Let me introduce you to Elizabeth – a talented masters swimmer who has been struggling with a stubborn case of swimmers shoulder. Her pain has been relentless, causing her to lose sleep and preventing her from swimming more than 300 yards without discomfort. This has left her feeling understandably disheartened, especially since swimming has always been her go-to stress reliever and a way to bond with her buddies. Despite the frustration, Elizabeth remains hopeful and recently asked the question “Can I fully recover from this? And if so, how long will it take for my Swimmer’s Shoulder to fully recover?”
While Elizabeth would be able to fully recovery, how long it would take to recover from her swimmers shoulder was a more complex question. There are a lot different considerations that affect how long it will take a swimmer to recover from Swimmer’s Shoulder. Some of those considerations are…
- Severity of the injury
- Location and type of injury
- Psychologal factors
- Adherence to treatment plan
- Timing of treatment
Let’s break these considerations down further. If you want to learn more about what Swimmer’s Shoulder is and what causes it, check on this article here.
Severity of the Injury
This consideration is a little more straight forward compared to the others. The more severe the injury, the longer it will take to recover. The reasoning is the more severe the injury is, the more inflammation there will be, the more healing that will need to occur, and the longer it will take to build your strength and endurance back up.
Location and Type of Injury
While these isn’t research showing that injuries in area of the body take longer to recovery than others, the what type of tissue is injured will impact how long it takes to recover from injury. For example, a bone injury will take longer to heal then a minor muscle strain will. Fortunately for swimmers shoulder, it is often a tendinitis/tendinopathy or muscle strain that is the cause. This makes the recovery from Swimmer’s Shoulder a little less intimidating than other injuries.
Psychological factors
While many people associate injury recovery with physical health, not many people think about how mental health can impact recovery. It has been well documented in the research that stress, anxiety, and depression can increase the risk of injury. The same for injury recovery as well. Taking care of yourself mentally while not only help your performance, but also your recovery from Swimmer’s Shoulder.
Adherence to Treatment Plan
This is not normally an issue for swimmers as we tend to be very self motivated and well versed in time management. However, outside factors like coaches, teammates, or other health care professionals can impact adherence to treatment plan. Example could include not following the plan to increase yardage or adding in other exercises and stretches on top of the plan. Getting everyone on the same plan (trainers, nutritionists, coaches, physicians, etc.) is key when you are recovering from Swimmer’s Shoulder.
Timing of Treatment
This is another consideration that is intuitive. The longer you wait to get help from a licensed professional, the longer it will take to recover from swimmers shoulder. Getting help right away, can expeditite your recovery from swimmers shoulder, and get you back on track to reach your goals much faster.
How long did it take for Elizabeth to Recover from Swimmer’s Shoulder?
While Elizabeth had excellent adherences to her plan, took care of herself mentally, and had swimmers shoulder, she waited a while to get treated and he severity of her pain was high. By the time she consulted me, she had been dealing with her swimmers shoulder for about two months.
After about 2-3 weeks, Elizabeth was able to get back into the water. We started at roughly 20% of what her typical yardage was and then slowly progressed. The parameters Elizabeth used to increase yardage were…
- Increase 100 yards every swim workout.
- Start with freestyle and breastroke.
- Every 4th workout, decrease yardage by 300-400. The next workout back, resume where you left off before the workout with lower yardage.
- If you are feeling an increase in pain or soreness, lower yardage by 100-200 yards for that workout
- Add backstroke in once you are at 50% of previous yardage
- Add butterfly in at 75% of previous yardage
Conclusion:
After about 2 months of training, Elizabeth was able to get back to normal yardage without any pain. While she had swimmers shoulder for about 5 months, it took her 3 months to get back her normal training. In some cases, swimmers recovery faster from swimmers shoulder, but other times it may take longer.
Happy Swimming,
Alex Ewart
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