The Swimming Pt

As a competitive swimmer, Emily had always pushed herself to the limit. She trained for hours every day and was always looking for ways to improve her performance in the pool. However, recently she had been experiencing a nagging pain in her shoulder that was beginning to affect her ability to swim. The pain specifically was around the outside of her shoulder. Around her deltoid muscle. Emily started to worry that it could be Swimmer’s Shoulder

At first, Emily ignored the pain, thinking that it was just a minor injury that would heal on its own. But as the days went by, the pain only got worse. At this point Emily realized that she was dealing with Swimmer’s Shoulder. And realized she needed to do something about it.

Her teammate, Michael, was also dealing with Swimmer’s Shoulder. Michael had been experiencing a sharp pain in his upper arm that was beginning to affect his performance in the pool. Specifically, Michael’s pain was around his biceps tendon.

How Can Both Be Swimmer’s Shoulder?

Even though Emily and Michael are teammates, and do the same practices. They have pain in different locations. How can this be?

Because swimmer’s shoulder is an umbrella term that covers a wide range of different shoulder diagnosis. Swimmers shoulder can include (but is not limited too)….

Rotator cuff tear
Rotator cuff tendonitis
SLAP tear
Biceps tendinitis
Shoulder instability

If you have shoulder pain when swimming, it is technically swimmers shoulder. However, each of these different conditions will present differently and have pain in different locations. But some are more common than others.

If you want to read about what causes Swimmer’s Shoulder, check out this blog here.

The Most Common Pain location for Swimmer’s Shoulder

There are two more common locations for Swimmer’s Shoulder. The first is where Emily was having pain. Around the outside her shoulder around her deltoid. The second is the front of the shoulder, where Michael was having pain.

What was the cause of their pain?

For Emily, it was her rotator cuff that was causing her Swimmer’s Shoulder. The rotator cuff commonly refers pain to the outside your shoulder. This is a key sign that a swimmers rotator cuff is irritated.

For Michael, his bicep tendon was what was causing his shoulder pain. When your biceps tendon is painful, you typically will feel in the front of your shoulder and it will be a very localized pain. You will be able to point to where you pain is with one finger. The rotator cuff on the other hand, will be more of vague, generalized pain.

But You Have to Check The Neck Too.

The neck can also play a role in both of these locations of Swimmer’s Shoulder. The neck can refer pain to both of these areas. While it won’t be the root cause of your pain, it can help contribute to your pain.

The reason for this is due to the complex network of nerves that runs throughout the body. The nerves that originate in the neck also travel down into the shoulders and upper back. When there is an injury or irritation in the neck, the nerves can become sensitized and send signals to the brain that are interpreted as pain in the shoulder region.

Additionally, the muscles and soft tissues in the neck, shoulders, and upper back are interconnected and work together to support the head and neck. When there is a problem in one area, it can cause strain and tension in other areas, leading to pain and discomfort.

What Do You Do Now?

The first step in any case of swimmers shoulder is to try and desensitize the painful area. Desensitization is important because it can help to reduce the pain and discomfort associated with swimmer’s shoulder, allowing swimmers to continue their training and competition without further exacerbating the injury. It can also help to promote healing by increasing blood flow to the affected area and promoting the release of endorphins, which are natural painkillers.

If you try to start strengthening without calming the painful area down, it is like building a house on a crappy foundation. In will work for a while, but it will eventually fail.

The second step, is to activate and strengthen the muscles around the painful area. Or to strengthen the painful area itself. When a muscle becomes inflammed and painful, it becomes weaker as a result of muscle inhibition.

Muscle inhibition can cause weakness because it disrupts the normal communication between the muscle and the nervous system. The nervous system controls muscle movement by sending signals from the brain and spinal cord to the muscle fibers. When a muscle is inhibited, it does not receive the proper signals from the nervous system, which can result in reduced muscle activation and weakness.

Because of muscle inhibition, it is important to activate and strengthen the muscles that are inhibited.

The third step is to gradually increase the intensity of your exercise program while also increasing the volume and intensity of your swim training. This will help you get back to your previous training levels and build greater muscle strength than before. Helping prevent future injury and allow to come back even faster than before.

The Final Touch:

Swimmer’s Shoulder is different for everyone. And the pain location is rarely the same for every swimmer. Two of the most common location are the outside of the shoulder and the front of the shoulder. But it is common to have pain elsewhere too from Swimmer’s Shoulder. The most important thing with swimmers shoulder is to find the root cause of the pain, calm it down, and then progressively strengthen the area.

Where Does Swimmer’s Shoulder Hurt?

Do You Want 5 Of The Best Exercises for Swimmer’s Shoulder?

How Can Both Be Swimmer’s Shoulder?

The Most Common Pain location for Swimmer’s Shoulder

Do You Want 5 Of The Best Exercises for Swimmer’s Shoulder?

But You Have to Check The Neck Too.

What Do You Do Now?

The Final Touch:

Swimmer’s Shoulder is frustrating. The Swimming PT helps swimmers go from in pain to back to standing on the podium.

If you are struggling with an injury, schedule a free call today and lets help you out.

Do You Want 5 Of The Best Exercises for Swimmer’s Shoulder?

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