I’ve been a duathlete for years, 6 to be exact. I’m 23. I’ve done a couple triathlons, but never trained for the swim.
I decided 2013 would be the year of my first half ironman, and my goal is sub 4:35. I’ve been swimming since Sept. I started out at twice a week and built up to 4 times per week through Sept. - Nov.
After a couple weeks of swimming 4 times per week I started to develop pain in my left shoulder. If I take two days off, I can get back in the pool and feel fine until the end of the workout, and the cycle continues. I can get away with swimming 3 times/week, pain free. The issue is I want to build up to swimming 6-7 times a week. I don’t seem to be improving at 3 times per week, and this shoulder is really pissing me off. I do have some swimming experience, I was a lifeguard and also raced breaststroke competitively for 4 years in high school, so my strokes are pretty good. It is possible that there are some mechanical problems with my freestyle. I did a 400m tt in 5:52 back in September when I was getting into it, so I know the speed is there, just need to build the strength to hold for 1900m.
Anyone have any stories of how you made it through swimming injuries? How did you do it? Any advice is appreciated.
Make sure you are not over rotating on your stroke.
I had shoulder issues throughout high school and college (swam competitively for 18 years). Took several years off then decided to start training for triathlons, shoulder issues flared up again. Had a coach that looked at my stroke and said I was over rotating (reaching over, crossing over) on the pull. So I now try to make an effort to not cross over, use the black line if I have a lane to myself and just focus on keeping each hand on opposite sides of the line while swimming…since then no shoulder issues when swimming.
I beat this by doing a ton of weights, especially rotator cuff exercises with weights or bands. I tried heat and ice and it really made minimal difference. The weights were great!
It would help to know where the pain is, what it feels like, and more details about it: does it start as soon as you get in or after a certain amount of yardage? only at one part of the stroke? does it die down when you are in between laps and then build back up when you start swimming again? does it hurt outside of the pool? what motion duplicates the pain? is the shoulder tender to the touch and, if so, where exactly? etc
I would use a two pronged approach: get your stroke assessed by someone reputable (what part of the world are you located in?) and get the shoulder assessed by a good orthopedic doctor who can tell you exactly what is irritated (bicep tendon? tricep tendon? is it muscular? rotator cuff?) so you can begin a strengthening routine targeted at that issue and overall strengthening and stability of the joint.
Get a reputable coach to do a 1/1 session with an underwater camera. Get an evaluation by an orthopedist to pinpoint the exact issue and begin a regimen of strengthening and stretching and maybe even PT for the issue. You should probably also take a look at your swim workout and examine how many yards free versus other strokes. As triathletes we tend to swim only free which really exacerbates joint issues. I switched from doing all free to doing 2/3 of my workout free, the other 1/3 backstroke. That really balanced out my shoulders and eliminated my shoulder issues.
And there is really no reason on earth to swim 6-7 days a week unless you’re a competitive swimmer in season. Stick with 3x week.
You need to build strength, but first fix what is leading to the problem, most likely over rotation. I had a lot of problems in college,a nd recently started swimming again. My coach noticed the over rotation first thing, and we worked on fixing it. Now I don’t have any problems.
I had a full thickness RC tear consecutive to a fall on a run on trails. Came with a labral tear. Given the evidence between rehab and surgery,
I went the PT route. The evidence is not much in favor of surgery unless there is a total tear, no mobility, etc.
Anyhow, took 6 months to get back in the water and 2 more to start swimming seriously…and 4 more to actually want to swim, but that’s a different
story
Rehab was initially 3 times a week, with a very good PT. After 8 weeks, it went to 2 times, and 8 more weeks once only. Key is to find a very good
PT to work with you, someone who understands that you don’t want just your arm to not hurt, you want to swim, etc.
Like others have said here, strengthening the area in question plus correcting your stroke is the best two things you can do immediately.
Also, how are you approaching your program? You mentioned that you have pain after swimming 4x per week, but at what volume? If you increase from 3x to 4x and are doing say 2000 meters per workout then you could start by adding on 200 meters to the 3 workouts (minimal increase) for a total of 6600 instead of 8000 through the 4. Like any other type of workout, progression is very key if you aren’t used to the movements.
Make sure you are not over rotating on your stroke.
While excessive rotation, or excessive anything, can lead to overuse injury, it has been my experience that a far more common cause of shoulder pain is under rotation. When you do not use the rotation of the torso to generate power, you rely on the shoulder to do so. When you do not use rotation to drive the stroke, the shoulder does all of the driving. Swimming flat makes the shoulder work much harder, and through a much larger range of motion.
I’ve had a separated shoulder, SLAP tear, and various other stuff in the right shoulder. It’s from over-reliance on one side for power. Fix comes by babying it and developing the other side to even it out.
Crossing over is the usual culprit for shoulder pain, but it could be a whole host of other problem associated with your swimming form. If you come from a swimming background, which it looks like you do, then it’s unlikely that you’d have a shoulder injury from simply putting in too many yards/meters in the pool or OW as long as you’re not eclipsing the 20km/week mark, but that the problem stems from your stroke mechanics.
Check your form specially during the catch and pull phase. I’ve read that if you go very strong on those instead of using more power in the pull, you will be more prone to shoulder issues (see below link showing proper force on each phase). Google it and will come up pretty quick. Also other post have posted good advice on seeing doctors, strengthening rotator cuffs muscles but if your form or applied-power is flawed, then you will go back continuously to the same spot and perhaps degenerate into something else. Good luck http://www.swimmingtechnology.com/index.php/aquanex/aquanex-examples-push-phase/
We use Indian clubs for our swimmers to strengthen the shoulders. We used to have a lot of rotator injuries but since incorporating them into our stretching routine we’ve had a big decline in injuries.
Anyone have any stories of how you made it through swimming injuries?
I can think of dozens of swimmers who had shoulder injuries. 100% of the time, it was the ultimate demise to their career. Sometimes they squeaked out a few more seasons, sometimes they never made it back at all.
You seem pretty serious so here is an off the wall suggestion for you: spend 75% of your swim workouts kicking. Some with a board, some without. Do 75’s where you kick w/board first 25, kick w/out board 2nd 25 and swim freestyle the 3rd lap. All sorts of sets like that. You will get faster - way faster actually - if you really make this your routine.
It is possible that you have an injury that can be dealt with through proper stretching and strength training. But my experience tells me that once you start having shoulder pain it really never goes away.
A ton of rehab exercises
A little work on my stroke mechanics
Fewer yards
Andrew Moss
This x2. Full-range of motion shoulder weights with light resistance will build up stabilization strength. Reduce volume/ focus on mechanics - rotating is important but most people rotate by leading with their shoulders. Use your core/hips to drive the roll.
stroke analysis is first, you need to figure out why this has started happening… in the years since high school it’s likely your body has grown/changed enough that it may be impacting what used to be a perfectly good stroke.
in my case shoulder impingement started because I got old… cured it with six weeks of PT (when the insurance stopped paying), Pilates, and continuing with the PT exercises for another eight months. Since then it pains me occasionally, but a couple of weeks of doing the exercises again will usually beat it off.
The strengthening exercises should include rotator cuff and the scapular muscles, retractors and depressors.
All of these are tiny muscles and easily fatigued, so the goal of the exercise in each case is perfect movement, not the usual triathlete go-hard workout.
I have the same issues…big time over rotation, went WAY to hard (5-6 days a week between 3-5K per session). One day it started hurting and never stopped. That being said, I tried PT…and it didn’t really help much. I used to play a lot of baseball and football so I did have some pre-existing labral/cuff issues so that’s a factor as well.
