Shoulder Friendly Technique?

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

In my quest to find a way to improve my crawl technique
(to get rid of

a stupid shoulder problem) I found this site with some good
photos: svl.chfreestyle.htmlOpen ↗

Quoted message said:

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My question is, how "healthy" is this for the shoulder? It
looks as

though it might put a lot of strain on it.<<

If you have a shoulder problem, you should NOT swim in the
manner depicted at the URL above.

There are two things which are very shoulder-unfriendly:

1. Forward extended hand is 180 degrees abducted, which
means it is in extreme internal rotation while maximally
elevated. This produces impingment of the supraspinatus
(superior rotator cuff) tendon, which is the most common
cause of shoulder pain in swimming. The position depicted
actually recapitulates the Neer Test for impingement,
which is a provocative test which orthopedists perform to
produce impingement and elicit pain.

2. Recovering hand is also in a position of internal
rotation (back of hand leading during recovery). You want
to feather the recovering hand as soon as it leaves the
water to lead with the thumb and not with the back of the
hand or (OUCH) with the pinky.

The following website provides a description of principles
of shoulder friendly swimming:

swimmingcoach.orgasm20010218.aspOpen ↗

[email hidden] (ronenta) wrote in message news:<[email hidden]>...

Quoted message said:

Hello all, In my quest to find a way to improve my crawl
technique (to get rid of a stupid shoulder problem) I
found this site with some good photos:
svl.chfreestyle.htmlOpen ↗

My question is, how "healthy" is this for the shoulder? It
looks as though it might put a lot of strain on it.

Anyway, it's a lot harder than I thought to just change
the technique. Muscle memory or something, I think. I hope
I don't forget my old stlye and not learn the new one
properly...

Thanks for any advice, Ronen

I had shoulder problems during the second half of 1998.
After attending a 2-day workshop run by Terry Laughlin and
adopting the swimming techniques described in the article
you references, my shoulder problems went away.

Of course, all shoulder problems are not necessarily alike.
If you try the techniques described in the article and find
that they agitate your shoulder problems, don't continue
with them.

Bob

"Larry Weisenthal" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
"]news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

In my quest to find a way to improve my crawl technique
(to get rid of

a stupid shoulder problem) I found this site with some
good photos: svl.chfreestyle.htmlOpen ↗

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

My question is, how "healthy" is this for the shoulder?
It looks as

though it might put a lot of strain on it.<<

If you have a shoulder problem, you should NOT swim in the
manner depicted

at

Quoted message said:

the URL above.

There are two things which are very shoulder-unfriendly:

1. Forward extended hand is 180 degrees abducted, which
means it is in

extreme

Quoted message said:

internal rotation while maximally elevated. This produces
impingment of

the

Quoted message said:

supraspinatus (superior rotator cuff) tendon, which is the
most common

cause of

Quoted message said:

shoulder pain in swimming. The position depicted actually
recapitulates

the

Quoted message said:

Neer Test for impingement, which is a provocative test
which orthopedists perform to produce impingement and
elicit pain.

2. Recovering hand is also in a position of internal
rotation (back of

hand

Quoted message said:

leading during recovery). You want to feather the
recovering hand as soon

as

Quoted message said:

it leaves the water to lead with the thumb and not with
the back of the

hand or

Quoted message said:

(OUCH) with the pinky.

The following website provides a description of principles
of shoulder

friendly

Quoted message said:

swimming:

swimmingcoach.orgasm20010218.aspOpen ↗

Speaking of leading with this or that on stroke recovery...
My coach teaches to completely relax your hand, and good
part of the arm, so that it recovers in as much of a natural
position as p[ossible. He doesn't want your hand and lower
arm stiff and tense on recovery, but stiffen it up just upon
the catch entry. That way, your arm and shoulders, on their
own, fall in the most neutral position. As soon as you
stiffen up your arm muscles on recovery, and try to lead
with something, be it a thumb or a pinky or what not, the
chances are that you're tweaked out of the neutral position
in one direction or another. It takes practice to learn to
relax your arm for such short periods, but once you get the
hang of it, the shoulders feel much more at ease.

Quoted message said:

2. Recovering hand is also in a position of internal
rotation (back of hand leading during recovery). You
want to feather the recovering hand as soon as it
leaves the water to lead with the thumb and not with
the back of the hand or (OUCH) with the pinky.

Does this mean that the recovering hand comes out of the
water thumb first and then goes into the water with the
pinky first for the next stroke?

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

Of course, all shoulder problems are not necessarily
alike. <<

The most common cause of shoulder injury in swimming is
impingement injury, as described. There are other, less
frequent causes, such as when a biceps tendon slips in and
out of the biceps ("bicepital"😉 groove on the surface of the
humerus. This is a relatively uncommon cause of a painful
shoulder, but it might conceivably be helped by "TI" style
swimming, where there is a minimization of biceps
contraction and a lower stroke frequency. This is the one
and only type of shoulder pain which might also be helped by
those "Cho-Pat" bands, which may help hold the biceps tendon
in place in the bicepital groove.

e.g.

www7.tamu-www7.tamu-Open ↗
commerce.edu/hpe/sportsmed/trivia/biceps_longhead.htm

Impingement type pain is relatively easy to diagnose; this
type of injury will certainly be exacerbated by the anatomic
positions depicted in the article which was referenced. So
the best thing is to get a diagnosis, before proceeding to
the "cure."

Quoted message said:

Larry Weisenthal

Quoted message said:

There are other, less frequent causes, such as when a
biceps tendon slips in and out of the biceps
("bicepital"😉 groove on the surface of the humerus.

Addition based upon my shoulder surgery. One thing I learned
along the way is that people literally have variations in
the bicep attachment to the shoulder.

Also, I learned that in reality there basically is no
shoulder per se. Instead there are 15+ muscles that form the
shoulders. That is why I try to conditional all of the
surrounding muscles to increase the durability of my
shoulders.

Gleshna

Overheard at 2004 ESA Northeastern Regional Surf Contest:

"F%&*, I got beaten by a guy from the Great Lakes!"