"Swimmers Shoulder"
SwimminTukker
Posts: 38
in General Chat
Hi Everyone! - SwimminTukker has been diagnosed with "swimmers shoulder" - inflammation of the rotator cuff muscles/ tendons (The key muscle group of the shoulder is the rotator cuff, made up of (from anterior to posterior) the subscapularis, supraspinatus, infraspinatus, and teres minor.) Have had pain in the front of my shoulder for some time now, especially after long sessions.
Think I know the causes, i.e. overuse, poor form (I'm too dominant on my left side), lack of "body roll" etc. Question: can anyone share experiennce and specifically any rehab or strenghtening exercises that I should build into my programmme??
Cheers everyone!
Think I know the causes, i.e. overuse, poor form (I'm too dominant on my left side), lack of "body roll" etc. Question: can anyone share experiennce and specifically any rehab or strenghtening exercises that I should build into my programmme??
Cheers everyone!
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Comments
I used to get this problem all the time from overuse and from an old rugby shoulder dislocation injury but a bit of quality physio and a proper warm up seem to have worked wonders!
Now if I could just do the same with my posterior tibialis injury I would be happy[:)]
Iain.
I dislocated my shoulder last year, this not only caused the initial problem of a rotator cuff tear and a capsule lesion, but also caused the joint to become very stiff and inflexible.
This caused a serious problem with my swimming as my already weak left side was even weaker, as my pull was very short, as I couldn't reach very far behind me, if you get what I mean!
I also found after I had swam about 500m my shoulder would really start to ache, as it was being pushed a bit further than it wanted to. I attacked the problem in two ways.
Firstly I increased my body roll, this helped so much as it meant I wasnt reaching back as much as I was only my side during the pull. I could now complete the full pull!
But I still got a bit achey after 500m or so, although not as severe as before.
So i took up yoga!
I do 20mins a day, and my shoulder flexibility has improved remarkably and has now pretty much what it was before, and I dont get any aching anymore!
I reckon if you take up yoga, and increase you shoulder flexibility, combined with an increase in body roll you may find this helps!
Also yoga will help lots with your swimming in general, especially ankle flexibility - childs pose!
Without copying the images from my sports injuries text book I've managed to locate good images explaining the exercises on the net. Only complete the rotator cuff exercises as there's a whole load of other exercise stuff there too.
http://www.binghamton.edu/athletics/strength/rota.pdf
Your physio/sports therapist should be able to help demonstrate the exercises if necessary.
Must look at some of these rotator cuff stretching exercises, though.
The best piece of kit to aquire is a Theraband which can be taken anywhere and used daily to strenghten the Rotator Cuff. The excercises that Trispace linked to were the same ones I was given with the addition of a 45degree angle as well as the 90degree.
I was also given seated shoulder press with dumbell sets to strengthen the whole shoulder.
Seems to work well and I incorporate them into any gym session I do.
Highly recommended.
DJ
Hope it helps - for morale if for nothing else
Mike
What have i done to alleviate this problem? I've learnt to high elbow catch for one. This puts much less pressure on the
shoulder joints as you push through the stroke rather pull your body along. The shoulder is designed better for pushing than
pulling. I learnt to do this off 'you tube' watching the pros, and dave scott's stuff. Also through swimplan.com, good drills for
getting the catch and, and recovery right, and pushing through the water. It's free too.
I was also visiting the british school of osteopathy, they tried for about two the months. They managed to reduce the pain, but never get rid of it.
Then i saw an osteopath in winchester. He was very gently, then he asked, 'did i mind acupuncture?' To which I replied 'try anything!'
About two days later I could move that arm like I hadn't moved it for about 6 months. I was amazed!!!!
I started playing some cricket this year and it made things bad again. Back on the osteo table. He works on it a little. However, it's maintenance depends on my stroke action. Bi-lateral breathing has made a massive difference, it helps keep my shoulder muscles balanced. I find the point of pain in the 'long head bicep tendon' which is what your all refering to, is when I extend my arm recovery of my stroke to just prior to the catch. My body is rotated and it squeezes the joint there. This happens if I don't 'extend to air properly' and try to catch too early. Also I find I must try and keep my arm in the plane if it's shoulder, and not moving toward the centre line, as is my natural inclination.
However, like others have said it's also down to good stretching and keeping the muscle loose, and trying to stay relaxed in the water.
I really hope this helps, I know the pain, I've had it both shoulders and it awful. But my does get better with treatment and care.
Like the osteo, I can't just stick a pin in it and make it better everytime. You have to look after it.
Good luck