Overusage + Burnout (SwimSwam article)
In 1974, Kennedy and Hawkins used the term Swimmer’s Shoulder to describe the problem of shoulder pain in swimmers. With a continuing analysis of shoulder pain, it became evident that the cause may be multifactorial, including overuse and shoulder muscles fatigue, laxity and instability, and biomechanics of the swimming stroke. McMaster and Troup surveyed competitive swimmers and identified that 47 percent of 13-14-year-olds, 66 percent of 15-16 year-olds, and 73 percent of elite college swimmers experienced shoulder pain associated with swimming.
In competitive swimming, a swimmer undergoes continuous revolutions. Regardless of the stroke and the level of technical skill, this continuous movement puts stress on the shoulders and potentially leads to injury from repetitions. Young athletes are at risk for chronic injuries related to overuse.
Like most swimming pathology, overuse is the primary factor in causing knee pain and injuries. This is related to the whip kick that performed at high peak angular velocities due to the extension and flexion, external rotation, and the hip abduction and adduction movements. Repetitive hydrodynamic forces result in cumulative stresses that increase the risk of soft tissue injuries. The spine is also a recognized site predisposed to injury in a swimmer. It is associated with hyperextension of the lumbar spine due to the undulating motion.
These data demonstrate the inadequate development of strength in athletes in relation to the loads that they endure.
From a young age, coaches begin to introduce workouts with long repetitive training or high-intensity interval training. This could lead to a rapid increase in results, although the versatile development of necessary motor skills for the child’s growth and development is pushed to the background.
Parents and young swimmers look at performance as the primary evaluation of progress. To make kids faster is a requirement from the youngest age to keep them on the team, and to move up groups. The financial aspect is very important too because if you as a coach is not going to make a young swimmer faster, then there is another team that presumably will. Because of that, every coach is under huge performance pressure. By the time young swimmers mature they experience all sorts of training methods and sets with very little understanding of the mechanics and patterns of swimming.
YOU HAVE TO BE PATIENT WHEN YOU ARE COACHING YOUNG SWIMMERS.
Young swimmers will improve their performance simply because they are growing and building more confidence in the water. They do not need to be trained as miniature adults.
Advancing a young swimmer is very important by teaching skills and implementing a long term athlete development program. Coaching progressively and appropriately to the age level of an athlete is the difference between training and teaching. The total hours of organized sports per week should be less than or equal to a child’s age in years.
Both outside the water with dry-land programs and inside the water workouts with lactic-stress based and long repetitive sessions, you may favor tiredness, laxity, and poor accuracy in technique with young swimmers. This should be taking into consideration when developing a training plan.
Building a solid skill requires a process: starting to focus on some fundamental technical points on short divided sets and holding on to the skills during sets which are going to be more extensive or intensive. For example, breath technique, streamlining or kicking off the wall, body balance, and recovery.
Great Waves Aquatics mission +policy:
Injury: It is our goal to teach each swimmer to swim correctly, which will limit injuries due to swimming. We do not do the type of yardage that typically causes usage injuries. Our focus is to make each stroke, lap, practice, season, and race.. count; no "Garbage Yardage".
Burnout: Great Waves Aquatics will adhere to a pracitce schedule, daily practice routines, focus on an effieciency (not yardage) attitude (quality not quantity) that should prevent Burnout. Our season plan will allow time for Spring Break, Spring sports and other individual interests because we want your swimmer to love swimming, have a life outside of swimming, longevity in swimming, aviod injuries, and also each family to have quality family time and not let swimming take away from that, but to be a means to build family and family time. To get the most out of our efficiency focused instruction they must be willing and wanting to and consistently making the changes that the coaching staff recommends. Ultimatly, your swimmer is their own best coach, meaning they are the ones that have to take what the Great Waves Coaches are teaching and incorporate that into their stroke and races, every day, every length, every stroke. COVID has taught me how valuable "family" time is, and we will create well balanced individuals that will be great swimmers, great people, and students of swimming..that will in turn help build better families and communities.
