1. Two Kinds of Injuries
Despite the many methods available to prevent shoulder injuries, they do happen. There are two kinds of shoulder injuries that most commonly need rehabilitation. The first and more serious is a tear of the rotator cuff. The second is instability that can lead to problems such as shoulder impingement. The kind of injury that you have and how severe it is can determine the kind of rehabilitation you'll need. Always consult a physician if you have any shoulder pain or feel you begin any rehabilitation exercises.
2. Time Off
A tear in the rotator cuff can cause several problems. Weakness of the shoulder, tenderness and pain are several symptoms of a tear. The best way to rehabilitate this kind of injury is by cutting back on the activity that has caused the tear. You can also compress and immobilize the injured shoulder. Elevating your shoulder above your heart level can also help rehabilitate the injury. In extreme cases, completely stopping any activity that can cause shoulder pain or surgery may be required.
3. Bring a Shoulder Back into Balance
Shoulder instability is caused by an uneven development of the muscles in the shoulder. Often swimmers will focus on developing the muscles in the arms, chest, and abdomen and ignore muscles of the shoulder blade and lower back. This pulls the shoulder out of alignment and causes problems. For a shoulder imbalance the basic rehabilitation involves training to strengthen the weakened muscles of the shoulder, usually by weight training. The kinds of exercises that will be necessary depend on the muscles that are weakened. Decreased flexibility of the shoulder is also a problem with a shoulder imbalance. Since the shoulder is pulled out of alignment, flexibility is slowly lost. Shoulder stretches with and without a resistance band are used to not only strengthen the weakened muscles but also to increase the flexibility of the muscles that are overdeveloped.
4. Easy in the Water
There are several things you can do to help ease the stress on your shoulder while swimming and rehabilitating a shoulder injury. The first is to to swim less frequently each week and cut back on the amount of laps that you do in each workout. You can also cut out any drills that will put excess stress on your shoulders. Never use hand paddles or buoys when you are rehabilitating a shoulder injury since these two pieces of equipment will place more stress on your shoulder. Swimming using fins is a great way to continue to swim while relieving stress from your shoulder. It will take most of force off of your shoulders and still allow you to get a good cardiovascular workout.
