Swimming Injuries

Injury Prevention

1. Stretching

Simple right? Yet how many of us actually make time to stretch as part of our daily routine. It’s an investment in your body’s future. Even five minutes a day can make a long term impact.

2. Warm up/Cool down

Insuring your body is adequately warmed up before pushing your limits is another key to staving off injury. Giving muscles time to stretch and lengthen will help you ward off later pains. Likewise cooling down helps protect muscles after a rigorous training session.

3. Ice

Is awesome. After particularly rough days a bag of frozen peas or crushed ice feels like heaven on fatigued muscles. If you have known problem areas icing regularly can be a huge help in injury prevention.

4. Massage

You know you deserve it! Treat yourself and your body to massage therapy as least once a month. Massage therapy can help resolve existing issues and prevent new ones. Plus they are relaxing and rejuvenating. A win-win scenario if I ever saw one.

5. Hydration

Hydrated muscles are happy muscles and they recover faster!

Hydration

1. Water First

Carry it around with you, make it easily accessible. Don’t like water? Infuse it. Fruits, herbs, and veggies even. Let them sit overnight in a gallon of water and ta-da! Instant good tastes. Fun combo: lavender and lemon with a bit of vanilla.

2. Keep Track

Be aware of your water consumption especially if you are an athlete. If you aren’t drinking at least a gallon of water in a day you will be negatively affected by varying levels of dehydration. Studies have consistently shown the positive effects of drinking water constantly throughout the day. From brain to muscle function, being well hydrated makes for a happy body.

3. Sports Drinks

In moderation can be highly beneficial. Water lacks the necessary sodium our bodies need to retain fluids and some of these drinks can help. Water should still be your first choice, but if you are working out for over an hour at high rates of intensity you will likely need more than just water.

We've heard it before, swimming is a non-contact sport, swimming is great for rehab, or even *gasp* you can't injure yourself swimming. False, false, false. I'm not saying every swimmer is destined to face injury, however, it is much more likely if you don't take preventative steps. Communicate concerns with your coaches, ice, and be informed.

The most common swimming injury faced by swimmers are shoulder injuries. Rotator cuff issues, tendonitis, and stress fractures are not uncommon. I've dealt with them all.

Rotator Cuff Injuries

A rotator cuff injury involves muscles and tendons that surround your shoulder joint. Those muscles and tendons can become inflamed resulting in a constant dull ache. More severe injuries to the rotator cuff, like tears, may result in surgery or shots. The good news is you can take care of most minor rotator cuff issues by being proactive.

Rotator Cuff Exercises

Performing rotator cuff exercises with small hand weights is a must for any swimmer, regardless of whether they are rehabbing or preventing an injury. In reality doing them daily takes less than 10 minutes, a small investment in time compared to your overall time spent training. In most cases, a three to five pound hand weight or a medium gauge length of surgical tubing is sufficient. If you are using surgical tubing, you can perform exercises by either standing on the middle of your tubing or wrapping it around a pole.

Raises

Raises: Begin with your hands at your side holding your weights. If you are using tubing, stand on the middle and hold one end in each hand. With your pinkies up and your thumbs down, raise your straight arm to shoulder height and lower. Never let your arms snap back to your sides. To reap the full benefits of this exercise, you must control both up and down motions. There are two directions (side and front) in which to perform this exercise, but never go past shoulder height. Concentrate on the contracting of muscles around your shoulder blades and visualize them drawing together.

Repetitions: 10 reps of side raises and front raises with each arm.

Inward & Outward Rotators

For the next exercise hand weight users will need to lie on the ground on their side. Tubing users will be standing utilizing a pole. Whether on the ground or standing, the elbow must maintain constant contact with your side. Allowing your elbow to float away from your body negates the benefits of this exercise. Hand weight users will be one directional with this exercise, in a controlled motion (no flinging) lower your weight to the ground so your forearm runs parallel with it, then raise until your forearm until it is perpendicular to the ground, pointing straight up in the air.

Tubing users, wrap your tubing around a pole and hold both ends in one hand.

Outward: Keeping your elbow in contact with your side, begin with your fist holding the tubing pointing towards the pole and crossing your midsection, step away to increase the intensity of the exercise. The shoulder not in use is closest to the pole. Now slowly bring your fisted hand away from the pole as far as you can while maintaining elbow contact.

Inward: To reverse this exercise do a half turn with your body. Your elbow will still be at your side, and your hand fisting the tubing will still be pointed towards the pole, but now the shoulder not in use will be opposite the pole. Repeat.

Tendonitis

Tendonitis is the inflammation of muscles and tendons often results from ignored/untreated rotator cuff injuries. Tendonitis can feel like a biting or stabbing pain and often result in lost pool time. My annual bout with tendonitis arrived during Christmas training. However, I could prevent lost pool time by being proactive in the weeks leading up to increased yardage.

Preventing Tendonitis:

• Frequent icing
• Massages
• Muscle stimulation therapy helped considerably.

Communication

Don't ignore rotator cuff pain. Immediately communicating discomfort to your coaching staff is key to get proper feedback and advice. If you are still concerned, visit a a doctor with a sports medicine background.

Icing & Muscle Fatigue

Always ice fatigued muscles immediately after practice to accelerate muscle repair and stave off tendonitis. Don't skip this important maintenance! Look for convenient treatments - apply a bag (or two) of frozen peas when you get home or see your trainer to be padded with ice bags and cling wrap.

Stress Fractures

Stress fractures are tiny cracks in a bone created by the repetitive application of force from athletic motion and overuse.

Overtraining

Not all stress fractures are preventable; some swimmers have weaker bones. However, overtraining is easily prevented.

I loved my coach dearly and gladly followed his direction. In hindsight, a 12-13 year old swimmer should probably not swim 10,000 yard distances for time. If you have concerns about your swimming load-  discuss them with coach in a respectful manner. Ask questions and gain insight.

I suffered a stress fracture in my right shoulder when I was thirteen years old. I was out of the water for three months and endured the same length of rehab time (a regime of exercises, ice, and sessions with the muscles stimulation device).

Why is stretching important for Swimmers?

Newcomers to the sport of swimming and lap swimming may think that athletic success is entirely dependent on speed and strength - but performance and wellness cannot be achieved without proper flexibility.

Read on to find out how these basic stretches add huge benefits to your Freestyle stroke.

Stretching Maximizes Swimming Performance

A swimmer's full athletic potential cannot be reached without training flexibility through stretching.

Without stretching, swimmers are unable to make the most of their strength and technique, causing them to sacrifice bio-mechanical efficiency, negatively impacting both speed and endurance.

Stretching Helps Prevent Swimmer Injury

Swimmers that lack flexibility are more prone to injury. Because swimming is a full body exercise that demands extraordinary range of motion, flexible joints and elastic muscles reduce physical stressors and recover more effectively.

3 Basic Swimming Stretches For Freestyle

Improving Kick With Ankle Stretches

Developing an effective kick requires strength and ankle flexibility. At its worst, a foot held at a ninety degree angle to the leg cannot produce efficient kicking force. Ideally, toes and feet must be pointed to be completely in line with the legs, allowing the greatest active surface area to maximize propulsion.

Inflexible ankles prevent swimmers from pointing their toes in line with their legs during a kick and reduce propulsion efficiency.

How To Stretch Your Ankles

Using a comfortable exercise mat,

• Drop to your knees and sit on the backs of your heels.
• Use your weight to drive your toes and feet into straight alignment with your legs, striving to remove any space between the mat and front part of your ankle (below your shin and above your foot).
• Reps: do this twice, for 45 - 60 seconds each time.
• When can you do this stretch? Any time, always before swimming.

Improving Rotation With Hip Stretches

Good hip flexibility allows for proper hip & body rotation during swimming, causing your body and stroke to open up and elongate to maximum length, allowing the longest possible reach for a long, powerful stroke.

Without proper hip flexibility, swimmers will have a poor rotation during freestyle, thereby encouraging 3 technique problems to arise:

• The head reaches too far while taking a breath, reducing speed and disrupting the natural stroke rhythm.
• The stroke will shorten and lose efficiency and power.
• The back will arch, causing the body to sink and encounter more water resistance in a less hydrodynamic position.

Hare are two basic hip stretches that increase the range of athletic motion in hips:

Hip Circle Stretches

Standing in front of a mirror,

• Place feet at shoulder's width apart, with hands on hips.
• Move your hips in continuous hula hoop style circles without dropping your hips.
• The Goal: Strive to achieve a smooth and continuous smoother, fuller circles each you perform the movement.
• Reps: do this twice (one clockwise, one counter clockwise), for 90 seconds each.
• When can you do this stretch? Every day.

Lateral Hip Stretches

Standing in front of a mirror,

• Place feet a shoulder's width apart, with hands on hips.
• Keeping your hips tucked underneath your torso, move your hips side to side without arching your back.
• Keep your hips straight across the front of your body, aligned straight with your feet, being careful not to push your hips forward or backward.
• The Goal: Strive to achieve smooth and continuous lateral hip movements, without losing proper hip alignment.
• Reps: do this one for 90 seconds.
• When can you do this stretch? Every day!

Hang Loose Swimmers!

Add these stretches to your regimen - they may seem basic, but they can do a world of good for your freestyle stroke.

Please let me know if you have any questions.

See you at the pool!

Robin

Learn More About Aquatic Fitness: 

• Guide to Dryland Swimming Workouts and Products
• Swimming vs. Running: Which is a Better Form of Exercise
• Upper Body Water Workouts with Kiefer Dumbbells
• Basic Gear For Fitness Swimming
• Basic Gear For Fitness Swimming Part 2
• Swim Fitness During Pregnancy
• Essential Swim Gear for Water Aerobics and Aqua Therapy