What kind of injuries have you had?
And has swimming helped them or made them worse?

Tendinitis, bursitis, back problems, arthritis, anything. Bring your stories.

I have had tendinitis in my knee from when I used to run. I was forced to give up cross country and to take a short break from swimming. Unfortunately, I am a breaststroker (extremely hard on the knees) so occasionally I will lapse back into pain. It's very important to ice and take some Ibuprofen, and to definitely rest!

Thanks Zash! When I start swimming, that will most likely be my stroke. It interests me the most and looks like its sure to tone you up.
I have had tendinitis also in my shoulders and elbows. It's no fun.

I used to get work-related back pain at the end of every work week, mostly in the upper back and neck area. Swimming has mostly eliminated that. I have to be working 9 - 10 hour days for weeks on end to get problems now.
The only thing that swimming seems to make worse is the occasional bout of wrist and forearm tendonitis, but I can swim with it if I pay close attention to what I'm doing with my hands. Fist gloves help, as well.
E.T.A.: Breast stroke bothers my knees sometimes. (They were injured in a car accident years ago.) On the rare occasions when I have shoulder pain, breast stroke bothers that more, too.

(Mar 24, 2012 9:36am)nuliajuk Wrote:  I used to get work-related back pain at the end of every work week, mostly in the upper back and neck area. Swimming has mostly eliminated that. I have to be working 9 - 10 hour days for weeks on end to get problems now.
The only thing that swimming seems to make worse is the occasional bout of wrist and forearm tendonitis, but I can swim with it if I pay close attention to what I'm doing with my hands. Fist gloves help, as well.
E.T.A.: Breast stroke bothers my knees sometimes. (They were injured in a car accident years ago.) On the rare occasions when I have shoulder pain, breast stroke bothers that more, too.

What kinda shoulder issues bother you man? I'm actually surprised you can swim butterfly without pain. And I'm surprised freestyle doesn't bother your shoulders more than breast.
Why does swimming help with back pain so much?

And also, would you say your back or front of your shoulders are used more in swimming man?

(Mar 24, 2012 11:14pm)joshb12 Wrote:  

(Mar 24, 2012 9:36am)nuliajuk Wrote:  I used to get work-related back pain at the end of every work week, mostly in the upper back and neck area. Swimming has mostly eliminated that. I have to be working 9 - 10 hour days for weeks on end to get problems now.
The only thing that swimming seems to make worse is the occasional bout of wrist and forearm tendonitis, but I can swim with it if I pay close attention to what I'm doing with my hands. Fist gloves help, as well.
E.T.A.: Breast stroke bothers my knees sometimes. (They were injured in a car accident years ago.) On the rare occasions when I have shoulder pain, breast stroke bothers that more, too.

What kinda shoulder issues bother you man? I'm actually surprised you can swim butterfly without pain. And I'm surprised freestyle doesn't bother your shoulders more than breast.
Why does swimming help with back pain so much?

And also, would you say your back or front of your shoulders are used more in swimming man?

I very rarely get shoulder problems, when I do it's usually from not enough stretching. I'd say once or twice a year. Admittedly, I only swim 3-4 times a week, but even when I lived in a city where I could swim more often, I didn't often have problems. Perhaps there are advantages to being tight-jointed and inflexible?
Butterfly? I didn't learn it until I was in my mid-40s and don't do much of it. I learned it from Total Immersion videos, so I really focus on the whole body instead of just arms and legs. (I highly recommend T.I.. It completely transformed my swimming.)
As to why swimming helps with work related back problems, I suppose it's the range of motion and the stronger muscles.
Front or back of the shoulders? I try to bring all of my back and core muscles into it. This means keeping the elbows high. To get an idea of what I mean, try breaststroke pull with closed fists. You can feel your abdominal muscles coming into play to pull your body over your hands.
Oh, and just for the record, I'm female, not a man

(Mar 26, 2012 7:51pm)nuliajuk Wrote:  

(Mar 24, 2012 11:14pm)joshb12 Wrote:  

(Mar 24, 2012 9:36am)nuliajuk Wrote:  I used to get work-related back pain at the end of every work week, mostly in the upper back and neck area. Swimming has mostly eliminated that. I have to be working 9 - 10 hour days for weeks on end to get problems now.
The only thing that swimming seems to make worse is the occasional bout of wrist and forearm tendonitis, but I can swim with it if I pay close attention to what I'm doing with my hands. Fist gloves help, as well.
E.T.A.: Breast stroke bothers my knees sometimes. (They were injured in a car accident years ago.) On the rare occasions when I have shoulder pain, breast stroke bothers that more, too.

What kinda shoulder issues bother you man? I'm actually surprised you can swim butterfly without pain. And I'm surprised freestyle doesn't bother your shoulders more than breast.
Why does swimming help with back pain so much?

And also, would you say your back or front of your shoulders are used more in swimming man?

I very rarely get shoulder problems, when I do it's usually from not enough stretching. I'd say once or twice a year. Admittedly, I only swim 3-4 times a week, but even when I lived in a city where I could swim more often, I didn't often have problems. Perhaps there are advantages to being tight-jointed and inflexible?
Butterfly? I didn't learn it until I was in my mid-40s and don't do much of it. I learned it from Total Immersion videos, so I really focus on the whole body instead of just arms and legs. (I highly recommend T.I.. It completely transformed my swimming.)
As to why swimming helps with work related back problems, I suppose it's the range of motion and the stronger muscles.
Front or back of the shoulders? I try to bring all of my back and core muscles into it. This means keeping the elbows high. To get an idea of what I mean, try breaststroke pull with closed fists. You can feel your abdominal muscles coming into play to pull your body over your hands.
Oh, and just for the record, I'm female, not a man

Oh i'm so sorry I've started realizing people i thought were guys on here are girls, and it's hard to tell if you just go by usernames and no avi pic :/ i'm sorry.
What are the total immersion videos?

I planned to swim 4 days maximum. To be honest, i haven't even started yet. I was lifting weights, and working a job where i painted a lot, and i wound up getting front shoulder pain that bothered me for an entire year. And now i'm able to do bodyweight workouts, light intensity, once a week, and i was looking at swimming because there's supposed to be very little resistance and impact, and i figured it'd be easier on me that trying to workout with weights or bodyweight.
Plus i know it does wonder for your body, its cardio, and it tones you excessively from what i've heard.

I actually am working an 8 hour shift job about 3 days a week, and i notice after everyday my back is sore and tight because i'm on my feet the entire time minus a 30 minute lunch, and thats the only break i get. So i'm hoping maybe swimming will help me there.

I planned to focus mostly on freestyle, breast, and a little bit of back stroke once i started (hopefully within the next couple weeks).

Right now i'm just trying to learn as much about it as possible. Like what kind of results to expect, and what to expect, and how hard it is on you, and the strokes, and that sort of thing.

I don't know if we're allowed to post links here, but here's the link to the Total Immersion website:
History of T.I.
U.K.
Basically, it's a method of learning or re-learning to swim in which the stroke is broken down into it's smallest components, starting with balancing the body horizontally in the water (you'd be amazed at how much less work swimming is when you learn to be balanced) and adding pieces of the whole stroke a little at a time until you have a complete efficient stroke.
If you are only looking at swimming as a workout, T.I. might disappoint you, as the whole purpose of it is to become more efficient. For example, when I first took up swimming after a car accident, I was swimming 25 meters in almost a whole minute and 30-40 strokes, on average. Just 20 lengths left me exhausted, and "Adult Stroke Improvement" lessons didn't help one bit. Since starting T.I., I'm averaging 21-24 strokes and 33 seconds per 25 meters when I'm just cruising, and might get up to 28 strokes in 24 seconds if I'm going all-out. It didn't come overnight, and I'm still not "fast", but it's a huge improvement over what I was doing in those early years, and with less effort.