Shoulder pain is a condition that afflicts millions of Americans, with many athletes filling those ranks.
Swimming is no exception.
Swimming typically involves a fair amount of freestyle swimming stroke, a single stroke style that is repeated over and over.
It has been said that high level competitive swimmers will have as many as 16,000 arm rotations a week.
This forward movement in the shoulder joint, marked by the repetitive nature of the stroke, causes significant strain on the shoulder.
Swimming coaches and swimmers will know frequent episodes of anterior and superior shoulder pain, both during the swimming and as the process worsens throughout the day.
This shoulder pain can be expected when one looks at the motion the shoulder joint is commonly going through.
When a competitive swimmer goes through so many repetitions of the same shoulder motion, there is a possibility for over use of the joint, despite the fact that swimming is an excellent form of exercise.
Over use is defined as using a body part in a repetitive way beyond which it was designed.
This stress can, at times, lead to impingement upon the superspinatus tendon, therefore, setting off a cascade of damages that lead to full blown rotator cuff tendonitis.
This condition causes significant shoulder pain, and in the case of the competitive swimmer it frequently limits their training schedule.
While there is no way to totally eliminate the danger of over use of the shoulder joint, it is possible to lower the chance of damage and injury.
A few things are very helpful in understanding the anatomy of the rotator cuff, the major structure of the shoulder.
Firstly, the superspinatus is only one of four muscles comprising the rotator cuff.
It also is the muscle that is most stressed and at times the one most warn down by repetitive use of free stroke swimming.
Swimmers need to understand that there are three other muscles of the rotator cuff that need to be strengthened in order to avoid over use of the superspinatus and increase the overall strength of the joint.
Trying to balance out the amount of freestyle with at least increasing the amount of backstrokes when swimming will relatively strengthen some of the other three muscles, particular the infraspinatus.
Additionally, I typically recommend that swimmers include a very slightly weighted jump rope at the end or beginning of their swimming workout.
Jump rope by keeping the arms low, and when used in a very rapid fashion the exercise will strengthen the other three muscles of the rotator cuff.
This allows for balance within the very complex shoulder joint and specifically the structure of the rotator cuff.
This will go a long way towards helping prevent swimmer's shoulder.
Specifically, I typically recommend the blue jump rope put out by Lifeline Fitness.
It's called a speed/workout jump rope.
Problems with shoulders are common with both high level and low level competitive and fitness swimming.
It is important to address this problem early.
It is important to understand that the shoulder needs balance in its strength.
Again, I recommend to my swimmers that they employ usually some increase backstroke and again I recommend using a weighted jump rope for ten minutes of jumping rope at the beginning or end of their practice.
This will hopefully prevent shoulder pain, shoulder disease, and allow people to enjoy the rather incredible and unique sport of swimming which I uniformly recommend as an excellent form of low impact exercise.
Swimming is no exception.
Swimming typically involves a fair amount of freestyle swimming stroke, a single stroke style that is repeated over and over.
It has been said that high level competitive swimmers will have as many as 16,000 arm rotations a week.
This forward movement in the shoulder joint, marked by the repetitive nature of the stroke, causes significant strain on the shoulder.
Swimming coaches and swimmers will know frequent episodes of anterior and superior shoulder pain, both during the swimming and as the process worsens throughout the day.
This shoulder pain can be expected when one looks at the motion the shoulder joint is commonly going through.
When a competitive swimmer goes through so many repetitions of the same shoulder motion, there is a possibility for over use of the joint, despite the fact that swimming is an excellent form of exercise.
Over use is defined as using a body part in a repetitive way beyond which it was designed.
This stress can, at times, lead to impingement upon the superspinatus tendon, therefore, setting off a cascade of damages that lead to full blown rotator cuff tendonitis.
This condition causes significant shoulder pain, and in the case of the competitive swimmer it frequently limits their training schedule.
While there is no way to totally eliminate the danger of over use of the shoulder joint, it is possible to lower the chance of damage and injury.
A few things are very helpful in understanding the anatomy of the rotator cuff, the major structure of the shoulder.
Firstly, the superspinatus is only one of four muscles comprising the rotator cuff.
It also is the muscle that is most stressed and at times the one most warn down by repetitive use of free stroke swimming.
Swimmers need to understand that there are three other muscles of the rotator cuff that need to be strengthened in order to avoid over use of the superspinatus and increase the overall strength of the joint.
Trying to balance out the amount of freestyle with at least increasing the amount of backstrokes when swimming will relatively strengthen some of the other three muscles, particular the infraspinatus.
Additionally, I typically recommend that swimmers include a very slightly weighted jump rope at the end or beginning of their swimming workout.
Jump rope by keeping the arms low, and when used in a very rapid fashion the exercise will strengthen the other three muscles of the rotator cuff.
This allows for balance within the very complex shoulder joint and specifically the structure of the rotator cuff.
This will go a long way towards helping prevent swimmer's shoulder.
Specifically, I typically recommend the blue jump rope put out by Lifeline Fitness.
It's called a speed/workout jump rope.
Problems with shoulders are common with both high level and low level competitive and fitness swimming.
It is important to address this problem early.
It is important to understand that the shoulder needs balance in its strength.
Again, I recommend to my swimmers that they employ usually some increase backstroke and again I recommend using a weighted jump rope for ten minutes of jumping rope at the beginning or end of their practice.
This will hopefully prevent shoulder pain, shoulder disease, and allow people to enjoy the rather incredible and unique sport of swimming which I uniformly recommend as an excellent form of low impact exercise.
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