Preventing Shoulder Injury: A Quick and Simple Plan

Swimming deserves its reputation for being both vigorous and gentle. But “gentle” doesn’t guarantee “injury-free,” particularly when it comes to your shoulder, which is almost ideally built for trouble. Shoulder anatomy looks like a racquetball (the head of your upper arm bone) balanced on a bottle cap (the socket of the scapula). The ball is held on the bottle cap by a network of seventeen muscles. This is great for mobility, but terrible for accelerating your arm rearward against resistance. “Swimmer’s shoulder” is common among swimmers because “human swimmers” instinctively try to muscle the water— rather than anchor the hand and let their core body do most of the work. The resulting overstretched rotator cuff muscles allow the arm bone (a.k.a. the humerus) to wobble in its socket. This pinches the muscles and tendons that stabilize your shoulder, causing inflammation and pain.

Because a swimmer’s shoulder rotates 1,200 to 1,500 times every mile, a prevention plan is clearly in order. The most important muscles to strengthen are the rotator cuff muscles, which stabilize the head of the humerus, allowing the other shoulder muscles to perform effectively, and the scapular (shoulder blade) stabilizers, which protect against pinched tendons and rotator cuff stress. The primary virtue of this routine is that it requires little time (ten minutes, three times per week) and little equipment. All you need for those exercises specifying the use of resistance is stretch cords, a Thera-Band, or light weights—keep resistance light enough to do at least 10 to 15 repetitions of each exercise. Work until you feel fatigue; rest and do a second set, for a total of at least 20 to 30 reps of each. Over time, try to build to 30 or more repetitions in a single set (no second set necessary when you do) before fatigue.

STRENGTHEN YOUR ROTATOR CUFF MUSCLES

EXERCISE 1. Stand with arms at your sides, a dumbbell in each hand. Roll your shoulders forward, up toward your ears, back, then down again, moving through the greatest possible range of movement. Alternate one front-to-back rotation with one in the opposite direction.

EXERCISE 2. Lie on your side with your head propped on your hand and your top arm against your side, bent at a right angle with knuckles forward and palm down, holding a light weight. Keep the upper arm against your body as you slowly rotate your forearm until your knuckles point to the sky then return at the same speed. You can also do this exercise while standing, with stretch cords or a Thera-Band for resistance. Hold your arms close to your body in a “shake-hands” position with your elbows held into your ribs. (Place a thin cushion or pillow between elbow and ribs for greater stability.) Grasp the ends of the cords or Thera-Band in your hands. Rotate your forearms slowly out to the side, then return at the same speed.

EXERCISE 3. Sit or stand with your arms straight and hanging at your side. Leading with your thumb, slowly raise your arms to just below and just in front of your shoulder, pause for a moment, then return at the same speed. Use a light weight of 5 to 8 pounds, a Thera-Band, or cords for resistance.

EXERCISE 4. Bend at the waist, with your arms hanging straightfrom your shoulders. (Soften your knees to avoid lower-back strain.) Leading with your knuckles and slightly-bent elbows, raise your arms slowly to shoulder level, pause for a moment, then return at the same speed.

STRENGTHEN YOUR SCAPULAR STABILIZERS

EXERCISE 1. Sit on a chair with armrests and with your feet flat on the floor. Place your hands on the armrests. Straighten your elbows and push down, lifting your hips off the chair. (If necessary, help by pushing a bit with your feet; as you get stronger let your arms do more of the work.) You can do this one at work!

EXERCISE 2. Place your hands on a stable surface (counter, desk, the back of a couch, almost anything that’s three to four feet high). Position your feet so that you are in a semistanding “push-up” position with your head and spine aligned, hands at shoulder width, and arms straight. Do a slow push-up— but without bending your elbows. Keep your arms straight, and lower your chest a few inches as your shoulder blades pinch together. Then, using shoulder muscles, press back up, rounding your shoulders and spreading your shoulder blades as much as possible. As you grow stronger, move toward a more horizontal position, eventually doing it in a push-up or “plank” position.

EXERCISE 3. Attach a Thera-Band or cords to a stable object at waist or chest height. Grasp the ends and with your arms straight in front and your shoulders down away from your ears, pull your shoulders back (pinching shoulder blades together), then return them forward at the same speed, until you feel your shoulder blades stretch wide. Move slowly enough to feel the muscles in the middle of your back contract and relax.

EXERCISE 4. Lie on your stomach, with a rolled towel under your forehead and a pillow under your hips. Extend your arms forward from your shoulders (biceps two inches from your ears), elbows straight and thumbs up. Raise your arms as far as possible, without bending your elbows; hold them at their highest point for a moment, then lower slowly. Feel the effort from your shoulders to the middle of your back. Start with no weight; work up to 2 to 5 pounds.

EXERCISE 5. Lie on your stomach, with a rolled towel under your forehead and a pillow under your hips. Extend your arms to the sides at shoulder level with palms down or forward, (thumbs pointing up). Keeping elbows straight, pinch your shoulder blades together as you lift your arms; pause at the highest point for a moment, then lower slowly. Do this with or without light weights.

STRETCH THE MUSCLES UNDER THE SHOULDER

Swimming promotes natural flexibility and fights the stiffness of aging better than any other sport, but it’s not enough by itself. In fact, even in “body-friendly” TI swimming, your shoulder muscles still do an important job holding your hand/arm in a leveraged position so you can move past that spot. They’ll benefit from being stretched after contracting repetitively for an hour or so. The six stretches described here, which target the muscles you use most, will keep you feeling loose and supple. Do one or both of each pair of exercises while in the shower after swimming, holding each for about ten yoga breaths.

STRETCH 1. Raise one arm above your head, dropping your hand behind your shoulder. Lean the back of your elbow against a corner of a wall and press until you feel a stretch from the elbow down to your armpit and below.

STRETCH 2. Put both arms overhead in the streamlined position. Lean first to the left side as far as possible, then to the right. Feel the pull all the way down your side.

STRETCH THE MUSCLES IN FRONT OF THE SHOULDER

STRETCH 1. Hold one arm out to your side at a right angle; bend your elbow 90 degrees with fingers up and palm forward. Brace the inside surface of your hand, forearm, and elbow against a doorway with your elbow at shoulder height. As you press your arm against the doorway, turning your opposite hip back until you feel a stretch across the front of your shoulder and upper chest. Repeat with your elbow braced at ear level.

STRETCH 2. Put both arms behind your back. Grasp your hands together with fingers interlaced, fists resting against your buttocks and shoulder blades pinched. Slowly raise your arms upward behind you as far as possible. When you can’t raise them any further, bend forward from the waist and continue, trying to raise them toward vertical.

STRETCH THE MUSCLES IN BACK OF THE SHOULDER

STRETCH 1. Place the back of your hand on your lower back (the palm of your hand facing back) with your elbow out to the side. Your fingertips point toward the opposite hip. Brace the inside of your elbow against a doorway, while turning your opposite hip forward. Allow your elbow to move forward until you feel a stretch across the back of your shoulder.

STRETCH 2. Put your right arm across your body so that the shoulder is under your chin and your right hand, forearm, and upper arm parallel to the ground. Wrap your left arm outside the right, so your left wrist is behind your right elbow. Pull in steadily with the left arm, pressing the right as close to your chest as possible. Then switch.