Useful tips, thanks for sharing your research! I've had left shoulder pain, I find (only from my experience though) that unilateral breathing often leads to contralateral shoulder pain, probably due to a difference in the catch phase when breathing to the opposite side. Getting used to breathing on both sides during training sessions helps greatly, even if you keep your preferred breathing side for competitions.
One of your most helpful videos. Just by luck I managed to get rid of my shoulder pain a couple years ago by reducing my internal shoulder rotation and fixing my tilt angle but I didn't know what I was doing or why. My doctor suggested getting into another activity for exercise but i started watching the strokes of other swimmers who looked good and seemed to be pretty efficient. The changes I made just felt better. I'm an older, non-elite swimmer and look forward to getting back into the pool after covid to focus on the pointers you give us here. Many thanks.
I identified two problems in my stroke from this video. I’ve got shoulder soreness, not pain, so I’m really hopeful this will straighten me out before I injure myself
Wonderful video! I need your help. I have shoulder dislocation problem for more than a decade now. I want to learn swimming and do it regularly. Could you please recommend what swimming stroke/technique are best for me and what other things I should do to ensure there is no dislocation episodes happening when I swim?
For a long time, I have had pain in my left shoulder as a right sided breather. I discovered that if delayed the catch with my left arm until my right, recovering, arm was almost in the water and my face was back down looking at the bottom of the pool, no pain. Almost a catch up drill. Works every time.
I have a grade III AC joint separation of the left shoulder that occurred 6 years ago. Ive been watching your videos to teach myself to swim. I'm doing this because I'd like to attempt a sprint triathlon. I've noticed that I'm not as strong on that side. I'm not painful every time I swim, but do have pain from time to time. What do I need to know as I continue to train?
I've been having left shoulder pain for a lot of time and I still have it, I've been trying to solve it with better technique but it is still there. Today while swimming I tried to see where I felt more pressure in the left shoulder area and I noticed that when I'm swimming 100+ meters, the moment in which I feel more pressure is when my left arm is fully extended and I'm breathing (I breathe with only one goggle out of the water and without looking forward). The thing is that when I swim faster, sets 100 m or less, I don't have much shoulder issues. Also, when using a pull buoy that pressure in my left shoulder reduces a lot so when doing longer sets I usually have to end up using pull buoy but I don't want to get used to using a pull buoy. Could this pain be because of taking too much time to breathe or because my legs sink when doing slower sets? because these are the only differences I can see between swimming fast and slow.
ARRRRG!!!!!!!!! I was a competitive swimming my entire childhood (80s & 90s). Everything you said not to do were the techniques my coaches drilled into me. I had to have surgery on both my shoulders in '15, and just got back into swimming in this last year. The body mechanics I had drilled in 10s of thousands of miles in my youth came back instantly...and new shoulder pain came with it. I know you said the study was in the early 2000s, but I feel completely lied to by my coaches because they didn't know any better. Really frustrating... I'm definitely glad I found this video. I'm going to give all your tips a try this next week and see how it goes. Hopefully this solves the pain and inflammation...🤞 Thx & blessings
You would be very helpful to violinists, violists, and cellists (bowed strings). You athletes as well as dancers have much better awareness of injury prevention. We musicians have only started to address this on a mass basis in the past 10 years. Many are still using their bodies in a way that isn't sustainable. Why I mentioned the bowed strings? Because our work demands asymmetrical use of upper body and our necks and shoulders bear the grunt of the workload. Many musicians will end up with symptoms in their hands and fingers, mistakenly thinking that is the location of the issue.
Fantastic video, wished this came out 2 years ago. Excellent additional points as well (especially overreaching). I had this issue and it was because I misinterpreted what I saw elite swimmers do, where they might look like they overreach but in reality the perfect technique, combined with their speed and underwater camera views make it easy to misjudge or misread the long and efficient strokes for overreaching. Another reason why one should not try to think of a particular look when swimming and instead, try to improve a little more naturally. Lastly, the extreme high elbow recovery mistake; oh how great Phelps made that look and how much pain it brought me XD. Fantastic video, thank you.
I breathe on my left side, and my right bicep is killing me. I don’t have a teacher, but to me it feels like I’m trying to ‘hold myself up’ with my right arm as I breathe. The arm and shoulder are tense. Does this sound likely? How might I work on fixing it? Thanks for such wonderful videos!
If I had this video 2 years ago, I wouldn't be sitting on a bench for a year now; still recovering from frozen shoulder. Age, bad strokes and forms, too much impact etc = damage.
Gosh, internal/external description good but no real recommendation on how to correct the movement on the catch through the pull. I see the demonstration but difficult to put into effect. Thanks
thank you! excellent translation of research. and the last two especially - exactly what i have been figuring out for myself (after months out of the water and physical therapy) - that's exactly what i've been finding as a way to not hyper-extend while engaging the water / just by noticing what hurts and what doesn't. (my personal data collection completely jibes with your instruction - especially the last two of the three main points.)
Hi Brenton, I've suffered from frozen shoulder and impingement for some time and it has really restricted my free style. Since focusing on technique from your videos, my shoulder pain is completely gone and I am now able to swim freestyle for my whole 1K session (in 50m & 100m sets). I still have a way to go and this video really emphasises where I need to focus to prevent any further injury as I progress. Thanks for great content, Cheers
I learnt to swim when I was 54 (2014) and would swim regularly for a year and a half and then stopped. I started swimming again in May 2022 and a couple weeks ago I seemed to have pulled something in my right arm. I've not yet made an appointment to see my doctor I think because I'm worried he's going to tell me to stop for awhile, I do take timeout now whenever I feel too tired or if I think my arm needs the rest, I had booked for 2 hours today but i cancelled because i know my arm needed the rest. But I'll be going tomorrow because I try to go to the baths 6 days because after a life of doing very physical sports swimming is the only thing I can do that doesn't cause me a whole lot of pain and is a form of therapy for my joints.
Awesome video as usual! I always learn something from your videos. I had shoulder pain and my main issue was not engaging my lats. One coach asked me if my back was ever sore after a swim workout and I said no. This let me know that I was not using my back enough. I focused on engaging my lats with the help of some dry land exercises and my shoulder issues went away. By the way, one great shoulder therapy that helped is hanging. I just hung from a pull-up bar as long as I could.
I want to first thank you for your very helpful video. I have shoulder pain, only on my right arm, to avoid it I try thank to your videos are these things: Make sure my face is looking down when my hand passes my head in the recovery. Tilt and stretch my arm longer once the arm is in the water. Lower my arm a little while stretching it instead of trying to keep it close to the surface. It works most times, but sometimes I just get a sore shoulder maybe because I am not paying attention to all these things at the same time. I try to swim between 6 and 7k per week. I’m from Spain, I am a 43 year old woman and I’ve been swimming for six years now. Best decision ever! Your videos help me so much with my technique I can’t thank you enough.
Hey Brenton, full marks for reading, research, interpretation of factors causing shoulder injury. Very impressed. I've been out of the water now for almost 2 years with terrible R shoulder injury; specifically tear/strain to supraspinatus (BTW: recently listened to terrific Podcast with Rebecca McCabe on Conversations who experienced what became a career ending injury to this muscle). I have been doing exercises for two years to get this right. No swimming freestyle in that time. Used to swim ocean and squads. So, with terrific guidance from Sports MEd doctor, the muscle is coming good (I'm 64 and NEED TO SWIM!!). What is scaring me is more damage and how to get the technique right. Re your 5 points, the two that i definitely get WRONG are your last two points. But, was also wondering about the importance of hip rotation; can you add anything on this?
If you are based in Melbourne I’ve got a great recommendation for someone who might be able to help with the shoulder as well. Hopefully you don’t need it with you are working with at the moment! I came off the mountain bike in November and had an issue with the same muscle and I was able to get back to Swimming in a few months working with this person. Send me an email through our contact form on our website if you are in Melbourne! In terms of hip rotation it’s different for each swimmer but I don’t think a big contributor to shoulder injury. Some streamers keep relatively stable hips and others use their hips quite a bit
Great video. I've had left rotator cuff impingement for years. Mine is aggravated by applying too much pressure in the catch, rather than going "slow to fast," as Brenton instructs. Also, using a hip driven freestyle helps, focusing in the Sarape Effect, also helps. Best stretch for opening space in shoulder to reduce impingement: grasp the underside of a table or a bar with your palm up standing adjacent to the table or bar. With a straight arm, lean to the opposite direction, applying upward pressure on the hand which remains stable, pulling the shoulder slightly out of the socket. Hold for about 30 seconds, and you will find great relief for impingement pain. I do this throughout my swim, holding the lane line with my palm up and leaning away from it. Thanks, Brenton!
Very, very similar to my situation and experience. I developed a level 2 rotator cuff impingement years ago after falling off a mountain bike and landing heavily on my elbow, which transferred a shock to my right shoulder. When i subsequently went swimming I got inflammation in the shoulder joint. I had quite a bit of physio done on it, but I the physio was a rugby head who had no real understanding of the mechanics of the swimming stroke; and how the nature of my movement was contributing to the problem. So I did quite a bit of research and trial and error. Sounds similar to your experience I found what helped was greater rotation from side to side (the hip driven freestyle), and not position my shoulders as horizontally flat in the water in the catch, pull and recovery stages. I avoid outright freestyle sprints, or specifically, avoid drills that emphasize shoulder load. No, no way my right shoulder will handle the additional load using hand paddles.
Thanks for this. I've just started having issues with my shoulders and I'm not sure if it's swimming causing it or my job which includes a lot of data entry or if that's just exasperating the issue. I don't really notice pain while I'm swimming but the next day my right shoulder especially is very sore and tender. I have been mucking around with my stroke a lot lately and I felt it had gotten better. I'm definitely faster and able to swim longer but I wonder if I'm o er doing some of the things you've mentioned. I'll definitely take note next time I'm at the pool.
@@firas919191 if it helps yes my swim stroke did need some adjustment but after going to physio it looks like the main issue is ous. I have changed my workstation and been doing exercises and it's improved. My stroke is better now too and I'm a bit faster.. Good luck
1. High low on recovery. 2. Recovery hand "palm" is inboard (thumb up, not "palm" outboard with pinky finger up - THIS IS THE CAUSE OF THE SHOULDER PAIN). 3. Entry, catch and pull all within the shoulder width. DONE DEAL.
I was taught; "taking my hand out of the pocket" technique and in the process my elbow never goes up... but im still having shoulder issues. Edit:....nvm.... you answered the question.
I never had any issues with sholder pain until I started triathlon and swam in wetsuit. I tried on a wetsuit 2 months ago and from day one I had right sholder injury. I suspect the issue Is that the wetsuit prevents me from rotating enough or, it pulls my arms. I don't know.
I was swimming "flat" without rotation. I was self trained swimmer preparing for 10K swim......2 weeks before start my left shoulder got swollen. I got an injection. Finished 10K...and my physio told me that my technique was bad and that was the reasson. So I started from the begining with a coach. Never had this problem again.
Are there fools like me here, just trying butterfly and dislocating the shoulder? My arm is ok, just sore. How was the swimming after the injury? Do you have to be scared?
I started swimming about 3 months ago. Been doing it very consistently, and could feel my technique and swolf improving each week. Last week a pain started on my left shoulder, but I kept swimming anyway. Next day the pain was intense. It's been a couple of days now and its better. Most movements don't hurt my shoulder anymore. I'm really hoping it'll pass in short time and not something long-term as I've been very motivated.
Great video! What drills would you recommend to eliminate the risk of shoulder pain? I'm a 44 yr old swimmer who has returned to the pool after a 30 year hiatus. I've got some shoulder pain and want to improve ❤
Hi Brenton. I've been wondering if stroke correction advice (10 years ago) to 'reach over the barrel' to lift my elbows has created the impingement you mention for the #1 issue. I still have elbow drop but it's much improved. Unfortunately, I suspect I have trained an incorrect/over internal rotation into my stroke, the associated impingement has been disruptive and at times debilitating. I've been doing work to improve joint mobility which is helping, but I feel like I need to unlearn the incorrect 'over the barrel' positioning? Any tips to get the (correct) internal rotation, that is seeming elusive? Hope you and the family are doing ok in these challenging times. Cheers Bron :)
I am 36 and started lane swimming for the first time this month. I've been to the pool 3x now, and my shoulder is already killing me. Sorry, but watching all kinds of RUclips videos has done me absolutely no good. Each "common mistakes" video looks exactly the same to me as the "this is how you do it right" videos. One says you should rotate, then I watch them and see absolutely no rotation anywhere. Is there really no sport at all that you can do that won't instantly fuck your body up as you try and learn how to even do it properly? Guess I'll be adding swimming to the list of sports I can't do as well
Excellent 1. During Catch, Arm should not over-rotate internally 2. During Recovery, Don't lift Elbow too high 3. While entering Hand into water, arm should not extend fully, but once hand is inside water Addl Tips from My Experience 4. During initial recovery, avoid shifting/ tilting your body before recovery elbow, leaving it behind. Lead body shift/ tilt with Elbow, as it recovers. 5. While swimming at low pace for long distance, pay attention to any discomfort in body, you must be doing something wrong, because if you're technique is good then you feel sleepy
I’m a beginner who’s only getting pain in my right shoulder. Definitely think I’m trying to keep My hand too close to the body in the recovery. Gonna see what I can do with these tips!
A hugely important video. It is very true that not to externally rotate and drop the elbow, and also to get the best catch one can force his body in a very unnatural way. Arm movement should be technical but also artistic I believe. As the channel name it should be"effortless", gliding at the best angles according to mobility levels.The other points also have to be kept in mind till they get automatic. Valuable information.Thanks a lot!
I found swimming all the strokes in my swim program extremly helpfull...not just freestyle. Plus daily hanging straught from a pull up bar every day. Good tips though...
My experience, I have been swimming open water for leisure fore years, not particularly fast but decent, after watching many swimming videos of high elbow catch tried to mimic those, you see some elite swimmers that turn their arms like mad, so was trying the same. Result, this year open water swimming my shoulders are killing me, never had this pain before and I am 42, I feel my technique is better somehow but hell at what cost, I am more of a swinger on the recovery, I have not changed that it comes easy and don't think I would gain much on that, but the underwater now is worrying me a lot...
I think I'm doing all of this 😂, the other day I was supposed to do 5000m but for some reason my shoulders were so sore I had to go slower because I had pain it felt more like soreness but it never went away like it usually does after the warm-up, I started as an adult and have no teacher so this is really helpful, THANK YOU!
I haven’t taken swimming seriously until 1.5months ago. I wanted to increase distance to 2km which I did. But I pushed it too hard too early, and now I’m having shoulder pain.
Mine triggers during the catch and pull phase. But I think this is because I exxagg my recovery phase before. I need to watch this video again to remind me.
I think shoulder injury is because many professor force the student to internal shoulder rotation, saying things like: "your cheek should touch your "shoulder" and should stretch the lap forward", which also increase the internal shoulder rotation. Yes, you can be more efficient but with a cost, a painfully cost. I think, thr shoulder has to be stabilized when swimming In cheststroke, for example because there is more stability in the shoulder there is less injuries. Is there a pattern between a specific swimming style and the shoulder ingury?injury? Lot of bad teaching and bad professors around, and why all the people wants free style if they finish with injuries. Do cheststroke instead I saw many swimmers, specially long distance open water do, quiete an open lap, but there are many who manage to cross the English Channell with cheststroke
Good tips. Currently recovering from a suprspinatus tendon tear.....swam biathlon a year ago then had an operation in September. Back in the pool....often very sore in the neck are two days later after workout. Thinking of consulting a trainer to observe my technique
yeah I think you really have to "smartly" treat yourself individually, because every person's physical condition is different , especially for adults , whose conditions are already fixed. I'm pretty shocked in his last video where the PT evaluated the angle by which the swimmer could raise his elbows. he did 45 degrees, I could only raise flat. given that, when I do arms recovery, I basically pull up my arms along the side, with lower arm at 90 degree angle. if my elbow goes backward of my back plane, that creates huge pain on shoulder.
I have been learning to swim by watching youtube videos incl. Effortless Swimming which is my favorite. But nontheless I got shoulder pain now and it is quite strong. So I stopped swimming so far. And I am sure it happened because of my poor technique of stroke... And now I am pretty sure that if you want to swim lyou need to take lessons... RUclips will never learn you in rught way because you don;t see HOW you swim so you don't see your mistakes
I think my shoulder technique is the same for both arms. However, my right shoulder hurts whereas my left feels fine. Doc said I have significant arthritis on the right ( almost bone on bone). I don’t have a good solution for dealing with this. It is pretty bad at the beginning of the workout and after a while it eases up. Then I reach a point where I change to a different arm stroke or just kick. Kicking with no arm stroke helps Me concentrate v on the core muscles. I don’t really think my problem is one of technique but it would be great to figure out what would help.
Hi! I‘ve carefully followed your video because of the ache i have when I start pushing at a „good catch“, so i am a bit back to windmilling under water… hope i i will improve a bit. Thank you for your video, i hope i got it right, that at the start of the catch there shall be an internal sholder movement but at the pull phase it shall change to an external one..?
I've just started triathlon and started to learn freestyle. I keep getting a pain in my right arm which feels muscular. I think I'm throwing my arm too wide compared to the left. Really frustrating
Thank you very much for this video….have been trying to find why my shoulder hurts after only 500m and i have to swim the rest of the 3km or 5km with should pain….I am almost certain it have to do with the recovery and the catch….since I am so fixated on pulling like sun yang maybe overexageration of the internal rotation is making my shoulder hurt. THanks again will try to improve and check if my should pain resolves.
Don’t understand much of that. Seems to spend all his time to referring to internal and internal rotation. Couldn’t even sort the business of arm recovery. Seemed to not understand words he was using - like “impingment” as though he had read it but needed to explain what he thought it meant. Terrible video - very poor presentation - I learned very little and seemed to ignore modern TI swimming technique altogether.
I started swimming 3 weeks ago, 1 hour every day except Sunday and I developed shoulder pain. Now I'm trying to reduce the range of motion of my shoulder and also don't do freestyle all the time. I may reduce my swimming time to 45 or 30 min too.
Ugh! The back of my left shoulder, under the rear deltoid, screams after a swim. I just started swimming after stopping for the last 4 months because of this! I have no idea how to fix this. I get what the video says, but it’s hard to turn it into a drill/activity.
Can anyone recommend a non complicated video that would help me learn more about swimming without too high an elbow and implementing the things suggested here? Great video, just need some instruction for a beginner with a shoulder impingement! :)
Past impingement and a torn bicep tendon. Swam in high school, college and masters, was 50yrs old before I had issues. Both I think I injured in the gym doing weights, then swimming made it worse, too high of elbow
I . wondering if I have a pain in right shoulder due to the fact that I am breathing on right side, every two stroke. I will try to breathing on left side and we will see if I LL reproduce the pain on left side this will proof wrong techicue
Tore my right supraspinitus (sp?) 5 years ago and freestyle causes intense / sharp pain at night. Novice swimmer who learnt to swim as an adult. I am definitely overextending, My elbow does hit the water first before the palm. Is there a simple drill to unlearn this
I am a late swimmer. Initially after 4-5 classes I started having pain in the right side of end of the skull which got strech down to neck and shoulders. Any idea what causes such kind of pain? Or anyone else faced such kind of pain?
used to swim 5 days a week. started feeling shoulder pain in right shoulder. Not terrible but range of motion is limited and theres some pain. Can't stretch my right tricep very well (elbow pointing up stretch).
This and Greg's stroke analysis are great videos!. They really helped me realizing that I had an overreach in my stroke. I noticed the improvement in a 3km swim right away, cut down 20 seconds just like that in a day, and I could repeat the effort the day after, with no pain and less fatigue. Thanks!
Im dealing with shoulderpain now.. the left shoulder in particular and also happens this is the side i breath the most on. Any corelation to this? At the gym i cannot put much weight on the shoulder press machine.. almost nothing. Pain is mainly felt when doing the movement as the recovery phase. I think i pinched some tendons and are inflammed right now. Ive been dealing with this pain for last 4 months. Hope it goes away one day..
I defenatly do all the errors. Can you.give tips also on daulphin swim technique, in freedive we do this technique a lot and it simply kill my shoulder. My thaught after watching your clip us maybe I also do too much iner rotation in the daulphin posture.
Iv had shoulder issues for over 2 years with no clear answers. I recently found out iv had an inflamed suprespinatus tendon. I took the option from my doctor to get a steroid injection a week ago. Hopefully I’ll be back in the water in a couple weeks and searching for the right technique to prevent this injury from happening again.
I am beginner and After I swim with high elbow in sprint for 15m only at shallow water at the pool, I would have shoulder pain the next day or the next two days. I had once time it made me the whole back of my neck at the upper spine area could not turn both left & left.
I find it too difficult to remember all the correct techniques. All I do is go into the water and do my things, and soon after this, the problems start coming to me like little hungry puppies!
7:13 "instead of here" that 'reach' movement can cause the waist to bend laterally resulting in a snake-like motion through the water instead of straight-line swimming. And it's hard to correct. Better video yourself if you're reaching more to make sure you are not messing up another aspect of your stroke. Also, the reach MUST be in front of one's shoulder and not reaching across or in front of the head (ultra-common mistake--I see it everyday at the pool) or the above-described problem will become exacerbated.
Yeah always had right shoulder cuff issues. Partly cos in reaching I partly dislocate my shoulder. I stopped swimming for 15 years because of it. I have just got in the water again and following some of your tips. I taking it real slow because I love swimming but just want to eliminate the issues with my stroke. Your resources are unreal thanks.
I breath on my right side and I get soreness in my right shoulder. I do everything except write with my right side I lift pots pans the kettle drive my car everything right side. But my left side really is at leisure most of the time. I am wondering if I am pulling harder on my right side but engaging my hips helps maybe my rotation needs to be better I am wondering if I am turning my head too much rather than doing a shoulder rotation for my breathing and might not be keeping my head still enough on the side rotation. I am trying to keep my head more still and rotate not too much because I think I might over rotate but just getting the right angle on my rotation on my breath side I think will get my shoulder in a better position but I never get any problems on the left side as that side is basically always in relax mode!
Great advice thanks. I am recovering from a broken collarbone/shoulder subluxation. I have just resumed swimming , I noticed that naturally to avoid pain, I do what you are advising, for instance the recovery not too close to the body, the entry. I guess pain is a good indicator of bad move. It helped me to protect my other shoulder... Thanks for your great videos.
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Useful tips, thanks for sharing your research! I've had left shoulder pain, I find (only from my experience though) that unilateral breathing often leads to contralateral shoulder pain, probably due to a difference in the catch phase when breathing to the opposite side. Getting used to breathing on both sides during training sessions helps greatly, even if you keep your preferred breathing side for competitions.
On paddles - when I increased their use that is when my shoulder pain started. Thanks for all the excellent advice.
One of your most helpful videos. Just by luck I managed to get rid of my shoulder pain a couple years ago by reducing my internal shoulder rotation and fixing my tilt angle but I didn't know what I was doing or why. My doctor suggested getting into another activity for exercise but i started watching the strokes of other swimmers who looked good and seemed to be pretty efficient. The changes I made just felt better. I'm an older, non-elite swimmer and look forward to getting back into the pool after covid to focus on the pointers you give us here. Many thanks.
Mistake 1: 2:39
Mistake 2: 4:24
Mistake 3: 5:53
Bonus mistakes: 7:20
Well said. I think the exaggerated “high elbow” tip from a coach, got my right shoulder.
Thank you this is great. You've given me a lot to work with and consider while doing my swim later today.
I identified two problems in my stroke from this video. I’ve got shoulder soreness, not pain, so I’m really hopeful this will straighten me out before I injure myself
Wonderful video! I need your help. I have shoulder dislocation problem for more than a decade now. I want to learn swimming and do it regularly. Could you please recommend what swimming stroke/technique are best for me and what other things I should do to ensure there is no dislocation episodes happening when I swim?
very well explained... helped me a lot , thanks for the video man !!!
thank you for all the useful tips
Excellent, a must view video!
For a long time, I have had pain in my left shoulder as a right sided breather. I discovered that if delayed the catch with my left arm until my right, recovering, arm was almost in the water and my face was back down looking at the bottom of the pool, no pain. Almost a catch up drill. Works every time.
I have a grade III AC joint separation of the left shoulder that occurred 6 years ago. Ive been watching your videos to teach myself to swim. I'm doing this because I'd like to attempt a sprint triathlon. I've noticed that I'm not as strong on that side. I'm not painful every time I swim, but do have pain from time to time.
What do I need to know as I continue to train?
Спасибо!
Having pain in the back of the left shoulder, let me give these a try.
I've been having left shoulder pain for a lot of time and I still have it, I've been trying to solve it with better technique but it is still there.
Today while swimming I tried to see where I felt more pressure in the left shoulder area and I noticed that when I'm swimming 100+ meters, the moment in which I feel more pressure is when my left arm is fully extended and I'm breathing (I breathe with only one goggle out of the water and without looking forward).
The thing is that when I swim faster, sets 100 m or less, I don't have much shoulder issues.
Also, when using a pull buoy that pressure in my left shoulder reduces a lot so when doing longer sets I usually have to end up using pull buoy but I don't want to get used to using a pull buoy.
Could this pain be because of taking too much time to breathe or because my legs sink when doing slower sets? because these are the only differences I can see between swimming fast and slow.
Paddles multiply the forces
so hasten injuries
with incorrect technique.
bicep tendonitis
ARRRRG!!!!!!!!! I was a competitive swimming my entire childhood (80s & 90s). Everything you said not to do were the techniques my coaches drilled into me. I had to have surgery on both my shoulders in '15, and just got back into swimming in this last year. The body mechanics I had drilled in 10s of thousands of miles in my youth came back instantly...and new shoulder pain came with it. I know you said the study was in the early 2000s, but I feel completely lied to by my coaches because they didn't know any better. Really frustrating...
I'm definitely glad I found this video. I'm going to give all your tips a try this next week and see how it goes. Hopefully this solves the pain and inflammation...🤞
Thx & blessings
Excellent stuff. This is one to rewatch every so often down the line to check yourself
Thanks to all these videos, I have gone from barely making it 50yds to doing 600yds non-stop. Thank you!
You would be very helpful to violinists, violists, and cellists (bowed strings). You athletes as well as dancers have much better awareness of injury prevention. We musicians have only started to address this on a mass basis in the past 10 years. Many are still using their bodies in a way that isn't sustainable. Why I mentioned the bowed strings? Because our work demands asymmetrical use of upper body and our necks and shoulders bear the grunt of the workload. Many musicians will end up with symptoms in their hands and fingers, mistakenly thinking that is the location of the issue.
I literally went to the physio yesterday about this exact issue and this is exactly what he said. Good advice 👍
You lost me on the tilt angle. I can relate to the other four points. Thank you.
Fantastic video, wished this came out 2 years ago. Excellent additional points as well (especially overreaching). I had this issue and it was because I misinterpreted what I saw elite swimmers do, where they might look like they overreach but in reality the perfect technique, combined with their speed and underwater camera views make it easy to misjudge or misread the long and efficient strokes for overreaching. Another reason why one should not try to think of a particular look when swimming and instead, try to improve a little more naturally. Lastly, the extreme high elbow recovery mistake; oh how great Phelps made that look and how much pain it brought me XD.
Fantastic video, thank you.
I breathe on my left side, and my right bicep is killing me. I don’t have a teacher, but to me it feels like I’m trying to ‘hold myself up’ with my right arm as I breathe. The arm and shoulder are tense. Does this sound likely? How might I work on fixing it? Thanks for such wonderful videos!
If I had this video 2 years ago, I wouldn't be sitting on a bench for a year now; still recovering from frozen shoulder.
Age, bad strokes and forms, too much impact etc = damage.
Gosh, internal/external description good but no real recommendation on how to correct the movement on the catch through the pull. I see the demonstration but difficult to put into effect. Thanks
thank you! excellent translation of research. and the last two especially - exactly what i have been figuring out for myself (after months out of the water and physical therapy) - that's exactly what i've been finding as a way to not hyper-extend while engaging the water / just by noticing what hurts and what doesn't. (my personal data collection completely jibes with your instruction - especially the last two of the three main points.)
Hi Brenton, I've suffered from frozen shoulder and impingement for some time and it has really restricted my free style. Since focusing on technique from your videos, my shoulder pain is completely gone and I am now able to swim freestyle for my whole 1K session (in 50m & 100m sets). I still have a way to go and this video really emphasises where I need to focus to prevent any further injury as I progress. Thanks for great content, Cheers
Nice lecture
I don’t understand how to correctly implement what he’s saying, what did you do?
@@bronsonbrockschmidt4963 I think the main thing was to use a pull buoy so I could let my legs trail which let me focus on lifting my elbows.
I learnt to swim when I was 54 (2014) and would swim regularly for a year and a half and then stopped. I started swimming again in May 2022 and a couple weeks ago I seemed to have pulled something in my right arm. I've not yet made an appointment to see my doctor I think because I'm worried he's going to tell me to stop for awhile, I do take timeout now whenever I feel too tired or if I think my arm needs the rest, I had booked for 2 hours today but i cancelled because i know my arm needed the rest. But I'll be going tomorrow because I try to go to the baths 6 days because after a life of doing very physical sports swimming is the only thing I can do that doesn't cause me a whole lot of pain and is a form of therapy for my joints.
Mostly caused by swimming with high elbow
Awesome video as usual! I always learn something from your videos. I had shoulder pain and my main issue was not engaging my lats. One coach asked me if my back was ever sore after a swim workout and I said no. This let me know that I was not using my back enough. I focused on engaging my lats with the help of some dry land exercises and my shoulder issues went away. By the way, one great shoulder therapy that helped is hanging. I just hung from a pull-up bar as long as I could.
I want to first thank you for your very helpful video. I have shoulder pain, only on my right arm, to avoid it I try thank to your videos are these things:
Make sure my face is looking down when my hand passes my head in the recovery.
Tilt and stretch my arm longer once the arm is in the water.
Lower my arm a little while stretching it instead of trying to keep it close to the surface.
It works most times, but sometimes I just get a sore shoulder maybe because I am not paying attention to all these things at the same time.
I try to swim between 6 and 7k per week.
I’m from Spain, I am a 43 year old woman and I’ve been swimming for six years now. Best decision ever!
Your videos help me so
much with my technique I can’t thank you enough.
Hey Brenton, full marks for reading, research, interpretation of factors causing shoulder injury. Very impressed. I've been out of the water now for almost 2 years with terrible R shoulder injury; specifically tear/strain to supraspinatus (BTW: recently listened to terrific Podcast with Rebecca McCabe on Conversations who experienced what became a career ending injury to this muscle). I have been doing exercises for two years to get this right. No swimming freestyle in that time. Used to swim ocean and squads. So, with terrific guidance from Sports MEd doctor, the muscle is coming good (I'm 64 and NEED TO SWIM!!). What is scaring me is more damage and how to get the technique right. Re your 5 points, the two that i definitely get WRONG are your last two points. But, was also wondering about the importance of hip rotation; can you add anything on this?
If you are based in Melbourne I’ve got a great recommendation for someone who might be able to help with the shoulder as well. Hopefully you don’t need it with you are working with at the moment! I came off the mountain bike in November and had an issue with the same muscle and I was able to get back to Swimming in a few months working with this person. Send me an email through our contact form on our website if you are in Melbourne! In terms of hip rotation it’s different for each swimmer but I don’t think a big contributor to shoulder injury. Some streamers keep relatively stable hips and others use their hips quite a bit
Great video. I've had left rotator cuff impingement for years. Mine is aggravated by applying too much pressure in the catch, rather than going "slow to fast," as Brenton instructs. Also, using a hip driven freestyle helps, focusing in the Sarape Effect, also helps. Best stretch for opening space in shoulder to reduce impingement: grasp the underside of a table or a bar with your palm up standing adjacent to the table or bar. With a straight arm, lean to the opposite direction, applying upward pressure on the hand which remains stable, pulling the shoulder slightly out of the socket. Hold for about 30 seconds, and you will find great relief for impingement pain. I do this throughout my swim, holding the lane line with my palm up and leaning away from it. Thanks, Brenton!
Very, very similar to my situation and experience. I developed a level 2 rotator cuff impingement years ago after falling off a mountain bike and landing heavily on my elbow, which transferred a shock to my right shoulder. When i subsequently went swimming I got inflammation in the shoulder joint. I had quite a bit of physio done on it, but I the physio was a rugby head who had no real understanding of the mechanics of the swimming stroke; and how the nature of my movement was contributing to the problem. So I did quite a bit of research and trial and error. Sounds similar to your experience I found what helped was greater rotation from side to side (the hip driven freestyle), and not position my shoulders as horizontally flat in the water in the catch, pull and recovery stages. I avoid outright freestyle sprints, or specifically, avoid drills that emphasize shoulder load. No, no way my right shoulder will handle the additional load using hand paddles.
so you're pulling it down and away from the body?
You’re a lifesaver.
Thank you for posting information about this stretch. Certainly has helped me since I started using it a week or so ago after reading your comment.
Anyone has a video of this exercise? I have exactly the same injury I think 😢
Hi Brent, I've started to feel major shoulder fatigue when swimming with wetsuit. Do you have any ideas on that? Could that only be a fit issue?
Thanks for this. I've just started having issues with my shoulders and I'm not sure if it's swimming causing it or my job which includes a lot of data entry or if that's just exasperating the issue. I don't really notice pain while I'm swimming but the next day my right shoulder especially is very sore and tender. I have been mucking around with my stroke a lot lately and I felt it had gotten better. I'm definitely faster and able to swim longer but I wonder if I'm o er doing some of the things you've mentioned. I'll definitely take note next time I'm at the pool.
This sounds exactly like me, and it's only my right shoulder ( I'm left handed)
@@firas919191 if it helps yes my swim stroke did need some adjustment but after going to physio it looks like the main issue is ous. I have changed my workstation and been doing exercises and it's improved. My stroke is better now too and I'm a bit faster.. Good luck
A good plain English. Useful. All I need now is to remember the tips when actually IN the pool.
1. High low on recovery. 2. Recovery hand "palm" is inboard (thumb up, not "palm" outboard with pinky finger up - THIS IS THE CAUSE OF THE SHOULDER PAIN). 3. Entry, catch and pull all within the shoulder width. DONE DEAL.
I was taught; "taking my hand out of the pocket" technique and in the process my elbow never goes up... but im still having shoulder issues. Edit:....nvm.... you answered the question.
I never had any issues with sholder pain until I started triathlon and swam in wetsuit. I tried on a wetsuit 2 months ago and from day one I had right sholder injury. I suspect the issue Is that the wetsuit prevents me from rotating enough or, it pulls my arms. I don't know.
I was swimming "flat" without rotation. I was self trained swimmer preparing for 10K swim......2 weeks before start my left shoulder got swollen. I got an injection. Finished 10K...and my physio told me that my technique was bad and that was the reasson. So I started from the begining with a coach. Never had this problem again.
Are there fools like me here, just trying butterfly and dislocating the shoulder?
My arm is ok, just sore. How was the swimming after the injury? Do you have to be scared?
I started swimming about 3 months ago. Been doing it very consistently, and could feel my technique and swolf improving each week. Last week a pain started on my left shoulder, but I kept swimming anyway. Next day the pain was intense. It's been a couple of days now and its better. Most movements don't hurt my shoulder anymore. I'm really hoping it'll pass in short time and not something long-term as I've been very motivated.
Great video! What drills would you recommend to eliminate the risk of shoulder pain? I'm a 44 yr old swimmer who has returned to the pool after a 30 year hiatus. I've got some shoulder pain and want to improve ❤
Hi Brenton. I've been wondering if stroke correction advice (10 years ago) to 'reach over the barrel' to lift my elbows has created the impingement you mention for the #1 issue. I still have elbow drop but it's much improved. Unfortunately, I suspect I have trained an incorrect/over internal rotation into my stroke, the associated impingement has been disruptive and at times debilitating. I've been doing work to improve joint mobility which is helping, but I feel like I need to unlearn the incorrect 'over the barrel' positioning? Any tips to get the (correct) internal rotation, that is seeming elusive? Hope you and the family are doing ok in these challenging times. Cheers Bron :)
I am 36 and started lane swimming for the first time this month. I've been to the pool 3x now, and my shoulder is already killing me. Sorry, but watching all kinds of RUclips videos has done me absolutely no good. Each "common mistakes" video looks exactly the same to me as the "this is how you do it right" videos. One says you should rotate, then I watch them and see absolutely no rotation anywhere. Is there really no sport at all that you can do that won't instantly fuck your body up as you try and learn how to even do it properly? Guess I'll be adding swimming to the list of sports I can't do as well
Excellent
1. During Catch, Arm should not over-rotate internally
2. During Recovery, Don't lift Elbow too high
3. While entering Hand into water, arm should not extend fully, but once hand is inside water
Addl Tips from My Experience
4. During initial recovery, avoid shifting/ tilting your body before recovery elbow, leaving it behind. Lead body shift/ tilt with Elbow, as it recovers.
5. While swimming at low pace for long distance, pay attention to any discomfort in body, you must be doing something wrong, because if you're technique is good then you feel sleepy
I’m a beginner who’s only getting pain in my right shoulder. Definitely think I’m trying to keep
My hand too close to the body in the recovery. Gonna see what I can do with these tips!
A hugely important video. It is very true that not to externally rotate and drop the elbow, and also to get the best catch one can force his body in a very unnatural way. Arm movement should be technical but also artistic I believe. As the channel name it should be"effortless", gliding at the best angles according to mobility levels.The other points also have to be kept in mind till they get automatic. Valuable information.Thanks a lot!
I found swimming all the strokes in my swim program extremly helpfull...not just freestyle. Plus daily hanging straught from a pull up bar every day. Good tips though...
My experience, I have been swimming open water for leisure fore years, not particularly fast but decent, after watching many swimming videos of high elbow catch tried to mimic those, you see some elite swimmers that turn their arms like mad, so was trying the same. Result, this year open water swimming my shoulders are killing me, never had this pain before and I am 42, I feel my technique is better somehow but hell at what cost, I am more of a swinger on the recovery, I have not changed that it comes easy and don't think I would gain much on that, but the underwater now is worrying me a lot...
I think I'm doing all of this 😂, the other day I was supposed to do 5000m but for some reason my shoulders were so sore I had to go slower because I had pain it felt more like soreness but it never went away like it usually does after the warm-up, I started as an adult and have no teacher so this is really helpful, THANK YOU!
I haven’t taken swimming seriously until 1.5months ago. I wanted to increase distance to 2km which I did. But I pushed it too hard too early, and now I’m having shoulder pain.
Only my right shoulder hurts. Is it usually only 1 shoulder that is painful? Also, my right is not a good breathing side for me.
Mine triggers during the catch and pull phase. But I think this is because I exxagg my recovery phase before. I need to watch this video again to remind me.
I think shoulder injury is because many professor force the student to internal shoulder rotation, saying things like: "your cheek should touch your "shoulder" and should stretch the lap forward", which also increase the internal shoulder rotation.
Yes, you can be more efficient but with a cost, a painfully cost.
I think, thr shoulder has to be stabilized when swimming
In cheststroke, for example because there is more stability in the shoulder there is less injuries.
Is there a pattern between a specific swimming style and the shoulder ingury?injury?
Lot of bad teaching and bad professors around, and why all the people wants free style if they finish with injuries. Do cheststroke instead
I saw many swimmers, specially long distance open water do, quiete an open lap, but there are many who manage to cross the English Channell with cheststroke
Good tips. Currently recovering from a suprspinatus tendon tear.....swam biathlon a year ago then had an operation in September. Back in the pool....often very sore in the neck are two days later after workout. Thinking of consulting a trainer to observe my technique
Thanks for the video, this is super helpful. Any advice on how not to do these mistakes practically? Thank you!
yeah I think you really have to "smartly" treat yourself individually, because every person's physical condition is different , especially for adults , whose conditions are already fixed. I'm pretty shocked in his last video where the PT evaluated the angle by which the swimmer could raise his elbows. he did 45 degrees, I could only raise flat.
given that, when I do arms recovery, I basically pull up my arms along the side, with lower arm at 90 degree angle. if my elbow goes backward of my back plane, that creates huge pain on shoulder.
I have been learning to swim by watching youtube videos incl. Effortless Swimming which is my favorite. But nontheless I got shoulder pain now and it is quite strong. So I stopped swimming so far. And I am sure it happened because of my poor technique of stroke... And now I am pretty sure that if you want to swim lyou need to take lessons... RUclips will never learn you in rught way because you don;t see HOW you swim so you don't see your mistakes
I think my shoulder technique is the same for both arms. However, my right shoulder hurts whereas my left feels fine. Doc said I have significant arthritis on the right ( almost bone on bone). I don’t have a good solution for dealing with this. It is pretty bad at the beginning of the workout and after a while it eases up. Then I reach a point where I change to a different arm stroke or just kick. Kicking with no arm stroke helps Me concentrate v on the core muscles. I don’t really think my problem is one of technique but it would be great to figure out what would help.
What about stretching? Dynamic and static...do these prevent injuries and sore shoulders
Hi!
I‘ve carefully followed your video because of the ache i have when I start pushing at a „good catch“, so i am a bit back to windmilling under water… hope i i will improve a bit. Thank you for your video, i hope i got it right, that at the start of the catch there shall be an internal sholder movement but at the pull phase it shall change to an external one..?
I've just started triathlon and started to learn freestyle. I keep getting a pain in my right arm which feels muscular. I think I'm throwing my arm too wide compared to the left. Really frustrating
Thank you very much for this video….have been trying to find why my shoulder hurts after only 500m and i have to swim the rest of the 3km or 5km with should pain….I am almost certain it have to do with the recovery and the catch….since I am so fixated on pulling like sun yang maybe overexageration of the internal rotation is making my shoulder hurt. THanks again will try to improve and check if my should pain resolves.
Impingement in my right shoulder back in 2006. Started swimming again, going slow and working on technique. Shoulder is bugging me again.
Don’t understand much of that. Seems to spend all his time to referring to internal and internal rotation. Couldn’t even sort the business of arm recovery. Seemed to not understand words he was using - like “impingment” as though he had read it but needed to explain what he thought it meant. Terrible video - very poor presentation - I learned very little and seemed to ignore modern TI swimming technique altogether.
I started swimming 3 weeks ago, 1 hour every day except Sunday and I developed shoulder pain. Now I'm trying to reduce the range of motion of my shoulder and also don't do freestyle all the time. I may reduce my swimming time to 45 or 30 min too.
I always get shoulder impingement after 1-2 months of swimming, sidelining me for months. super frustrating. Thanks
Ugh! The back of my left shoulder, under the rear deltoid, screams after a swim. I just started swimming after stopping for the last 4 months because of this! I have no idea how to fix this. I get what the video says, but it’s hard to turn it into a drill/activity.
Can anyone recommend a non complicated video that would help me learn more about swimming without too high an elbow and implementing the things suggested here? Great video, just need some instruction for a beginner with a shoulder impingement! :)
My shoulders are giant bags of turds right now. Fortunately I’m attending your clinic in April.
I notice when I alter my right arm stroke to not go as high as I normally do the pain disappears. It just feels unnatural. But it works. 8)
Past impingement and a torn bicep tendon. Swam in high school, college and masters, was 50yrs old before I had issues. Both I think I injured in the gym doing weights, then swimming made it worse, too high of elbow
Thanks heaps. I will have to take some lessons and change what I'm doing. Right shoulder is killing me.
I . wondering if I have a pain in right shoulder due to the fact that I am breathing on right side, every two stroke. I will try to breathing on left side and we will see if I LL reproduce the pain on left side this will proof wrong techicue
Tore my right supraspinitus (sp?) 5 years ago and freestyle causes intense / sharp pain at night. Novice swimmer who learnt to swim as an adult. I am definitely overextending, My elbow does hit the water first before the palm. Is there a simple drill to unlearn this
I am a late swimmer. Initially after 4-5 classes I started having pain in the right side of end of the skull which got strech down to neck and shoulders. Any idea what causes such kind of pain? Or anyone else faced such kind of pain?
First time shoulder injury, rotator cuff tendonitis / calcific tendonitis. First 70.3 in 6 months!
used to swim 5 days a week. started feeling shoulder pain in right shoulder. Not terrible but range of motion is limited and theres some pain. Can't stretch my right tricep very well (elbow pointing up stretch).
This and Greg's stroke analysis are great videos!. They really helped me realizing that I had an overreach in my stroke. I noticed the improvement in a 3km swim right away, cut down 20 seconds just like that in a day, and I could repeat the effort the day after, with no pain and less fatigue. Thanks!
Im dealing with shoulderpain now.. the left shoulder in particular and also happens this is the side i breath the most on.
Any corelation to this?
At the gym i cannot put much weight on the shoulder press machine.. almost nothing.
Pain is mainly felt when doing the movement as the recovery phase.
I think i pinched some tendons and are inflammed right now.
Ive been dealing with this pain for last 4 months.
Hope it goes away one day..
I defenatly do all the errors. Can you.give tips also on daulphin swim technique, in freedive we do this technique a lot and it simply kill my shoulder. My thaught after watching your clip us maybe I also do too much iner rotation in the daulphin posture.
Iv had shoulder issues for over 2 years with no clear answers. I recently found out iv had an inflamed suprespinatus tendon. I took the option from my doctor to get a steroid injection a week ago. Hopefully I’ll be back in the water in a couple weeks and searching for the right technique to prevent this injury from happening again.
I am beginner and After I swim with high elbow in sprint for 15m only at shallow water at the pool, I would have shoulder pain the next day or the next two days. I had once time it made me the whole back of my neck at the upper spine area could not turn both left & left.
Rotator cuff injuries (both shoulders)...
I have bicep strain and pain resulting from the strain. Maybe your instruction for shoulder pain will help me, too.
My daughter's impingement is felt more in backstroke and some in fly. What should the corrections be there?
I have got a shoulder injury since 2018 and now am dealing with it badly it’s starting to feel like it’s gonna twist what do I do?
Can proper stretching not fix most of these issues? Increase flexibility problem solved?
I’m hurting in the right shoulder and under my right breast. What am I doing wrong? I am 71 years old and started learning to swim 3 weeks ago
I find it too difficult to remember all the correct techniques. All I do is go into the water and do my things, and soon after this, the problems start coming to me like little hungry puppies!
Broken collar bone and 3rd degree dislocation from bike accident, always have pain when swiming on thst side
7:13 "instead of here" that 'reach' movement can cause the waist to bend laterally resulting in a snake-like motion through the water instead of straight-line swimming. And it's hard to correct. Better video yourself if you're reaching more to make sure you are not messing up another aspect of your stroke. Also, the reach MUST be in front of one's shoulder and not reaching across or in front of the head (ultra-common mistake--I see it everyday at the pool) or the above-described problem will become exacerbated.
what if i face my palm forward when i pull, so that way i will have most possible external rotation. Am i right?
Yeah always had right shoulder cuff issues. Partly cos in reaching I partly dislocate my shoulder. I stopped swimming for 15 years because of it. I have just got in the water again and following some of your tips. I taking it real slow because I love swimming but just want to eliminate the issues with my stroke. Your resources are unreal thanks.
I breath on my right side and I get soreness in my right shoulder. I do everything except write with my right side I lift pots pans the kettle drive my car everything right side. But my left side really is at leisure most of the time. I am wondering if I am pulling harder on my right side but engaging my hips helps maybe my rotation needs to be better I am wondering if I am turning my head too much rather than doing a shoulder rotation for my breathing and might not be keeping my head still enough on the side rotation. I am trying to keep my head more still and rotate not too much because I think I might over rotate but just getting the right angle on my rotation on my breath side I think will get my shoulder in a better position but I never get any problems on the left side as that side is basically always in relax mode!
Great advice thanks. I am recovering from a broken collarbone/shoulder subluxation. I have just resumed swimming , I noticed that naturally to avoid pain, I do what you are advising, for instance the recovery not too close to the body, the entry. I guess pain is a good indicator of bad move. It helped me to protect my other shoulder... Thanks for your great videos.