How to Avoid Shoulder Pain During Swimming This Summer?

Swimming is an excellent way to cool down and exercise during the summer, which can exercise almost all muscle groups in the body, especially the back, legs, and arm muscles. The buoyancy of water also makes swimming a low-impact sport, reducing the risk of injury.

However, incorrect swimming posture or overtraining can lead to common sports injuries—swimmers' shoulders. During swimming, our shoulders need to twist and stretch frequently. If the posture is not correct, it may cause damage to the muscles, tendons, or joints in the shoulders.

Understanding the causes and preventive measures of shoulder pain during swimming can help swimming enthusiasts better enjoy the fun and reduce the risk of injury. Read on to learn specific information!

What is Swimmer’s Shoulder?

Swimmer’s shoulder is a common sports injury, mainly caused by repetitive motion with arms overhead during swimming, resulting in collisions between the subacromial ligament and rotator cuff tendon.

It can cause a sore shoulder from swimming, shoulder impingement syndrome and rotator cuff tendinitis, thereby inducing shoulder pain during swimming. It is common among freestyle, butterfly, and backstroke enthusiasts.

Common symptoms include: 

• Reduced shoulder strength on one side
• Limited range of motion
• Inflammation of the shoulders with pain
• Moving your back is challenging
• Feeling pain on the outer or front side of the shoulder, especially when lifting or moving the arm backward
• Shoulder pain may worsen at night
• Slight swelling in the shoulders

What Causes a Swimmer’s Shoulders?

If you feel shoulder pain during swimming, then see if you do any of these things:

1. Poor Techniques

Using appropriate swimming techniques makes you a good swimmer and prevents damage. However, non-standard posture during swimming, such as excessive forward extension of the shoulder or uncoordinated arm movements, will increase the burden on the shoulder and cause damage to the shoulder joint and tendons.

Excessive arm swinging during a butterfly stroke or incorrect angle of arm entry into water during a freestyle stroke can also lead to excessive stretching of shoulder muscles, tendons, and ligaments, causing shoulder pain during swimming.

2. Excessive Training Intensity

Excessive training intensity is also an important reason for a swimmer’s shoulders. If the training is too frequent or too intense without giving the shoulders enough recovery time, it may lead to overuse of the muscles, tendons, and ligaments in the shoulders, resulting in swimmer’s shoulder.

Many people develop shoulder pain during swimming, particularly if they push themselves too hard to improve their speed and race timing.

3. Shoulder Imbalance

Imbalanced shoulders can also cause a swimmer’s shoulder. Some people have diseases like scoliosis, kyphosis, and osteoporosis that can lead to imbalanced shoulders.

People with this condition develop a forward-pulled neck and tilted shoulder blades. An imbalance in muscle group strength may lead to overuse of shoulder muscles, tendons, and ligaments, resulting in a swimming shoulder.

How to Avoid Shoulder Pain During Swimming?

To avoid a swimmer’s shoulders, correct posture, appropriate swimming intensity, enhanced daily exercise, and wearing protective gear are all essential.

1. Correct Swimming Posture

Bad posture causes decreased strength and mobility, especially in the upper body. This considerably reduces your swimming force and speed, making you more prone to injury. Improving your swimming posture can reduce the risks to the swimmer's shoulder. For example:

For freestyle swimming, try to keep your body straight, with your legs just above the water surface when you stroke and your knees not excessively bent.

For breaststroke, keep the head and hips higher than the chest.

For a butterfly stroke, the body should be kept straight near the water surface, with the head aligned with the spine and eyes looking down.

2. Control Swimming Time

When starting to learn to swim, pay attention to controlling the number of training sessions. As you become more familiar with it, you can gradually increase your swimming time and intensity.

Before swimming, doing some warm-up exercises can relieve tense muscles. After swimming, taking appropriate rest can prevent excessive fatigue of the shoulder muscles and joints.

3. Daily Stretching Exercises

You can also regularly engage in stretching exercises to enhance flexibility around the shoulders, exercise muscles, and reduce the risk of shoulder pain during swimming.

• Neck Activity

Move your head to your shoulders. Try to touch your ears to the shoulders and hold still for almost 20–30 seconds. You will feel a gentle pull along the side of your neck. Repeat this set on both sides five times.

• Shoulder Stretch

Stand straight beside the wall and move your left arm across the chest. Now, slowly pull this arm closer to the chest with your right hand. This will strain your back and shoulders. Hold for 15–30 seconds and switch sides. Do this exercise five times.

• Pectoralis Stretch

Stand in front of the wall with your elbows resting at 90 degrees with it. Your forearms should be straight, and then touch the wall. Lean forward till you feel a stretch across your chest and on the back. Repeat five times and hold for 30 seconds.

• Back Muscle Stretch

First, stand straight and place one hand at your waist, then raise the other hand straight up. Bend in the opposite direction and feel the stretch from the waist to the chest. The other side also performs the same action. Each side lasts for 15–30 seconds.

• Pushups
  

a. Firstly, lie on the ground with your body as straight as possible.

b. Then, support your body with your toes and palms, keeping your body away from the ground.

c. Inhale and start bending your elbows, slowly lowering your body until your chest is lightly touching the ground.

d. Keep your body straight, and avoid arching or sagging your back.

e. Exhale and push the palm back to the starting position.

• Internal and Exterior Rotation

For this exercise, you need a resistance band. Place it on a pole or stick it somewhere firmly. Now pull while keeping your form arm 90 degrees with the ground. For external rotation, repeat the exercise, and instead of pulling inward, do it outward. Repeat the exercise multiple times.

4. Wear Shoulder Braces

How to fix swimmer's shoulders? Double shoulder braces can be beneficial if you want to improve your posture and your shoulders during swimming. They can:

• Provide stability and support to the shoulder joint.
• Offer compression to reduce muscle inflammation.
• Encourage proper posture during swimming and throughout the day.
• Avoid shoulder pain during swimming to a large extent.

For example, Fivali shoulder braces can fit your shoulders well. By appropriately compressing the shoulder joint, it helps to reduce the motion range of the shoulder joint and prevent excessive stretching. Wearing shoulder braces while swimming can also protect tendons and muscles when you rotate your body, greatly reducing the risk of various shoulder hurts from swimming.

FAQs

1. How to make a preliminary diagnosis of a swimmer’s shoulder?

The doctor will diagnose whether you have a swimmer’s shoulder. First, they will perform a physical test to determine your shoulders' range of motion and strength.

If you feel shoulder pain during swimming, the professional will examine your shoulders to see if they’re balanced. Then, he will ask you to move your arm upwards and backward to check for mobility.

In addition, doctors may also need to use X-rays or ultrasound examinations to determine if there are any issues, such as skeletal ectopic.

2. Can a swimmer’s shoulder be cured?

Whether a swimmer's shoulder can be cured depends on the specific type and severity of the injury. Many shoulder problems, such as rotator cuff injuries and shoulder impingement syndrome, can be improved or cured through appropriate treatment. During the treatment period, you need to follow the doctor's advice for appropriate rest and rehabilitation training.

3. How to effectively wear Fivali shoulder braces?

Fivali double shoulder braces are an easy-to-wear option if you want to align your shoulders quickly. With detachable compression straps and elastic bands, you only have to stretch and press the stable fastening to keep them in place.

Extreme shoulder pain during swimming can be frustrating, especially if you love this exercise. However, appropriate swimming techniques, reasonable exercise intensity, daily exercise, and wearing shoulder brace products can greatly reduce the risk of injury.

How to fix swimmer's shoulders? Fivali double shoulder braces are helpful and are made of soft and comfortable fabric. Their lightweight design keeps your shoulders stable for longer periods. Get one today to assist your swimming this summer!