dav

are there common swimmers injuries from over training that we should be made aware of?

Swimmer

knees and shoulders can be effected

chi_seeker

I am an avid and very dedicated swimmer. 24, female. Probably swim at least 3-4 times a week, if not more or every day on good weeks.

It's been 7 months since I was in a car accident where I was rear-ended at a complete stop. Since then I have gone to massage therapy, and chiropractor, as well continued my regularly and previously mentioned swimming routine. I have had relief in the massage therapy treatments, as well slightly with the chiropractor.
In terms of my concerns with swimming, and as well why I decided to join this forum is because I am looking for some feedback on an injury/strain I've seem to have been dealing with since the accident that originates in my ribs as well on my right side due to (what I've been told by therapists) is my hip flexor muscle, and possibly (but not certain) my sciatic nerve.

Since the accident I have stuck to my swim routine. This has helped me greatly. I find swimming the best exercise for me, but have found the pain in the ribs and hip to keep returning and it becomes bothersome as most muscle pains do.

The most recent and near unbearable pain, at times, has been in my ribs on my lower, front right side, as well as my back between my right shoulder blade and my spine. Chiropractor has said it's not in my shoulder and my thoracic treatments he gives me should help the pain with time. Massage and heat feel good but are only temporary. Icing to dull the pain after initial strains and to ease swelling is good, but my desk job can limit me from such things at least consistently, without taking time off.

I'm curious how long it will take me before I am able to *comfortably* go back to my weekly swim routine? This week is the first week of my recovery from the rib pain I mentioned and it's day 3 without swimming. I plan to stay off swimming and do light yoga sessions for at least 2-3 weeks, then see how the water feels from there.

Thanks for any replies or feedback!

Typhoons Coach

In my opinion, it is a relative question; there are too many factors that have an impact on how quickly you recover (including genetics). Take it slow, and use your pain threshold to determine how much you should push.

phsswimr09

Last year I over trained and ended up damaging my shoulder when states came. Its a year later and Im still continuing to work on building up my swimming routine. They never did find out what was wrong with it.

What I did was slowly VERY SLOWLY start to lift. And once you build up strength with that and stretches after a few weeks. Gradually start swimming. I started with 15 min swimming sessions and I can now do 1000 yrds in about 30 mins. I started at where I couldn't even swim 100 from pain. It takes alot of rest and patients but as long as you dont push yourself to the point of pain you will gradually improve

DarkEye

most of the time i get injuries on my shoulders and my back.