The Shoulder Pain Checklist
So now the festive season has finished, you're probably starting to think a little about the next season ahead and what you can do to get yourself off to a flying start. It has been estimated that 80% of the adult swimming population will suffer from some degree of shoulder pain during their swimming life to the extent that it might cause you to stop swimming for one or more sessions at a time.
As you may have read from our popular blog post Is Your Swim Fitness in a Permanent State of Snakes and Ladders? anything that causes disruption to the consistency of your training is well worth addressing, especially when this particular issue of shoulder pain management is relatively easy to fix with a few key areas to remain aware of whilst you're swimming.
We've discussed the causes of shoulder pain in various posts (e.g. here and here) in the past but today we wanted to just focus on four points which we'll call our "Shoulder Pain Checklist" that you can easily incorporate into any session from today as you swim.
These simple points will be especially beneficial to you if you start to feel some discomfort. With the estimate that 80% of us will experience some shoulder pain when swimming at some point in our lives, the chances are you've already experienced some discomfort. So let's get cracking!
The Shoulder Pain Checklist
As soon as you feel any discomfort, try these in order:
1) Check your stroke for a thumb-first hand entry and/or a midline cross-over as you enter into the water - the two leading causes of shoulder soreness in swimming. Your hand entry should be finger-tips first and for the middle finger to be extending forwards in front of the same shoulder, not across. Watch this video clip for a great demo of how to do this properly: www.youtube.com/watch?v=s3HhNlysFDs
2) Whichever shoulder is giving you trouble, try breathing more frequently to that side for several hundred meters. This will force you to rotate better to that side and consequently reduce some of the pressure on that shoulder. Even just being conscious of rotating more to that side will help.
3) Try shortening the stroke just a smidgen (5cm less reach - whilst hardly noticeable - can make a big difference for those with overly long strokes), spearing a little deeper and elevating the stroke rate just a touch puts little less load through each stroke cycle.
Many swimmers have been taught - or led to believe - that by actively gliding at the front of the stroke they will be more efficient. Unfortunately this stochastic stop-start type of stroke leaves the shoulder in a very vulnerable position stretched out under load in front of the head in full shoulder flexion. Swimmers who wait patiently with their hand out in front of the head until the next stroke almost catches up tend to be in a totally flattened body roll position by the time they commence the catch. This puts significant stress on the rotator cuff muscles and is exactly what we want to minimise. Even if you don't feel like you have any pause-and-glide in your stroke, try spearing a little deeper and lifting the stroke rate, you might be surprised how much this will help.
4) Try straightening the arm a touch during the recovery phase over the top of the water rather than aiming for the classic high elbow recovery with the elbow pointed to the sky and the finger tips trailing over the surface of the water. Whilst this goes against conventional wisdom, a straighter arm recovery for many swimmers with reduced flexibility and less experience in the water can actually be more efficient and less injurious to the shoulder. Combine a slightly straighter arm with a focus on loose shoulders and good mobilisation of the shoulder socket.
Remember, most swimmers do experience some degree of shoulder fatigue / soreness at some point in their swimming lives so rather than thinking of this as a fact of swimming life, take the steps above to counter the problem as soon as it starts occurring.
Of course booking in for a 1-2-1 video analysis session with one of our Swim Smooth Certified Coaches is not only the best way to improve your speed and efficiency but also the best way to identify and correct issues in your stroke that can cause injury - highly recommended for anyone experiencing any level of pain.
Here's to a great season - Swim Smooth!
As you may have read from our popular blog post Is Your Swim Fitness in a Permanent State of Snakes and Ladders? anything that causes disruption to the consistency of your training is well worth addressing, especially when this particular issue of shoulder pain management is relatively easy to fix with a few key areas to remain aware of whilst you're swimming.
We've discussed the causes of shoulder pain in various posts (e.g. here and here) in the past but today we wanted to just focus on four points which we'll call our "Shoulder Pain Checklist" that you can easily incorporate into any session from today as you swim.
These simple points will be especially beneficial to you if you start to feel some discomfort. With the estimate that 80% of us will experience some shoulder pain when swimming at some point in our lives, the chances are you've already experienced some discomfort. So let's get cracking!
The Shoulder Pain Checklist
As soon as you feel any discomfort, try these in order:
1) Check your stroke for a thumb-first hand entry and/or a midline cross-over as you enter into the water - the two leading causes of shoulder soreness in swimming. Your hand entry should be finger-tips first and for the middle finger to be extending forwards in front of the same shoulder, not across. Watch this video clip for a great demo of how to do this properly: www.youtube.com/watch?v=s3HhNlysFDs
2) Whichever shoulder is giving you trouble, try breathing more frequently to that side for several hundred meters. This will force you to rotate better to that side and consequently reduce some of the pressure on that shoulder. Even just being conscious of rotating more to that side will help.
3) Try shortening the stroke just a smidgen (5cm less reach - whilst hardly noticeable - can make a big difference for those with overly long strokes), spearing a little deeper and elevating the stroke rate just a touch puts little less load through each stroke cycle.
Many swimmers have been taught - or led to believe - that by actively gliding at the front of the stroke they will be more efficient. Unfortunately this stochastic stop-start type of stroke leaves the shoulder in a very vulnerable position stretched out under load in front of the head in full shoulder flexion. Swimmers who wait patiently with their hand out in front of the head until the next stroke almost catches up tend to be in a totally flattened body roll position by the time they commence the catch. This puts significant stress on the rotator cuff muscles and is exactly what we want to minimise. Even if you don't feel like you have any pause-and-glide in your stroke, try spearing a little deeper and lifting the stroke rate, you might be surprised how much this will help.
4) Try straightening the arm a touch during the recovery phase over the top of the water rather than aiming for the classic high elbow recovery with the elbow pointed to the sky and the finger tips trailing over the surface of the water. Whilst this goes against conventional wisdom, a straighter arm recovery for many swimmers with reduced flexibility and less experience in the water can actually be more efficient and less injurious to the shoulder. Combine a slightly straighter arm with a focus on loose shoulders and good mobilisation of the shoulder socket.
Remember, most swimmers do experience some degree of shoulder fatigue / soreness at some point in their swimming lives so rather than thinking of this as a fact of swimming life, take the steps above to counter the problem as soon as it starts occurring.
Of course booking in for a 1-2-1 video analysis session with one of our Swim Smooth Certified Coaches is not only the best way to improve your speed and efficiency but also the best way to identify and correct issues in your stroke that can cause injury - highly recommended for anyone experiencing any level of pain.
Here's to a great season - Swim Smooth!