Swimming in winter can be tricky

In the cold weather and water the easy going shoulder can become tight and restrictive. Dont wait until it becomes a problem.

Swimming is an activity that helps prevent injury and assist with improving one's sense of mobility vitality. It can however present with a sense of pinching in the shoulder during freestyle swimming.

Shoulder problems usually emerge from an over load of the intensity, frequency or duration of training. Stated more plainly, swimmers often get a sore shoulder when they increase how hard, often or far they swim. It is important to use the shoulder correctly to reduce wear and tear on the shoulder joint. When a swimmer ramps up their distance or speed, the extra stress on the shoulder joint can be enough to irritate some structures within the shoulder. Once the shoulder has an irritation it is important to heal the shoulder, learn how it was damaged and understand how to prevent it happening again.

A swimmer will feel pain and a sense of weakness as he or she tries to pull his or her arm through the water with each stroke. There may also be a catching pain as the arm moves overhead with each stroke. If the swimmer decides to keep swimming and attempt to swim "through the pain", things are likely to become more problematic, and symptoms may then creep into other daily activities such as putting on a jacket, pushing open a heavy door or overhead activities. A sore and sensitive shoulder will eventually also become tight as the body tries to  "protect the shoulder". Once these muscular changes occur, there tends to be a sort of feedback loop where the tension limits movements, and the movement limitations make it easier for the structures to remain irritated, which in turn sustains the “guarded” state of the shoulder.

The best way to manage a sore shoulder from swimming is to give it a break from the loads that are keeping it sensitive and irritated. Following a couple of weeks of rest you may find that a gradual return to swimming is pain free. Often though, a sore shoulder needs a bit of help to get going again. There are a few mobilisation maneuvers we can do in the treatment setting to help resolve the muscular guarding in and around the shoulder. This is useful because it helps to break the cycle of sensitivity and localised tension that the shoulder is stuck in.

In cases where the symptoms have been present for a longer period of time (let's say months rather than weeks), it will probably take longer for things to settle down.

The keys to effective treatment of a swimmer's shoulder are;

1. identify and reduce / eliminate aggravating daily activities.

2. identify presence of underlying structural injury (including assessment of neck and upper back).

3. determine the contribution of underlying structural injury to symptoms (e.g. there may be a rotator cuff tear that has little to no contribution to symptoms).

4. carry out treatment aimed at resolving sensitivity and tension in and around the shoulder and neck. The treatment does not need to be painful.

5. once symptoms have settled, commence a graded strengthening program and a gradual return to swimming.

If you battling with a sore shoulder, and its limiting your ability to get out and swim your laps, reach out to us for a consultation.