitis).

DougStern

Definitely could be Biceps tendinitis, but could also be a rotator cuff injury. Go see your physiotherapist but in the mean time make sure you ice your shoulder as much as possible. 15mins at a time max.

No-one hear can really make an accurate diagnosis without seeing the shoulder - that's why you need to go to a physio to have it correctly diagnosed.

Mouldy,

You have a keen eye. The man should have a real diagnosis.

DougStern

Comes from being an ex swimmer and current physio student!

Mouldy,

All of the replies are great and very helpful. Thanks. Is there a website to find physio providers?
Is that a lot different than a physiatrist?

Finally getting back to all my replies. Thanks. What's up with the tennis ball? Explain...

I think what we call physiotherapists in Australia are known as physical therapists in the USA? Can't help you with where to find one from this side of the world!

A tennis ball can certainly help with swimmer's shoulder. Not the total solution, but a good part.

You can use a tennis ball to loosen up the muscles of the rotator cuff and surrounding area. I won't bog down with the technicalities, but all you need to do is lie on the floor or lean against the wall with a tennis ball between your back and the wall/floor.

Roll the ball around between your back and the wall/floor. You should definitely find some tender spots. Wherever it's tender or painful, stay there for a minute or more. The more painful the spot, the longer you should keep the pressure. Apply as much pressure as you can tolerate.

Okay, I'll bog you down with muscles to target. Some of these you'll need to grip/push with your bare hands:
http://www.rad.washington.edu/...s/supraspinatus.html
http://www.rad.washington.edu/...s/infraspinatus.html
http://www.rad.washington.edu/atlas/teresmajor.html
http://www.rad.washington.edu/atlas/teresminor.html
http://www.rad.washington.edu/...pectoralisminor.html
http://www.rad.washington.edu/atlas/rhomboids.html
http://www.deeptissue.com/learn/neck/scalene.htm

Good luck! I am keeping my swimmer's should under control with the above technique. Props to Julie @ Julstro for these techniques!

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Proud member of Team Tooth Pick (TTP): like a leaf in the wind.

ART will definitely help.

A physiatrist is an MD specialising in Rehab. A physio / physiotherapist / physical therapist has at least one degree in Physiotherapy, but is usually not an MD.

Deke

I had swimmers shoulder for 2 years. It's now 99% gone, so I thought I'd post up what worked and what didn't work for me. It first flared up in my right shoulder after a 10km OW race, the pain was so bad I couldn't swim and rested for 6 weeks, which did nothing. I eventually had a cortisone shot (not ultra sound guided) and I was able to swim 10 days after the injection. It was pretty effective and the pain only returned occasionally in mu right shoulder (breathing side). Unfortunately I then got pain in the left shoulder and this was more stubborn. 2 x cortisone shots only gave temporary relief, obviously whatever was causing the problem hadn't been fixed so it was always going to return I guess. I had a very good sports Doctor as well as physio. But in retrospect, the problem was they weren't able to identify what was causing the problem. They could tell me I had poor flexibility in certain muscles and gave me the appropriate stretches, which was fine, but I really needed a health professional who also understood specific biomechanics of swimming. I suppose ideally they would have looked at underwater footage of me and been able to identify what was the culprit.

I suppose with time, perhaps the various stretches they gave me would have worked, but I reckon it would have taken months. There was virtually no improvement after 4 weeks and I felt the rotator cuff band exercises they had given me were actually making it worse. I kind of gave up trying to fix it and just modified my swimming, anything longer than 200m brought on the pain, so my main sets were predominantly 25s, 50s, 100s. Paddles were a definite no-no, pull buoy, fins and floaty core shorts all helped with the pain, less strain in the shoulder. I also would kick a lot, so a 4km set might include up to 1500m kicking. I was able to maintain an OK level of swim fitness and actually did better in races, more of a case of me focusing on drafting (because of my lack of swim fitness).

I did see another highly recommended physio, hoping she might have a different approach/angle, but nah. So I set about trying to fix it myself, firstly by trying to identify what part of the stroke was putting the greatest load on my shoulder. It was a bit confusing at first, because it seemed that the greatest pain was when I was in the recovery phase, this turned out to be a red herring. It wasn't that obvious what was responsible for the pain. I eventually figured out by looking at some footage that my left arm was dropping (see photo below) too deeply before I initiated the catch and as it dropped, with the hand/arm pushing down on the water, it would put a massive load on the rotator cuff. I was able to emulate this out of the water, arm extended out it front, with my palm pushing down on a desk/table. Bam I could feel the exact pain I got when swimming, so the proverbial penny dropped!

It still took a while to fix as I really needed to modify a few elements of my stroke, tinkering around with a number of things. The main thing that helped was getting the Early Vertical Foreman, not dropping the elbow, getting the high elbow early on meant virtually no load on the RC. There are other things that would reduce the load as mentioned earlier, core pants, pull buoy, bi-lateral breathing, changing stroke rate, timing of breathing, body position etc but I reckon (at least in my case) unless that dropped elbow isn't address you'll continue to have that problem.

Re cortisone, I'd recommend it, but I'd go to a sports doctor that specialises in shoulders, who can identify the exact problem and use ultra sound to guide it. Hope that helps. BTW I have read every article on the web re Swimmers Shoulder so am pretty much qualified to give medical advice on this condition.