{"id":489325,"date":"2021-10-12T08:56:39","date_gmt":"2021-10-12T15:56:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/?p=489325"},"modified":"2021-10-12T08:56:39","modified_gmt":"2021-10-12T15:56:39","slug":"swimmers-shoulder-the-most-common-injury-to-a-swimmers-engine","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/swimmers-shoulder-the-most-common-injury-to-a-swimmers-engine\/","title":{"rendered":"Swimmer\u2019s Shoulder: The Most Common Injury to a Swimmer’s Engine"},"content":{"rendered":"

Swimmer\u2019s Shoulder: The Most Common Injury to a Swimmer’s Engine<\/strong><\/p>\n

By Vanessa Steigauf, Swimming World College Intern<\/em><\/p>\n

If you see someone constantly rubbing and stretching their shoulders, you very likely encountered a swimmer. (The damaged hair and rumpled sweatpants will give you additional hints). From mild pinching to intense pain, swimmers’ shoulders never fail to remind us how hard today\u2019s practice was. But why are swimmers so prone to developing shoulder injuries? And why does it seem like some swimmers can swim forever without any issues while others have to be careful with every stroke they take to not stress their shoulders too much?<\/p>\n

Why Does It Have to Be Us Swimmers?<\/h3>\n

As swimmers, we perform an unnaturally high amount of overhead movements that require a lot of strength. We are, therefore, more susceptible than average individuals to develop shoulder injuries. During a stroke, our shoulders do most of the work to propel our bodies forward against the resistance of water. And with around 4,000 strokes per practice, it makes sense that our shoulders might be worn out faster than other joints like our hips or knees.<\/p>\n

The constant dilemma for our shoulders is between flexibility and stability. The shoulder joint is the one with the greatest range of motion of all joints in our body. To ensure a healthy joint with such great flexibility, we need a lot of stabilizing factors. Therefore, several ligaments are holding the bones around our shoulder joint together and still leave a lot of freedom for movement. This whole construction usually works out fine \u2013 if we don\u2019t do an excessive amount of overhead movements, which bring our shoulders into a position where ligaments and muscles can easily be pinched between two bones.<\/p>\n

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Photo Courtesy:<\/p><\/div>\n

In swimming, we have such overhead movements all the time. In most strokes, we reach above our heads to pull ourselves forward against the water. This motion pushes ligaments and muscles that anchor our humerus bone to surrounding structures of the shoulder against the acromion, another bone on top of our shoulder blade. Repeated overhead motions and, therefore, repeated pinching of the tissues can lead to irritation of the rotator cuff tendon and the subacromial bursa, a soft sac just below the acromion. This leads to the painful pinching we can sometimes feel after swimming, called the shoulder impingement syndrome.<\/p>\n

Factors Contributing to Shoulder Injuries<\/h3>\n

While some individual (intrinsic) factors like joint laxity can increase the risk for shoulder impingement syndrome, there are many extrinsic factors that usually cause shoulder pain. Extreme intensity (overuse) or a wrong technique (misuse) are such factors. During overuse, the muscles don\u2019t get enough rest to fully recover. Fatigued muscles of the shoulder are more prone to be pinched between bones and cause pain faster. A wrong technique can also lead to unhealthy movements in our shoulder joints that cause the painful pinching.<\/p>\n

The good news is that we are in control of all the extrinsic factors causing shoulder injuries. When we realize our shoulder is starting to feel off, we should act right away and get rid of any mild pinching before it turns into a chronic swimmer’s shoulder injury.<\/p>\n

To reduce shoulder pain, swimmers can:<\/p>\n