Swimming is one of the most refreshing ways to spend your pastime, especially in summer. It is one of the best forms of exercises. Although swimming is very much enjoyable injuries do occur because of the rapid and repetitive movement of muscles while swimming. There are two types of injuries that you can suffer: Acute and overuse injuries.
Acute injuries are mild injuries but are rare because swimming is not a contact sport.Acute injuries result from a slip while you are running in a pool, diving in the shallow part of a pool or clashing your fingers or not doing the required stretches before start swimming.
Overuse injuries are chronic in and mostly occur in elite swimmers. Here are the causes of overuse injuries.
1.Physical factors; joints which are not aligned well, muscle imbalances, ligaments being unstable, muscle imbalances, being inflexible and muscle weakness. Poor nutrition may also cause injury. Swimming is a high-intensity workout which requires you to have enough energy because glycogen levels fall very quickly while swimming the body ends up breaking down fats as a way to obtain energy you will end suffering from fatigue. When fatigued chances of injuring your joints increase
2.Training factors; poorly planned training programs, poor swim techniques, swimming too much and swimming too hard or too fast.
How to Prevent These Injuries
Warm Up: Before you start swimming it is important to condition your body for the swim by warming up. Light swimming is the best type of workout that you can do before a swim. All strokes can be performed expect Butterfly.
Cool Down: After swimming it is important to return your heart rate to normal after the high-intensity workout to ensure that that you don’t faint and your muscles do not become sore. Light swimming is the best way to cool down after swimming
Crossing Training: Apart from swimming you should do other dry land exercises like weight lifting which will increase your strength, endurance, and bone density. This will go a long way in reducing the amount of fatigue you will suffer while swimming and reduce the risk of injury.
Technique: To avoid injury when swimming it is important that you master the right technique so that you are less likely to get injured and be more efficient in the water to avoid early fatigue.
Rest diet: Swimming is a high-intensity workout, and it is therefore important that your muscles recover after swimming but having enough rest and the right diet.
Treatment of Injuries
- Shoulder Injury: This is an injury due to overuse or the shoulder joint being unstable.
Treatment: ice is first applied to the injured part then an electronic simulation is induced to reduce pain. Ultrasound and NSAIDs are used to reduce inflammation.
- Back Injury: This injury is caused by repetitive stress during turns or strain due to poor positioning of the body or head.
Treatment: Rest the body parts that are injured followed by strengthening exercise.Chiropractic care can be administered by a chiropractor to relieve you of the pain. Chiropractors in Applecross and South Perth Chiropractors are one of the best if you are leaving near in Australia and you need treatment that will relieve back pain.
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