Been swimming 3 years 2 to 3 days a week . Many 70.3 swims no problem but not fast . I average 2minute 10 second per 100 meters . I have been training using training peaks 6 month plan to participate 2024 Texas Full Iron man April 27,2024.
Today is March 21 and have a shoulder pain that bothers me daily but is worse after I swim . I been doing 20 x 100 or just a continuous swim of 2500 to 3000 meters . I know no one has the crystal ball but am considering not swimming at all before race , or maybe a1 long 3500 meter swim weekly or maybe 1 or 2 1000 to 1500 meter swims until race . I am concerned I will lose fitness but at same time I do not want to injure this shoulder and make worse . I am confident to make the cut off time of 2 hour 20 minute but still a little stressed about not swimming for a month. All of my training is in a 50 meter pool . No place for open water swim . I am concerned this shoulder is gonna get worse so am wondering not swim at all before race or very short swims I can tolerate . Any advice helpful . The injury is not cartlege it’ is tendinitis. Thanks
Go see an Ortho. They can help and hopefully get you back in the water pretty soon!
As the OP suggested, go see an ortho doc.
I’ve been having shoulder pain over the last month. Shut down the swim for ~10 days, hoping the pain would be better but it didn’t. Today saw the ortho and after doing some manipulations and looking at X-ray, he thinks I merely have rotator cuff inflammation and gave me a cortisone shot and can resume swimming in 2 days. It’s still TBD if this is the solution, but I’m very encouraged with the initial prognosis.
This may be unpopular but just giving some tough love here.
I strongly recommend you do some band work, rotator cuff strengthening activities. 100-200 each arm before swimming. Personally I would not get an injection before I had exhausted those other measures. I would and am deeply suspicious of any expert who had to do an xray to confirm whether I had inflamed the tendons around my rotator cuff.
Good luck with it. The band work really strengthens your arms, shoulders and forearms, if you can build up to doing 200 on each arm at a time. External rotation rotator cuff exercises.
I agree 100%! I neglected to mention that he did give me a whole packet of exercises to do along with bands of varying resistance.
This - I would skip the ortho, who will tell you it is tendonitis and send you to PT, and find a PT. PM me for the name of a swim specific PT online.
I had rotator cuff tendinitis develop three or four weeks ago and have eliminated it, or close to it, with PT and stroke technique changes
The key is you want a PT who is a swim specialist
Here are the exercises I do:
Lay on side, external rotations w 1 or 2 lb wt
External rotation step out: anchor resistance band to something. Hold in R hand. Step to the right and don’t let shoulder rotate inward
Serratus push ups (google)
Face pulls (google)
Supraspinatus thing - hold two lb wt in both hand, raise arms w elbows in a diamond position. Elbows to shoulder height
There is an excellent chance the pain can be relieved w strength… and better technique
who will tell you it is tendonitis and send you to PT
To the OP, sorry this happened at this time. You can still have a good race that you are proud of!
honestly there is just about no other diagnosis other than something serious that cannot be healed in time. If this was a month earlier, I’d say there is enough time to fix a tear, but with only a month, nah.
And I’ll say it anyhow: You should still go to the pool and KICK. The entire workout. Anyone who says that won’t help you swim faster or is will “tire” your legs for the other disciplines doesn’t know what they are talking about. Feel free to add fins at times too.
This is reason # 2 (maybe #1) as to why you shouldn’t do long straight swims very often. I am NOT in the “never do them” camp. But maybe twice a month tops.
honestly there is just about no other diagnosis other than something serious that cannot be healed in time. If this was a month earlier, I’d say there is enough time to fix a tear, but with only a month, nah.
he said it is tendonitis, not a tear
tear is different story!
honestly there is just about no other diagnosis other than something serious that cannot be healed in time. If this was a month earlier, I’d say there is enough time to fix a tear, but with only a month, nah.
he said it is tendonitis, not a tear
tear is different story!
no I am agreeing with you. What I am saying is if its a tear, well, he’s out of luck.
ah, got it
and yes kicking is a good ROI
.
Longtime swimmer here and I developed some pretty gnarly impingement in left shoulder and tendonitis in right shoulder prohibiting me from swimming in 2020 after a few years of masters swimming competitions. I went to ortho and got MRI to confirm no tears, cortisone shot made it worse, and PT over a few months doing the resistance band exercises started helping a lot, but the only thing that finally cured it was the hanging method described by Dr. Kirsch orthopedic surgeon who discovered this method to heal his own shoulder and avoid surgery himself. I read the book and ordered some deadlifting wrist straps from amazon and began hanging a few mins a day from my pull-up bar and within weeks I was cured, and to this day anytime I feel a twinge, its back to a few mins of hanging with the straps, although I recommend allowing some weight to be supported with your feet, especially when first starting the regiment. Dr. Kirsch shows x-ray evidence in his book of how the shoulder joint can be permanently enlarged with this regiment allowing more room for rotator cuff tendons to move freely and that is how the problems are cured. Honestly, I would not be still swimming and improving to this day without the hanging regiment and of course I still do resistance band exercises to strengthen the shoulder tendons. Here’s the book:
Shoulder Pain? The Solution & Prevention, Revised & Expanded: Kirsch M D, John M: 9781589096424: Amazon.com: Books
Amazon.com: DMoose Weight Lifting Hooks (Pair), Hand Grip Support Wrist Straps for Men and Women, 8 mm Thick Padded Neoprene, Deadlift, Powerlifting, Pull up bar, Liftups, Shrugs : Sports & Outdoors
I’ve heard of that and read Kirsh’s book. I think it definitely works for some people.
lifelong swimmer, have literally had all the shoulder injuries (including shoulder surgery).
Immediate thoughts - you probably have something in your form that’s causing an overuse injury (or did something to make your shoulder angry). Work with someone on swim form to get some correction.
After every swim (and probably a few times per day) - ICE. Seriously.
Go see a sports PT or a sports chiro that does dry needling. Skip the ortho. Orthos will just send you for imaging, inject you with cortisone and tell you to stop doing what you’re doing. A sports PT will give you some corrective exercises and also do some work (dry needling, graston) to loosen things up and restore motion. Then follow their instructions to the letter.
As the OP suggested, go see an ortho doc.
I’ve been having shoulder pain over the last month. Shut down the swim for ~10 days, hoping the pain would be better but it didn’t. Today saw the ortho and after doing some manipulations and looking at X-ray, he thinks I merely have rotator cuff inflammation and gave me a cortisone shot and can resume swimming in 2 days. It’s still TBD if this is the solution, but I’m very encouraged with the initial prognosis.
How will that help? It got inflamed, you rested a bit, that didn’t help (but if it was inflamed, you wouldn’t really have expected it to be sorted in 10 days). You get a cortisone shot, which will help with the inflammation, and the pain it’s causing, but won’t help with why the inflammation started in the first place. And the inflammation won’t be away in 2 days, it will merely be suppressed by the cortisone shot. If you have a race this weekend or next weekend, than it will get you through, but if you want it to be sorted in the long run, you probably need to look at why it got inflammed in the first place, and give it more rest to heal.
That’s a fair response and I agree the cortisone injection is treating the effect, and not the cause.
Given that this is the first time I’ve had a shoulder issue like this in the 40 years I’ve been doing tri’s and being a swimmer since I was a kid, I’m willing to take this approach to start to see how it plays out.
If the pain continues 4+ weeks from now, I’ll get an MRI and see what that reveals to determine next course of action.
The dialogue on this thread has been helpful! Some good options to look into!!
No races on the calendar, just trying to keep in top shape. My training changes very little whether training for an IM, climbing 14ers, doing some open water swims, long hikes, rides or runs. I just enjoy the training and being active. Total privilege that I appreciate more and more with every passing year.
Your user name is great
Glad you had some improvement and recovery on the hangs. It sounds like such a fringe, unorthodox treatment. But it is working for many people. I had heard about it from a masters swimmer kelly Parker palace on her podcast and she swears by it. My limiter to completing hangs is grip strength so the straps are a good idea for me. I can manage 5x30 seconds on and 30 seconds off but it’s very painful to my hands.
Kelly is an accomplished masters swimmer and a life long distance swimmer.
I don’t always like her podcasting style but that may be a cultural difference
Gratuitous observations aside hanging does feel very good and the feeling of taking deep breaths when hanging is doing something remedial as far as I can feel. Kelly describes it as having blood pump through and flush out the shoulder, which correlates nicely to what I can visualise in my head
Been swimming 3 years 2 to 3 days a week . Many 70.3 swims no problem but not fast . I average 2minute 10 second per 100 meters . I have been training using training peaks 6 month plan to participate 2024 Texas Full Iron man April 27,2024.
Today is March 21 and have a shoulder pain that bothers me daily but is worse after I swim . I been doing 20 x 100 or just a continuous swim of 2500 to 3000 meters . I know no one has the crystal ball but am considering not swimming at all before race , or maybe a1 long 3500 meter swim weekly or maybe 1 or 2 1000 to 1500 meter swims until race . I am concerned I will lose fitness but at same time I do not want to injure this shoulder and make worse . I am confident to make the cut off time of 2 hour 20 minute but still a little stressed about not swimming for a month. All of my training is in a 50 meter pool . No place for open water swim . I am concerned this shoulder is gonna get worse so am wondering not swim at all before race or very short swims I can tolerate . Any advice helpful . The injury is not cartlege it’ is tendinitis. Thanks
I had the same thing
Here is what solved it for me
Run the heat in your vehicle while driving to the pool. You want to be WARM
Rotator cuff warmup with surgical tubing for 10 minutes EVERY time before swimming. Look on YouTube
EASY extended warmup before your main set
Substitute fist swimming for your normal stroke. This takes the stress off your shoulder. Look on YouTube for Swimming fist drill
Ice immediately after your swim
RELAX your arm on the recovery. Believe it or not this could be the cause
I would definitely NOT suddenly start kicking a lot
I did that based upon advice here ended up causing soreness in my knee. Bad enough I had to stop biking and running for 2 weeks
That after just increasing kicking 400 yards per day for 2 weeks
Did a search for shoulder injuries, everything else was quite old. good luck Paddyb. I’ll need to post a new thread.
This would’ve been my advice too but it sounds like you answered that OP & are doing a lot of strength work. I’m still a little skeptical of a serious injury on 2-3 swims/week without a ton of intensity. On the surface, it sounds like something where PT & strength could help you continue your normal routine. As suggested, maybe have someone take a look at your form. & maybe think about some coaching if you self coach. It sounds like you just get in the pool & go most days. Lots of ez but continuous swimming. It’s ok to use different pool aids. You can isolate your upper & lower body. You can use paddles to try to build some strength. You can be doing some kick sets while you let your shoulder calm down some. Maybe some more balanced training allows you to be able to find some consistency.
This - I would skip the ortho, who will tell you it is tendonitis and send you to PT, and find a PT. PM me for the name of a swim specific PT online.
I had rotator cuff tendinitis develop three or four weeks ago and have eliminated it, or close to it, with PT and stroke technique changes
**The key is you want a PT who is a swim specialist **
Totally agree. First time I’ve ever seen anyone say this. I’m not sure how a sports doctor or physio is going to fix a swimming injury without understanding the fundamentals of the freestyle stroke. The issue would be an ineffective stroke, which is overloading the shoulder causing tendonitis. How is a PT who isn’t a swim specialist going to diagnose this? As Dr T says, they’ll just say it’s tendonitis, give you a cortisone shot and a bunch of useless strengthening exercises with a band. There is nothing wrong with the shoulder joint or the rotator cuff, it doesn’t need to be stronger, it needs to be not overloaded! And that’s done with stroke correction, something a doctor or PT (with no swim knowledge) is not going to be able to fix.