A high percentage of swimmers have experienced shoulder pain during their career. In fact, 47% of collegiate swimmers claim to have experienced shoulder pain persisting for 3 weeks or more. Sadly, most adolescent swimmers report the use of pain medication to alleviate these symptoms, believing that shoulder pain is normal and tolerable.
The “swimmer’s shoulder” is the sport-specific term used to describe this type of pain which includes several pathologies such as rotator cuff tendinitis, shoulder instability and shoulder impingement.
The exact cause of a swimmer’s shoulder is unknown, but several theories have been proposed including decreased subacromial spacial distance, scapular dysfunctions, altered muscle recruitment patterns, posterior capsule tightness, humeral head displacement, and altered physical characteristics.
Most competitive swimmers train 11 months per year, swim approximately 10,000-12,000 metres each day, and rotate their shoulders over 16,000 times each week.
The high physical demand of this level of training may cause changes to some physical characteristics, which can then predispose these athletes to a higher risk of injury.
Check out 5 exercises to improve posture and decrease the risk of shoulder injury
In a study…
