Not only can knowing how to swim save your life, it is almost the perfect exercise as it works out the entire body, is low impact, and has no age limit. Some injuries commonly associated with swimming are
Shoulder
- Tendonitis: Commonly in swimmers, the shoulder rotator cuff muscles can become painful and inflamed due to overuse from stabilizing the shoulder joint for the different stroke related movements. Swimming strokes such as freestyle, backstroke, butterfly, and breast all have unique demands on the shoulder and can lead to a variety of shoulder injuries. As kids and teens swim more yardaged more months of the year and the volume and intensity of swim meets increase, the risk of shoulder pain and injury increases. With early diagnosis and treatment of this condition, we can help you return back to sport as soon as possible
- Swimmers shoulder: This is a form of shoulder impingement and can be multifactorial due to overuse, muscle strength and flexibility imbalance, and forward rounding of shoulders. This condition benefits from early diagnosis and focus on rebalancing shoulder strength and flexibility.
Knee
- Ligament injury (Breaststroker’s knee): Commonly the medial collateral ligament is involved in this painful condition along the medial aspect of the knee that faces the other knee. Treatment of breaststroke's knee should be directed toward correcting the swimmer's whipkick as many breaststroke swimmers experience this associated with their swim form. Small changes in the kick can reduce this pain.
Spine
- Neck pain: Due to the need to breath while swimming, swimmers are commonly rotating their bodies and necks to breath to the left and right. Some swimmers who place more stress on their necks instead of rolling with their body to breath can increase their risk of neck strains and neck pain.
- Low back pain: This is common in swimmers who find themselves hyperextending their low back to perform swim strokes like butterfly and breaststroke.
***If you are suffering from one of these injuries, or any other injury, schedule an appointment with Sports Health Northwest We want to help you get back to sport.
