Swimming

Swimming is one of the more popular sports in the United States. Whether it’s done competitively, for fun or for fitness, some have estimated that there 100 million swimmers in the US.

Swimming is quite different than most of its exercise counterparts in that involves no impact to the joints and involves little weight bearing to the joints.

These differences, however, while providing some degree of protection, can lead to other problems. Specifically, because the shoulder is so involved with moving the body through the water, it is at risk of injury.

Further, competitive swimmers can swim up to 8 miles per day, six or seven days a week, sometimes even more. These daily 8 miles require approximately 16,000 shoulder revolutions per week! Compare that with tennis, (1000 shoulder revolutions per week), baseball (1000 shoulder revolutions per week) and golf (200 revolutions per week).

Physiology of swimming

Biomechanics

There are two general swimming phases, the pull through and recovery

The pull through includes the time from initial hand entry through the finish, when the hand leaves the water

This phase provides the bulk of the propulsion of the swim stroke

The bulk of the propulsion comes from the upper body

However, the trunk (or core) and lower body must also provide adequate power as well; if this doesn’t happen, the arms will work too hard and injury will result

The recovery includes the time out of the water

This phase requires strong upper back, or scapular, strength and endurance

If the scapula is weak or lacks endurance, the shoulder joint cannot work properly and injury will result

Stroke Mechanics

Freestyle

Muscles of the shoulder are the primary propulsive forces

There is a necessary roll—or turning—of the body

Without this roll, shoulder injury is likely

Butterfly

For the upper body, the mechanics of the butterfly are quite similar to that of the freestyle, except both arms do the same thing at the same time

This leads to more stress to each shoulder

There is no body roll like there is with freestyle

The kick becomes even more important with this

The dolphin kick has become the kick of choice as an efficient means of lower body propulsion

Backstroke

Like freestyle, there is a necessary body roll

Swimmers are almost lying on their sides

The back stroke places a lot of stress on the front of the shoulder joints

Double arm backstroke is a common swimming warm up exercise

Breaststroke

The breaststroke mechanics have changed a lot over the past several years

It has gone from a stroke done with the arms almost entirely under water to one that has an above water recovery portion

The breaststroke, like the butterfly, has copied some of its newer mechanics from the actions of the dolphin

This stroke is the least stressful on the shoulder, but does cause some strain to the medial knee

Common swimming injuries

It is estimated that 2/3 of swimmers will develop shoulder injuries at some point in time. These injuries are more common at the competitive college and master’s levels.

Of those injuries, over half become recurrent.

Many (if not most) shoulder injuries occur from a combination of increased shoulder laxity (or flexibility) and overuse.

Rehabilitation of most shoulder injuries for swimmers involves strengthening and stabilizing the involved muscles, building their endurance and improving how they work together.

Swimmers will compensate to decrease their pain to allow them to remain in the water

Common compensations include:

• Dropping the elbow during the recovery
• Hand entry further from the mid-line than it should be
• A shortened stroke
• Changing position of the hand during the pull through

Teams we’ve worked with:

• M.O.S.T
• Swim Omaha
• Several area high schools

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