How to prevent swimming injuries?

If you are an athlete, you are no stranger to injuries. Though swimming is usually an injury-free sport. The water absorbs most of the impact. This is not to say that swimming is without its injuries.

In fact, swimming may be one of the worst sports to receive an injury in.

Swimming is a full-body workout. It is impossible to swim without using all of your body. There is no way to take it “easy” on a muscle, without changing your workout completely.

For example, my coach hurt her shoulder and had to stick to doing just freestyle kick for 3 months. 

Swimming injuries can be incredibly detrimental. As a swimmer, your muscles are strong, but they are also under a lot of stress. An injury makes it worse for your other muscles as well, as they have to make up for the lack of.

And it is not always easy to recover from injury without missing practice sessions. Most athletes fear injury more than anything else. But this does not have to always be the case. 

In this article, we discuss how to avoid injury during, before, or after swimming session. 

Before swimming

Stretches to ease your muscle

If you are not an experienced competitive swimmer and have never done stretches before, it is a good idea to ask someone to show you how to stretch your muscles.

Basically, stretching allows your muscles to become less tense. It gets your blood flowing and prevents cramps. Even though swimming is a water sport, you need to stretch outside the water. 

When you stretch, you may also notice tense spots in your body.

For example, my arms were very sore when I stretched them before practice. This was a clear sign to me that I should have gone easy on the arms. In fact, in practice, I was unable to use my arms very well during pull.

However, instead of putting more strain on my arms, I avoided stressing them. This prevented me from receiving further injury. Stretching allows your body to see its weak spots, and get your muscles ready for use. 

Warm-up laps in the pool

Many swimmers skip laps during warmup. However, this is a very bad idea. Swimming is a cold, cold sport. It is easier to get muscle cramps and strains because the cold water causes your muscles to tense and shiver.

You need a warm-up to ensure this doesn’t happen. When your muscles become suddenly cold because of the water, it makes them freeze up. You will find it difficult to move, and it could lead to injury.

Warm-up helps your body adjust to the water and find its equilibrium temperature. This way, blood flows through your muscles naturally, and your body will not be tense.

It is best to swim warm-up slowly without sprinting because your muscles will be under a lot of stress. If you begin to swim your main set without a proper warm-up, your muscles will find it harder to cope. 

You may think that warm-up stresses your muscles more as you do more yardage, but this is not true.

In swimming, the intensity of the swim is often more important than the yardage. Since warm-up is not an intense work-out, it loosens up your muscles, allows you to build oxygen reserves, and therefore prevents injury.

During swimming

Acknowledge when in pain

All swimmers have off days. Some days, during a swim, you may find that a muscle is hurting during a set. Instead of forcing yourself through the pain, it is important to recognize that it could lead to a possible worse injury.

Instead, take a step back. For example, let someone else in your lane lead, or make sure that you personally do not overexert yourself. Learn more about the etiquette of lap training.

When you recognize possible problems in your body, you prevent them from developing into something worse. Often, this happens to the best of swimmers who attempt to power through the pain. This does not work.

See a sports doctor immediately if you have persistent pain through a set, even if it is minimal. It is always best to take it easy in one set, than risk your entire season at the cost of an injury. 

Drink electrolytic water

One of the worst feelings a swimmer gets is when they get a cramp. It is one of the most painful feelings and makes you curl up into a ball on the side of the pool. When you attempt to roll out the pain, it makes it worse. 

Muscles are controlled by salt ions in your body. While this is very technical, it basically means that a loss in water and salt in your body means a loss in muscle control.

Believe it or not, you sweat a lot in swimming. It is not noticeable when you’re in the water, but the moment you feel your body start to heat up your forehead throb, it means that your body is heating, and therefore losing salt and water. 

This means that your muscles are likely losing their ability to contract. When your muscles don’t contract properly, you get an injury. My coach always tells us to drink water whenever we have cramps. By drinking electrolytic water, you prevent the chance of injury by cramps and painful contractions. 

Flush out lactic acid

Have you ever done a lactic acid set? Or an anaerobic set? If you are unaware of what these sets are, imagine sets where you do not have much time to breathe, sets where you have to sprint a lot.

These sets cause the build-up of lactic acid in your body. While it is important for the body to build a tolerance to lactic acid, these sets are notorious for injury. Often in such sprint sets, you will find that you feel nauseous or dizzy. 

If you do feel this way, get out of the pool and throw up! It might sound ridiculous, but it is very important to get the lactic acid out of your system. Lactic acid leads to cramps, and therefore injury. By throwing up, you remove the lactic acid from your body.

With the lactic acid leaves the painful muscle feeling you feel after a sprint. Do not try to prevent yourself from throwing up. Even if it is embarrassing, it is better to remove the lactic acid from your body in a healthy way than suffering with an injury after it. 

After swimming

Cool down after swimming

Cool-downs are very important. After a set, you may feel like you just want to go home. But this is very bad for your body. After working so hard, your muscles are very hot.

The muscles heat up very fast, but without cooling down, they also cool very fast. This rapid contraction is very bad for your muscles and leads to injury. 

You should always perform a cool down, even if it is boring. One of my friends often skips cool down, and always has sore muscles and injuries. To avoid the rapid contraction of your muscles, slowly cool down. Otherwise, you will be in a lot of pain, and sore for the workout you have tomorrow. 

Remove the tension from the muscle

Remember when we said that you should take it easy if you notice a particular muscle in pain during a workout? Obviously, without taking care of the muscle, nothing will improve. Instead, when you go home, roll out those sore muscles.

You can use vibrators, foam rollers, plastic rollers, or even your knuckles to remove the tightness. Roll the object across the sore spot, back and forth. You will usually feel some tightness, and this means your muscle is sore. This will prevent your muscles from becoming worse, and ensure that when you go back to swimming the next day, your muscles are good to go! If even this does not work, see a sports doctor about your injury, to see if it is something of concern

Stretches after swimming

Just as you stretch before you swim, you should stretch after your swim. When your muscles have been at work for so long, they are often under a lot of damage and stressful contractions.

Stretching your body comfortably allows your body to reset. When you stretch after your swim, all those painful sets that you have done are neutralized in your body. Post-workout stretches are not very intense, and they are mostly the comfortable positions that put your body in its natural state after exerting it for so long. 

If you swim often, you will find your body often under a lot of stress. By taking care of it, you are ensuring its best performance. Injuries are very scary, but they are avoidable. Always listen to your body and its needs, and you will reap its benefits.

Even though injuries do occur, it does not mean that they have too often. You can avoid injury as much as possible by taking care of your body well and knowing the signs to avoid injury.

As swimmers, we find it necessary to push ourselves, but often we push ourselves too far to the point of no recovery. Being an athlete does not just mean exceling, it also means learning your body’s own needs.