An Injury to improve the Swimming?

Just because one is temporarily (or even permanently) incapacitated it should still be possible to find some way of enjoying the water and swimming.

Owing to an injured right shoulder, I have attended the pool quite happily swimming with just the left arm and lower appendages.

Being a right handed tennis player, my left arm usually just goes along for the ride and is lazy but now the right arm is required to be passive then the left arm must "step up to the plate."

I have been improving Unco, doing it with bilateral breathing and even getting some leg coordination and thrust.

What emerges is that body balance is fine when breathing to the right but goes off a bit when breathing to the left.

The explanation for a slightly deficient left hand pull is that there is insufficient roll onto the right side. Without sufficient roll, the left hand action is cramped.

An earlier vertical forearm seems to help together with a more vigorous core action.

Anyway, Australian sea swimming beckons. The Cottesloe Classic Mile is 13 Jan so I am hoping to be fit again for that.

When are you appearing downunder again cm?

The ows calendar is even more chockas this season with swims starting (well the first couple have already happened)
October 28th 2017 and finishing March 25th 2018. Between SwimmingWA, MastersWA, and the Surf Clubs there are
24 to choose from (nearly every weekend), ranging from 500m for first timers up to 20km for the Rotto Channel Swim.

There are 12 X 5km (and less, 1.25, 2.5) events and 4 X 10km (and less) events this season. I'm hoping to do a mix of
2.5k, 5k, and maybe a 10k this summer.

gw

Nice to hear from you, Greg! Your swim program sounds great.

We arrive early December and leave mid January, just 6 weeks because we return a bit later to Sydney for a cruise.

I really need this shoulder to mend, it's been 3 weeks. You had shoulder probs a while ago didn't you?

Yep, back in August 2014 training up for Rottnest Channel Feb 2015.

Ended up stopping swimming completely for 3 months March-May 2015. Gradually started back again.
Still wasn't completely OK but kept swimming. 12 months ago went to a physio who specializes in
swimmers and their shoulders. As of now back to 5 days per week training totalling 20km per week.

Looking back I was doing way too much fast/hard interval stuff worrying about speed (or lack of).
I now rarely do less than a 400m block. Occasionally a few fastish 100's but no more than say
5x100m twice per week. I like the long distance ows so only need to build the "diesel engine" as
Paul Newsome would say!

Even so I've done a couple of pb ows in the 1600m range the last 12 months. I'm still wary of the
shoulder and still sometimes "feel" a niggle if I try and pull too hard on that right side. I've had to try
to learn to "caress" the water pulling, even for higher spm rates and level of efforts.

Timeline is keep going and if everthings OK then maybe Rottnest Feb 2019?

My shoulder was a biceps tendonosis, and anything tendon/ligament wise takes a long time.
On the other hand "motion is lotion" so active "rest is best, i.e. still do some strokes but very easy.

Should see if we can catch up at an ows this summer downunder.

Cheers

Greg

Think you both have the right idea - "Swim through your problems".  I had a rotator cuff injury to my right shoulder (so the doc said), back near the start of the year - so muggins thought the worst - that's me a real pessimist!  However carried on almost as normal - and surprise! surprise! - the problem vanished after a while!

I still (even with this "oldies" ridiculously little fly efforts, normally only about 10-15m and then have a rest before having another try) - sometimes forget that one ought to have the elbows bent (free-stylers would call that a "dropped elbow"), forearms about 45 degrees below the surface and hands close together lower down beneath the head, while the upper arms are back near the ribs, just past the vertical - before starting the fly stroke up-sweep.  The result of forgetting - is a very nasty strain on the shoulders - a warning to quickly amend ones ways!  The idea, is to share the load of the big up-sweep (an initial push down/back of hands/forearms, then a push back/up of the whole arms as the elbows are straightened ready for arm exits), between the elbow and shoulder joints.  A  "straight arm" fly push "back/up" started from a point below the shoulders, soon tires and could easily hurt the shoulder joints, as some beginners soon discover, bringing an early halt to their efforts - tired out!

(My problem is that almost any arm action whatsoever now, soon gets my "ticker" pounding away as if I've just run a fast mile, and I quickly get breathless - lung action aint so good as it might be!  But we all need to keep on, keeping on!)

Yes Don, I always think the conservative approach is initially the best. I was given an option (after an MRI) of seeing a surgeon for shaving bone off the acromium to provide more space but didn't go that route.

gw

I case it helps anyone, I'll report my injury.

Owing to pressure from Mrs Cott I finally saw a sports physiotherapist yesterday (ex national tennis player) who said I had damaged the infraspinatus muscle. This is one of the rotator cuff muscles and has given me incredible pain in the back for 3 weeks.

The treatment is specific exercises to strengthen this muscle and there is plenty on the internet about it.

The cause I reckon was doing a 2.4 km session in the pool using Finis Fulcrum paddles. I had been swimming very tight up to the wall in both directions in order to minimise frontal drag but the FF paddles required a thumb first entry (!!).

Although I had happily swum for weeks with the FFs, this extra contortionist action did the damage.

This was compounded by several sessions of tennis and other silly things.

Anyhow, the moral is take Paul Newsome's advice and DON'T do thumb first entry!

Secondly, get to see a sports physiotherapist sooner rather than later.

I'm training Bregor later today but I think I'll leave the FFs at home!

Nice topic!
I can contribute smthng...
In 2012 I had an operation from my left shoulder. Until that time my left arm's catch and pull is not so good when compared with right arm's. After the surgery my formerly weak left arm become stronger and have started to do the correct catch and pull movements. as a conclusion I can say that power rules the technique, from that point we can arrive at a conclusion that we should not neglect dry land exercises for injury prevention and rehabilitation.

I certainly agree about exercising nc, as you say, for both injury prevention and rehab.

I started with weights/exercises when I was 17 (yikes! almost 40 years ago ) which was mainly for playing
Aussie Rules Footy, so was low rep, high weight type stuff. Generally only in the off season, with just body weight
exercises (situps, pushups, etc) when playing.

I still do weights (high rep, low weight) and body weight stuff a few times a week now, all year round.
The only real swimming specific stuff is band work for the rotator cuff muscles. The internal external rotation
type exercises. It's impossible to quantify if this exercise/weights regime has been beneficial for me, but at
the very least it's what's recommended these days for everyone as they age to improve the quality of life
into old age. Use it or lose it!

gw

gregorywannabe wrote:I certainly agree about exercising nc, as you say, for both injury prevention and rehab.

I started with weights/exercises when I was 17 (yikes! almost 40 years ago ) which was mainly for playing
Aussie Rules Footy, so was low rep, high weight type stuff. Generally only in the off season, with just body weight
exercises (situps, pushups, etc) when playing.

I still do weights (high rep, low weight) and body weight stuff a few times a week now, all year round.
The only real swimming specific stuff is band work for the rotator cuff muscles. The internal external rotation
type exercises. It's impossible to quantify if this exercise/weights regime has been beneficial for me, but at
the very least it's what's recommended these days for everyone as they age to improve the quality of life
into old age. Use it or lose it!

gw

May be this wont be related with the topic directly but injury prevention mustnt be neglected. I pay attention to dry a land exercises for rehabilitation and injurty prevention after my shoulder surgery and thanks nature(or may call god) I havent been injured my shoulders since then.

Instead of doing low rep high weight at the moment I am doing high rep low weight stretch cord exercises at home, and some isometrics including planks, glute bridges, hanging, pushupp. I dont do plyometrics for agility and explosive power but in my swim trainings I always put at the end a killer/finish him set such as 10x50m with 5 secs rest and with >90% effort.