Shoulder Problems From Swimming

Swimming is often recommended as a therapeutic exercise for those with injuries or other health problems that prevent more traditional exercises like jogging, cycling or walking. The resistance of the water helps buoy body weight and reduce hyperextension injuries. However, swimmers are at risk for the repetitive motion injury called "swimmers shoulder."

Swimmers Shoulder Basics

Swimmers shoulder actually refers to one or a combination of three different overuse injuries swimmers sustain to the front of their shoulder. The three injuries are tendinitis of the biceps or of the rotator cuff, and subacrimonial bursistis. All three result in a sharp and/or burning pain in the the front and top of the injured shoulder.

Causes

A healthy, conditioned swimmer with good form is not usually at risk for developing swimmers shoulder. The condition is usually caused by overtraining, poor technique or a combination of the two. Just as repetitive overextension playing tennis causes elbow injury, pushing at wrong angles against the resistance of the water can stress the muscles and joint in your shoulder. Training while your body is fatigued has similar results, causing damage to peripheral tissue as your muscles become exhausted.

Treatment

Anti-inflammatory treatment is the first stage of dealing with swimmers shoulder, taking the form of rest, icing and a course of anti-inflammatory drugs. Physical therapy can also help to retrain the muscles to avoid the motions that caused your injury. The exercises in a course of physical therapy also restore strength to your injured tissues. Extreme cases of swimmers shoulder may require surgical intervention, which often results in reduced performance once you return to the pool.

Prevention

Technique is the best way to prevent swimmers shoulder. If you feel you are at risk of developing this injury, meet with a swimming coach for a dry-land training session. In this session, you will lie on a mat or board and go through your swimming technique as the coach watches closely for aspects to correct. Asymmetric swimming is one of the chief causes of swimmers shoulder, and a coach will look carefully for places where your technique may be uneven.