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Swimming with Strong Shoulders
Over the past several decades interest in competitive swimming has grown considerably. Swimmers often develop shoulder pain as they push to go faster and farther. Learn how to keep strong shoulders so you can enjoy your swimming program.

Swimming is an extremely popular activity, with 120 million Americans reporting that they swim regularly. More than 165,000 regularly competing swimmers are registered with United States Swimming, Inc., and organized competitive swimming is also available through summer leagues, YMCA/YWCA programs, high school and college swimming programs, Masters Swimming and Special Olympics.

Over the past several decades interest in competitive swimming has grown considerably. This is due largely to increased media coverage of national and international swim competition. Swim personalities have become more familiar to the public.

Age group swimming usually begins with competitive events for 6 to 8 year olds. Today’s successful competitive swimmer trains 10 to 11 months a year in their career which may last as long at 10 to 15 years. The life span of a competitive swimmer may extend into the sixth and seventh decades. Frequently swimming remains a lifetime mode of exercise.

The pain usually stems from overusing the rotator cuff muscles and typically comes on gradually. The rotator cuff muscles attach the upper arm to the shoulder blade. They help hold the head of the humerus, or upper arm bone, in the shoulder socket and help with shoulder motion. The looseness allows for lots of movement however, with continuous use the muscles fatigue and become overstretched. When this happens, the arm wobbles in the joint and pinches the muscles and tendons that wrap over the shoulder.

The heavy repetitive nature of competitive swimming lends itself to Swimmer’s Shoulder. The freestyle stroke being the most common injury causing stroke. The freestyle stroke makes up 75% to 90% of a workout. A swimmer’s shoulder rotates 1,200 to 1,500 times with every mile of freestyle that they do. An average high school work out will include about 4 miles of swimming a day! (A mile is 66 laps of a 25 yard pool, such as the Riverside Middle School Pool.) Compare this to a major league pitcher who may throw 1,000 pitches in a week.

There are three common mechanisms of injury:

• poor technique

• decreased flexibility

• strength imbalance

How an individual swims plays a vital role in the prevention of shoulder pain in practice and competition. The swimmer and the coach must pay close attention to the details of stroke mechanics. The coach must be observing each swimmer making sure that they are performing each stroke well. And each swimmer must be aware of their technique making sure that they are performing each stroke within the guidelines of that stroke. This is achieved with stroke drills in conjunction with endurance drills

Adequate flexibility is essential. Time should be taken after each warm-up for on-deck stretches prior to the main set work out. Yardage and intensity must be increased gradually at the start of each season and warm-up and cool-down periods should be lengthy. After long kicking-only sets, a swimmer needs additional warm-up before using arm strokes at normal speed.

Also included in this mix is a good dry land program. Shoulder and scapular strengthening must be incorporated using low weight/high repetition programs. Time should also be spent on core or trunk strengthening that will allow for more control with each stroke.

So, what to do if you are experiencing Swimmer’s Shoulder? Make sure that your coach knows that you are having some pain. Once an injury has been identified the athlete should be advised to see the athletic trainer and or a sports medicine physician. Initial treatment may include relative rest, ice and anti-inflammatory medication. Relative rest is returning to the level of training at which the shoulder did not hurt. If the pain persists at this level, further reduction in training intensity should be considered.

Swimmer’s Shoulder is a common condition which all trainers and coaches should be familiar with. There are accepted modes of prevention and diagnosis which can help the athlete return to competition. If the physician, trainer, coach and athlete communicate and work closely together, fast, fun and injury-free swimming will result.

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