Friday, February 27, 2009

It's back


My shoulder pain is back. I staved it off for more than a year. Last time it was a impingement of the supraspinatus muscle in my rotator cuff. I've got an appointment with the PT next friday to get back on track with my exercises. And thanks to Kathy I am getting a massage next week- thank you!

The things that I think are contributing factors are:
*typing too much at work
*bad ergonomic set up at my desk?
*poor posture
*stress on my neck and upper shoulders from some cord exercises I have been doing for the past two weeks
*tension!
*anatomy - I've got super flexible loose shoulders


Given that I experienced no problems all summer and fall, I think the biggest factors are working on the computer and stability of my shoulder -- I don't work in the summer and wear a wet suit all summer for swimming which stabilizes my shoulder I have discovered. It got better last winter with physical therapy so I expect it will this year. It is just frustrating. Especially as I am trying to gear up for New Englands. I haven't been doing much yardage as a result of my shoulder.

I did practice starts today and made some significant changes which I think will really help. Coach suggested I place my hands inside of my feet on the blocks and not grab tight to the block as I was trained to do way back when. Also he noticed I was bringing my arms in to my chest first when I really should be throwing them straight out immediately. Just these few changes really did feel faster. After I master this I'd like to try to incorporate better streamlining of my legs and feet so I can make a clean entry. Check out this video recently posted on Go Swim.


Starts - Clean Up the Feet from Glenn Mills on Vimeo.

4 comments:

Unknown said...

Oh, that is so frustrating to have an injury rear its ugly head so close to major meet!! I really feel for you, and hope you can get it sorted out quickly.

Ange said...

oh........I'm so sorry. I knew the second I saw that picture. I totally Empathize with shoudler issues. :( Patience and diligence. Do the exercises.
miss you, a

e said...

hello there, i found your blog recently as i was searching around for swim blogs :) I'm a former swimmer as well all the way from grammar school through college. I graduated 3 years ago and started coaching this fall and the itch is definitely coming back.

I love your blog and as i start to slowly (but surely) get back into the sport, i think this will help keep me motivated! :)

GetBackJoJo said...

hi,
bummer about the shoulder. Ibuprofen? Everytime I start to move toward injury I seem to be able to stave it off by taking a week's course of Ibuprofen -- about 200-400 mg. average 6 hours. This only works, though, if you rest the injured area at the same time. You can't keep swimming on it (or whatever) until it feels strong again without the ibuprofen.
miss you.
interesting about the starts. fortunately, that's not a big part of my focus right now! Starts scare me!