While swimming is a safe exercise for most active people, in some cases repetitive use results in elbow pain. Treatment typically involves a period of rest and a prescription to avoid water workouts until your elbow discomfort subsides. Understand the likely causes of elbow pain during swimming in order to ensure your well-being.
Swimming and Wellness
Trainers recommend swimming or other aerobic exercise at least three days weekly for up to 30 minutes to strengthen your heart and lungs and improve your overall health. People who swim consistently typically face less chance of catching the flu and suffering from stroke and cancer. Regular swimming also burns a lot of calories and helps you avoid weight gain. Swimming carries some risks, however, including elbow injury.
Elbow Pain
Pain that interrupts your swimming workout is often the result of triceps tendinitis, or tissue damage to your triceps tendon. Your triceps muscle, located on the back area of your upper arm, allows you to straighten your elbow. The muscle moves through the triceps tendon during contractions. Excessive contractions during swimming often damage the tendon and trigger inflammation and pain. Elbow bursitis represents another source of swimming pain. The condition occurs due to elbow overuse and involves a bursa, or a small sac that serves as a cushion between your bones and tendons. Bursa are normally filled with small amounts of fluid, but repetitive motion causes the sac to fill with excess fluid and become inflamed.
Initial Treatment
Doctors typically prescribe the RICE method in the days following swimming-related elbow pain. The acronym stands for rest, ice, compression and elevation. The method requires rest for your elbow until the pain begins to diminish. A small bag of ice placed on your elbow several times daily for up to 20 minutes also helps decrease inflammation, along with wrapping your injured area in an elastic bandage to prevent swelling. Elevation of your arm above your upper chest is also necessary in order to reduce swelling. Consider resting your arm on a soft pillow to achieve the elevation without strain.
Stretching Activity
Stretching activities are often beneficial as a method to prevent --- and help you recover from --- swimming-related elbow injuries. A posterior stretch requires you to grasp your injured elbow with your healthy arm. Lightly pull the injured arm across your body at various angles, which provides stretching for different structures in your elbow. Perform a triceps stretch by raising your injured arm over your head and then allowing your forearm to relax behind your head. Pull gently on the injured elbow with your free arm to increase the stretching.
Considerations
Alert your doctor before attempting any self-care method to reduce elbow pain caused by swimming, especially if you suffer a fever. Your doctor can evaluate your elbow and determine the source of pain, as well as recommend an appropriate treatment.
References
- Cleveland Clinic: Swimming
- "American Family Physician"; Evaluation of Overuse Elbow Injuries; Eric M. Chumbley, et al.; Feb. 2000
- MayoClinic.com; Aerobic Exercise: Top 10 Reasons To Get Physical; Feb. 2011
- Drugs.com; Elbow Bursitis; 2011
- Cleveland Clinic: What Is the Best Type of Aerobic Exercise?
- PhysioAdvisor.com: Tricep Tendonitis
