6 Swimming Injuries We See Most Often and How to Avoid Them

Swimming is a great low-impact exercise for people of all ages. But whether you swim competitively or for leisure, injuries can, and do, happen. 

Sometimes these injuries occur as mild pain that flares up whenever you go for a swim, but they can also be serious enough to keep you out of the pool for weeks or months. They affect both professional and amateur swimmers and can occur at any age, so everyone, from young athletes to older Australians trying to stay fit, is at risk.

Let’s walk through the 6 most common swimming injuries, how to avoid them, and what to do if you’re injured.  

Most Common Swimming Injuries

1. Swimmer’s shoulder (shoulder impingement) 

Rotator cuff tendons, which provide stability and control to your shoulder, pass through a narrow space between the shoulder bones. This space gets even narrower during overhead arm movements such as those required for freestyle, butterfly, and backstroke swimming. 

Overuse from excessive swimming, poor shoulder stability, muscle weakness, and improper technique can cause these tendons to become pinched, leading to pain and inflammation.  

2. Knee pain 

The ‘frog kick’ that you do when swimming breaststroke puts a lot of stress on the knee joint, since it involves rotation and a forceful whip kick. To reduce strain on the joints, your knees should only be slightly wider than your hips (the kick is less frog-like than you might think).  

Weak muscles, overexercising without adequate recovery, and poor technique can all contribute to swimmer’s knee.

3. Lower back pain 

To maintain a streamlined position and engage the core, swimmers will usually arch their back (hyperextension). It’s particularly common with breaststroke and butterfly swimmers. 

It’s possible to arch your back too much, which usually happens when you’re trying to compensate for a weaker core. It can also be a technique issue, such as lifting your head too far out of the water in breaststroke. 

The constant and exaggerated hyperextension puts strain on the erector spinae muscles, leading to lower back pain. 

4. Neck strain

Neck strain is not as common as the three injuries above, but it can happen, especially if you do a lot of freestyle and breaststroke swimming. It’s usually caused by excessive head rotation or lift. Some symptoms of neck strain are neck soreness, tenderness, and stiffness that limit your range of motion. 

5. Hip flexor pain

If you experience pain in the front of your hip, groin, or upper thigh, that’s likely an issue with your hip flexor muscles. These are heavily involved in swimming styles that require flutter kicks. That is, freestyle and backstroke. It can also happen in breaststroke swimming if you have an exaggerated frog kick. 

Excessive swimming, weak glutes, or improper technique can strain the hip flexor muscles, leading to pain, inflammation, and weaker kicks.  

6. Wrist pain

This is another injury unique to freestylers. If your hand hits the water the wrong way during entry, it can cause strain and pain on the wrist. This can happen if you tense your wrist, it’s too floppy, your palm is flat, or you bend your wrist too much. 

How to Prevent Swimming Injuries

Swimming is a technique-heavy sport, so good form is extremely important if you want to swim fast and efficiently with no injuries. 

But form isn’t everything; you need strong muscles and joints, too. Stronger muscles make it easier to maintain good form, they provide protection against injuries (they can handle more strain without getting injured), and they improve your swimming performance. 

Some good workouts include: 

• Pull-ups and bench presses for stronger shoulders and arms, 
• Squats and leg raises strengthen your glutes, lower back, and your entire lower body. 
• Planks, flutter kicks, and bird dog exercise for a stronger core. 
• Gentle water exercises like kicking drills can also help you condition your body while also improving your technique. 

Conditioning your muscles, tendons, and joints with regular exercise is especially important for youth swimming athletes. It greatly lowers risk of injury as you get older and swimming becomes more intensive and physically demanding.  

Get Expert Swimming Injury Treatment at Ace

If you’re experiencing pain or discomfort from swimming, we can help you at Ace. We have a team of specialists who work together to get to the root of your injury and create a personalised treatment plan to get you back to full form. 

We use a combination of therapies, including physiotherapy, osteopathy, and myotherapy to speed up healing, strengthen the injured joint, and reduce risk of re-injury. 

Give us a call at 03 9824 8001 to talk to a physio about your swimming injury and get a tailored treatment plan.

Disclaimer: This blog post is for informational purposes only. Consult with a qualified professional for personalised guidance based on your specific needs and circumstances.