What Stroke?

theholyghost

I've discovered a back injury of mine is being aggrevated by my way of swimming. I swim what I think is a sort of breaskstroke/ crawl with a frog kick. My physio recommends I swim but not with this leg kick.

Im trying to get lessons to find another means of swimming which won't set off my injury but there seems to be a bit of a waiting list for an instructor. Can anyone recommend another stroke I could search for on Youtube etc. and try and teach myself in the meantime?

I like swimming with a crawl to keep the water out of my eyes but just kicking my legs doesn't seem to work with that!

Thanks for your help. Going to swim 5 days a week for the next two weeks.

AngryHippie

Breaststroke and Butterfly are notoriously hard on the lower back, due to the body position and core muscles that are worked doing them.

It sounds to me like you are doing your own little version of a stroke also, which can cause further imbalances.

I would recommend spending a bit of time working with kick-board and pull-buoy to build up your leg and arm strokes independently. Front Crawl and Backstroke.

Aside from that I would spend some time learning to Scull. It's a very good drill for building up arm endurance and you can really focus on body position and posture while doing it.

Avoid breaststroke kick (frog) and Butterfly kick (dolphin) like the plague if you have a back injury. They will aggravate it and could even worsen the problem.

Focus on the crawls, break the strokes down and get some practice on individual elements of the strokes.


By the way, doing front crawl properly, your eyes will be underwater at all times unless you are breathing. If you've been keeping your head out of the water, you will be increasing the pressure on your spine by arching your neck back to keep your head out.

Use a kick-board, get some comfy goggles and get used to getting that head down. With the exception of back-stroke, all strokes involve face submersion. the sooner you get comfortable with it the sooner you can actually get some benefit from your water sessions.

Other than that, If you can't do the face down thing, try some aqua jogging, and some balance exercises in the water. It can only help.

theholyghost

Thanks for the reply it is very informative. It's funny how amongst the population in general there is a perception that swimming is the one activity which can do no wrong etc. because it is in the water! I seem to have been swimming in a way guaranteed to stress my lower back.

I don't mind putting my face in the water I just swam like that so as not to get water in my eyes and to not bother with goggles. I think a good teacher might be the way to go.

theholyghost

Learning this new way to swim and all the pieces that make it up is very interesting. Ive never done that before. I used to jump in and be wrecked after a few lengths. This is so much more controlled.

Balmed Out

Id echo hippy but do realise that frontcrawl and backcrawl with a bad position will be just as bad or worse for youre back, Im getting the impression you swim with youre head up which is something you need to stop.