Our country is surrounded by water, hence it is no surprise that Australians love to swim! As well as being fun, the water provides an excellent medium for exercise and fitness. It is a great way to stay fit in a low-impact way and all level of fitness can benefit.
Competitive swimming is especially popular in the South Melbourne area, largely due to our Victorian Swimming Centre being located very close by in Albert Park. Some of our Physiotherapists have a particular interest in swimming injuries as retired competitive swimmers themselves. We therefore understand the extreme demands placed upon swimmers with frequency and duration spent in the pool per week, as well as the need to better those PBs! The most common injuries seen in swimmers tends to depend on what stroke the swimmer specialises in. Freestylers and butterflyers tend to experience neck, back and shoulder issues associated with repetitive overload from recovery phase of stroke. Backstrokers are more prone to shoulder and elbow injuries. Breaststrokers tend to present with knee/hip complaints due to the repetitive frog-like position of the legs. Sometimes it is useful for your Physiotherapist to liaise with coaching staff. This may include obtaining a video of the swimmer in the pool. This can give valuable information as to why the swimmer has developed a particular injury.
Swimming is a fantastic form of exercise that offers a large range of benefits including: increasing muscle strength, endurance and cardio-vascular fitness; improving flexibility and core strength; improving concentration and discipline to name a few. Whilst it is so important to spend time developing the fitness and technical aspects of your stroke in the pool it is crucial to ensure your training schedule also includes weight bearing exercises. This could be in the form of gym or land based training and is vital for bone and joint health. Your Physiotherapist can assess whether your training schedule is balanced and offer expert advice in this area. Sometimes it is necessary for your Physiotherapist to write you a strength or core based program to rehabilitate or prevent an injury. Our Physio Exercise classes are a fabulous addition to a swimmers training week for those that are serious about getting back in the pool after injury or who simply want to cut some seconds of their times!
Resources
The Practitioners with the most experience in swimming related injuries are:
Physio Exercise Classes for Swimmers
Physio Exercise Classes are designed to compliment your swimming training program as exercises are specific to your level and condition. The focus may be developing core strength, flexibility and power through the water or rehabilitating an injury. Classes may include some pilates style exercises utilising reformer and trapeze. Click on the following link for more information on our Physio Exercise Class program. Click below for our recent Physio Exercise Class Timetable: