Swimmer’s Shoulder
What is Swimmer’s Shoulder?
Swimmer’s shoulder involves tendons, tissues that connect muscles to bones. The tendons in the shoulder become inflamed and swollen, pressing on nearby bones, muscles or other tendons. Swimmer’s shoulder is sometimes called shoulder impingement, subacromial impingement, or painful arc.
Inflammation usually affects the tendons of the rotator cuff (group of tendons and muscles around the shoulder joint). These tendons can pressure the acromion, the top part of the shoulder blade bone. Friction on the shoulder blade can cause bone spurs (bony growths) to develop. Swimmer’s shoulder is a type of shoulder tendinitis.
The Signs
A common sign of swimmer’s impingement is pain radiating along the back of your shoulder that feels like it’s deeply set in your muscles. In some cases, you may also experience pain along the front of your shoulder.
Repetitive overhead reaching, like swimming, can increase this pain. The longer you swim during one period, the worse your pain will become. When this occurs, it’s referred to as shoulder tendonitis which is tendon inflammation of your biceps and supraspinatus shoulder muscles.
Since you have different parts of your shoulder you can injury when performing a swimming stroke, you may experience a range of pain anywhere from local pain close to your shoulder joint to pain traveling up your neck and shoulder or down your arm.
Treatments
A proper plan of treatment may include:
1. Ice. Apply directly to the shoulder after training for around 20 minutes.
2. Anti-inflammatory medications. Use for a few days after the injury to reduce inflammation.
3. Taking a Break. This might mean total rest with no swimming for about 24 to 48 hours depending on the severity. Or, you may be able to swim, but decrease yardage while you avoid butterfly, backstroke, or kicking only with your arms at your side. Wait a few days until you’re free of pain before you resume swim training.
4..Passive Care. This might include things like:
- Interferential current
- Ultrasound
- Trigger point work
- Cross friction tendon massage
- Adjustments to your neck or shoulder
- Post-isometric relaxation of the muscles involved
5. Rehab Exercises These will strengthen your weak muscles (particularly your external shoulder rotators). You perform these exercises with minimal weights (three to five pounds) and perform them in an extremely controlled, specific manner. Perform these exercises a few time a week if you’ve ever had problems with your shoulders. Typically, it’s said that for each day you swim on a bad shoulder, you’ll require one day of rehab.
6. Changing Your Routine It’s often said hand paddles aren’t good for your shoulders. But, Zoomers and other types of fins keep your body elevated in the water; therefore, they might help if you begin experiencing small problems with your shoulders during your workout. Ask the coach or a friend to check your body and arm position. They may even want to videotape you so you can take a look and the coach can discuss the stroke mechanics with you.
First Health PT is based in Midtown Manhattan although we treat patients remotely from great distances using our telehealth program. Reach out to us to discuss any physical ailments that you are experiencing.
