I had rotator cuff surgery on my right shoulder in August of 2017 and did six months of rehab 2 to 3 days a week. The Occupational therapist that did my rehab and the doctor, let me start doing some light swimming at six months, about 5 minutes at a time, but I was not allowed to stick my arm straight out and pull back. They wanted it bent. I did a few sprints like this. And eventually worked up to about 20 to 30 minutes three times a week able to swim normal. I have never had any prior formal swim training so I started masters swimming in august of 2018. I noticed more soreness and a little pain whenever I went more than two days a week. Practice is on Tuesday and Thursday. It’s mostly focused on technique. We hardly ever go over 2000 yards and that includes the drills. Saturday practices focus on yardage. In total I did 12 sprint races last year. Starting in January of this year I started adding 2 or 3 more swims usually somewhere between a 1000 and 2000 yards to help me get ready for the 70.3 in Chattanooga in May. The pain and soreness are constantly there. It’s more nagging pain than anything. I can live with it as long as I am not doing more damage. So I went back to surgeon on Monday of this week and met with his PA. He examined my shoulder. Strength and range of motion are good, they don’t think I have reinjured. He said the frequency of the swimming and repetition of free style stroke is most likely causing inflammation in the shoulder and if I continue that frequency, I run the risk of tearing it again. That the repetition is not good for it.

He recommended going forward my training schedule should be swim a day and take two days off. Ice it after every swim, and I would be better concentrating on sprints since they have shorter swims and would require less swim training and to start doing the strength training exercises I was doing in rehab again. I also contacted the OT that did my rehab and she questioned why they did not give me a cortisone shot and suggest some therapy. She also recommended a week off.

So I wonder if swimming a day and then taking two days off after each swim will give me enough training to be ready for the 70.3, and I wonder if anyone else who has had this surgery, has had a similar outcome and recommendations. I have been happy with the outcome from the surgery overall. It has improved the quality of my life. I just wonder if my expectations of what I was going to be able to do swim wise after the surgery are unrealistic or if I should get a second opinion.