Swimmers shoulder pain

This is your body while you are on your phone. This is your rotator cuff while you are in this position.

I’m not saying that you phone caused your shoulder pain, I’m saying that it is probably making things worse.

Most swimmers have strong front upper body muscles and we rarely work one our back muscles specially around the scapular muscles. This creates an imbalance in your shoulder. More specifically it makes your shoulder round up to the front while you are resting, working on the computer and specially on your cellphone.

Here is a quick test you can do to see if your front muscles like pec major and pec minor are tight. Stand up straight and let your arms relax. now close your fists except for your thumb. Make sure to be relaxed and see where your thumbs are pointing. If they are pointing inwards you most likely have a muscle imbalances. The normal position for your body is for your thumbs to be pointing forward. Also if you are always slouching that is a sign of weak upper back muscles too. If you sleep on your side you are also over extending the scapular muscles and shortening your pec muscles.

So what can you do? Some of the points I will give you are more for prevention than treatment. So if you have a shoulder injury I suggest talking to your doctor and do some research yourself. In my experience, understanding and further researching your injury on your own is an extremely important part of recovery. Just make sure your sources are credible.

The first thing to do is stretch. To release some of those tight muscles, one of the best thing you can do is to stretch. To stretch your pec major lean against a wall and put your elbow on a 90 degree bend. Then rotate to the other side as if you wanted to look behind you. You will feel how you stretch a little more if you turn your head to the other side like this. The muscle we really want to stretch though is the pec minor. This one is probably the one the gets tighter, since it play a big part of every stroke and we usually don’t stretch it. To stretch it is very similar to the pec major but this time raise your arm a bit higher. Try to bring your shoulder blades together and for more intensity try to look to the opposite side. Hold each stretch for 30 to 50 seconds.

Another stretch you can do is to lay down with your foam roller or even a pillow in between your shoulder blade, cross your hands behind your head and try to bring your elbows down. This will stretch a lot of your front upper body muscles.

Now think about how much you contract these muscles and how much time you spend with a bad posture. So yeah you won’t fix this problem by doing this once for 30 seconds. You need to do this at least daily or even twice or three times a day if your muscles are very tight for maybe two to three weeks. If it hurts real bad it means it is very tight. But don’t push it, just make gradual improvements to your mobility and flexibility and get use to the pain. There is no way around it.

The other thing you need to do is to strengthen the muscles that attach to the shoulder blade. These muscles protect your shoulder by keeping your shoulder joint in place. So there are three movements you can do to strength them. The first is this, just make sure your elbow doesn’t move from your side. In fact it should be touching your body at all times. If you don’t have a stretch band you can do it with a weight on a bench. The second exercise is similar but with your arm at 90 degrees. Again make sure your elbow is not moving. The last one is this. Keep your arms straight and separate them using your back muscles.

Remember that most swimmers have had or are going to have a shoulder related injury That is one of our biggest obstacles. So be smart and prevent it before it happens to you.

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Thanks for watching!
Swim fast!

[PatrickBateman]

That is exactly my problem ! The shoulder pain is intense due to too much IPhone use. You nailed the problem while many people don't see it.

[ringolennon]

this is most likely going to help me with my weaker upper back, shoulder and posture issues i've run into. definitely the most helpful video i've watched regarding this topic as well. love how short, sweet and to the point this was. appreciate ya my dude *thumbs up*

[cmolnar]

Thank you. I am a 53 year old master's swimmer (USMS) and have been having shoulder issues. Have had to cut my training way down which sucks because I am training for open water season to start this video makes a lot of sense. BTW really like your the wall with the lane down the lake.

[RayFliesAway]

One of the most useful videos in YouTube.

[자유-fl]

i want to say thank you very much. im korean swimmer . and i have swum for 10 months . my shoulder pain started one month ago . i think i can overcome shoulder injury because of some your videos . Thnak you

[Rajinbin]

Great stuff, one of the best I have found on here

[kellyschwartz]

This is exactly what is going in with my shoulder..thank you so much!

[somoto]

I’m not a swimmer but I also suffer from shoulder pain and your video was very useful. Thank you a lot :)

[einstu]

I like that little gesture, "swim fast". Good video

[art.s.]

I'm always worried that some parts of my body would change at the slightest if I slouch or sleep on the side, so I usually don't do these most of the times, and stretch out my muscles every time I sit for an extended amount of time. I need to get back to swimming again, as I've been working a lot lately and not exercising daily. This is really good information, thanks for the video! Love all your swimming tips.

[steveco]

Thanks so much for the stretches! I backed off the training but it stayed tight and wasn’t improving. I can feel improvement straight away, so definitely going to keep doing it in a warm up routine 😊

[stacyjens]

Thank you so very much! Huge difference after the first stretch.

[bpkqnfu]

I'm not a swimmer but a digital artist, and I'm experiencing this too from using phone too much. thanks for the video

[LuisFelipe-qepj]

Nice tips! Your channel is motivating me to start swimming again!

[HilarioAntonioPerurena]

Thanks a lot... as always you are one step forward! SF!

[stephanm.tjaden]

Yes, Stretch, stretch, After my land day workout I literally spend 25-30 minutes doing nothing but stretching. After the pool I stretch in and out of the hot tub for 10-15 minutes. I cannot tell you how much it helps.

[marcabbink]

Thanks for the video, I really needed it!

[octogirl]

Thank you. Its too late for me. Damage done

[itsmireiasworld]

Not me swimming for 2 days (after 5 years of swimming competitions and a pause of 10 years) and getting tendinitis. I got tooo excited on the pool...

[chrismicha]

Hello and thx for the videos . i am a competitive swimmer and i work 5 months and study+swim for the rest of the year. i swimm breaststroke and my time is 29.80 in 50 and 01.06.00 in 100. my knees hurt a lot sometimes but when i do breaststroke kicks in backstroke position they dont hurt at all. plz tell me why if you know and if its possible share some advise on how to become better. THX