Hey Guys,
Avoiding swimmers shoulders?
I’ll speak from experience and not science.
First of all lets talk about what is the main cause behind “swimmers shoulder” epidemic.
Most swimmers when evaluated have very poor postures from certain tight and overactive muscles that create some major imbalances in their upper body extremities. Take a look at your thoracic spine, protracted shoulders and a head forward posture. Since freestyle is our dominant “training” stroke and is the one used most often when training in which you’re constantly maintaining a head forward and slightly up position which isn’t ideal in the real world. Over time that repetitive stress on the tissues will result in some form of an ache. To most it’s knows as the “swimmers shoulders.” So is it the technique that is screwing up the shoulders or is the poor alignment that the body adapts to?
Now I’m not saying that technique here isn’t important. I just strongly believe that if you want to keep your shoulders healthy and you want to keep on swimming and swimming well. Pay attention to your alignment on land before correcting your form in the water.
Tips:
- thoracic spine mobility exercises
- pec minor stretches and some sort of massage form should take place (art, foam rolling)
- lat stretches and some sort of massage form should take place (art, foam rolling)
- neck flexors must be activated (dry land exercises)
- lower traps in most swimmers should be activated (dry land exercises)
- lavetor scaps should be stretched out
- scapular mobility/stability should be addressed
- specific muscles should be strengthened on land
I will have more on this in my next article. I’ll make sure to post it in our section.
Hope that helps.