Don’t make the black line a red line.
We treat a medley of swimming injuries every year.
You follow that black line. Lap after lap, you stroke your way across the pool, counting the turns and the touches. Your day simply wouldn’t be complete without the smell of chlorine in the morning.
Whether you’re a year-round swimmer or you throw yourself into the deep-end every summer, swimming is a great, low-impact form of exercise. Until, of course, you hurt yourself. And it won’t feel like a low-impact exercise at that point.
What are the most common swimming injuries?
It will probably be a shoulder injury too—90% of all the swimming injuries we see at Relinque Sports & Spinal Group in Ivanhoe are shoulder related. You don’t need to look too far to understand why ‘swimmer’s shoulder’ happens. Think about how many times you rotate your shoulder as you swim. The more laps you do, the more work they take on.
It’s possible to develop swimmer’s shoulder from overuse, overtraining, a sudden spike in workload, or even incorrect technique. And don’t underestimate the impact of poor posture—when you’re not swimming—on your technique. Stiffness in your thoracic spine can throw you off your stroke and make your shoulders have to work much harder.
How to treat swimming injuries
So if you start to experience pain during or after your swim, give our team of osteopaths at Relinque Sports & Spinal Group in Ivanhoe a call. We’re used to treating swimming injuries.
The first thing we’ll do is conduct a thorough assessment of your condition. We want to understand the cause, not the symptoms.
You will be asked to perform shoulder range of motion and muscle strength tests. Where the pain is felt, both at rest and during movement of the shoulder, provides important clues as to the cause of the shoulder pain.
Then we’ll work to get you back in the water as soon as we can. As part of our treatment, we use soft tissue and myofascial release techniques, joint mobilisation and shockwave therapy. We also educate you on what caused the problem, and work with you to find ways to avoid the same thing happening again.
If you’re in pain when you swim, take the plunge and call Relinque Sports & Spinal Group on 03 9499 9644 to make an appointment to treat it today.
