I got “lucky” last year by me getting what is called Parsonage Turner syndrome, or neuralgic shoulder amyotrophy (for those of you who like google…its a 1 in 100 000 chance).
I don’t have a very severe version of it but my brachial plexus nerve took a hit and now I have a weakness in my Supraspinatus and Serratus anterior. This causes my shoulder blade to stick out (scapula alata) when I lift my arm and prevents me to reach a full stretch (above my head)…I am about 10 month into my recovery and have re-gained some strength and am now considering to swim again. Question is: Will swimming mess up the ligaments in my shoulder when my shoulder blade does not move properly and eventually cause friction? I am entirely pain free but would rather pause for a while longer rather than trading one issue with the other…
Any thoughts? Any other “lucky ones” amongst the Slowtwitch crowd?
Thanks
Uli
PS: My Physio gave me permission to swim 20 min a week, which will likely not bring me to the finish line of a 70.3 this year…
Like most things, it depends. Perhaps a bad usage, but “the dose makes the poison” has merit when worried about overuse injuries. Does your physio swim or have experience working with serious swimmers? Swimming itself won’t mess anything up in isolation, but the risk/reward, and therefore how much of it you do, is going to be unique to your own risk tolerance, injury history, current shoulder flexion range of motion, stage of recovery, thoracic spine motion, etc. I don’t think anyone could give you meaningful advice on this thread without knowing that type of information.
Some additional thoughts:
-Are you still improving in rehab? If your shoulder mobility and strength are still improving, then perhaps consider maximizing that before going crazy in the water.
-For all the fear-mongering I’ve seen, there is little evidence to suggest that the position or movement of one’s scapula is itself a risk factor. Much of the biomechanics/pathokinesiology concepts in the physio world are theory driven (i.e. it’s a consideration but a protruding scapula in isolation doesn’t have to be bad).
-Be creative in how else you might supplement lack luster swim volume (e.g. body control drills, utilizing a snorkel, utilizing a vasa trainer, etc.)