Swimmers having full shoulder mobility is an absolute must. Full mobility will help you improve performance, rehab from an injury, and prevent future injuries. After all, a swimmer needs goes into 180 degrees or more of shoulder flexion every single stroke they take, which makes having full overhead mobility an absolute must.
A decrease in range of motion at one joint can cause excessive strain at another joint. For example, if a swimmer has limited thoracic spine mobility they will have to compensate using their shoulders or low back to achieve the movement that is necessary for swimming. Since a swimmer takes thousands of strokes a practice, a compensation can really add up and even lead to injury.
In this scenario, if the decrease in thoracic mobility led to swimmers shoulder, just treating the shoulder wouldn’t help fix the injury. Unless you address the limitation in your thoracic spine mobility, your shoulder will be continuously overworked to help get your arm all the way overhead. This can lead to a repetitive cycle of being injured, rehabbing the from the injury, and then getting the same shoulder pain after a couple of months.
Every swimmer is different. Some swimmers may have really good thoracic mobility, while others may not. In this case, giving ever swimmers the same shoulder mobility exercises will not be effective. Instead, you can perform self mobility assessments. This will allow you to see your own individual mobility needs, not just perform a cookie cutter program. Below are three of my favorite shoulder mobility screens for swimmer.
Screen #1: Lat Length Test
The lats are the powerhouse of swimming. Given how much the lats are used in swimming, it is no surprise they can become tight and fatigued. If your lats become tight, your ability to reach overhead will be compromised. You will have rely more on your low back or other muscles around the shoulder to reach overhead, resulting in compensations from other muscles or body parts.
To screen your lats for any soft tissue restriction lay flat on the floor first with your knees bent. Making sure your low back stays on the ground, reach your arms overhead. Take note of how far you can move your arms overhead. Bring your arms back down to your side, then straighten your legs. Lift your arms overhead again, and see if there is an obvious difference between when your knees were bent versus straight. If you have an obvious decrease in motion when your knees are bent, then you tightness in your lats.
Foam rolling the lats, banded lat stretch, or targeted stretching to the lats are all great ways to correct this deficits.
Screen #2: Shoulder Internal Rotation
While athletes in other sports focus on external rotation range of motion, swimmers need to pay attention to how much shoulder internal range of motion they have. Not having full internal rotation can wreak havoc on your swimming. Why? Because swimmers go into at least 45 degrees of shoulder internal rotation with each stroke. Without full internal rotation, a swimmer will have to compensate using inefficient movement patterns that can lead to injury. Often times when I see a swimmer for physical therapy, this is one of the first things I look for and try to correct.
In this screen, lay on the floor with your back on the ground. The arm that you are testing will move into 90 degrees of abduction. The hand of the arm that is not being tested will apply a downward pressure to the shoulder that is being tested. The reason for this is to block the shoulder from tipping forward, which can give the appearance that your shoulder has more mobility that in really has.
Once you apply downward pressure, let your arm go full internal rotation. Making sure the back of your shoulder does not leave the ground in the arm being test. Check both sides. If there is a significant difference or you have less than 45 degrees of motion, you have an internal rotation restriction. Using a foam roller or lacrosse ball to the teres minor and infraspinatus will help correct this.
Screen #3: Thoracic Mobility
Extension of your thoracic spine is needed to get your arms all the way overhead. An easy to way to see this if you slump forward, and then raise your arms all the way overhead. Next, sit up with “perfect” posture and raise you arms ups again overhead. You will notice that when you have better posture, your arms will be able to reach further overhead.
The reason why is in the more upright posture, your thoracic spine has the ability to extend back, which gives the shoulders more room to move from. Swimmers need to be able to reach all the way overhead, making thoracic mobility critical for shoulder health.
One of my favorite screens for thoracic mobility is a seated wall angel. In this screen, you will sit against against a wall and straight your arms, with the goal of touching the wall. You will then slide down to 45 degrees of shoulder flexion, then back to full flexion.
There are a couple of things to look for in this screen. If you notice any of these compensations listed below, then you may have limited thoracic mobility.
Things to look for in this screen…
- Does the low back arch in order to touch the wall? Does the low back arch when you slide your elbows down the wall?
- Are you able to straighten your arms all the way? Do your arms stop in a Y position?
- Do you palms rotate outwards? Do you jut your head forward?
- Is there any pain while doing this movement?
Using specific thoracic mobility exercises, such are thoracic extension over foam roller, thread the needle, etc, are a great way to correct this.
In Summary:
Full shoulder mobility in swimmers is an absolute must. If you do not have full shoulder mobility when swimming, compensations will occur, placing a swimmer at risk for repeated injuries. Three of my favorite overhead mobility screens are
- Lat length test
- Shoulder internal rotation test
- Wall angel screen for thoracic mobility
All three of these tests assess common areas where tightness occurs in a swimmer. These tests can be done in a matter of minutes and can help you tremendously.
Are you struggling with your mobility and need some guidance? Let’s chat.