|
Avoiding Shoulder and Knee Problems
Jozsef Nagy The key to avoiding problems is to have a
long warm-up and warm down and to stretch
the muscles thoroughly before swimming and
while resting between sets. We do a 1000 warm-up to allow you to work
better while avoiding problems with all muscles. The purpose of the 800 warm-down is to slowly
bring your heart rate down. This helps to clear the lactic acid that
has built up in the muscles and provides
for faster recovery. If you abruptly stop, the heart rate drops
and blood flow to the muscles decreases before
the lactic acid is carried away resulting
in increased muscle pain.
In dryland training, it is critical to do
the exercises in the proper order so
that
all the muscles are worked. It is also important to fully stretch the
muscles. During stretches you need to extend the muscles
all the way and hold that position
for 30
seconds. DO NOT bounce.
Shoulder and knee problems are caused by
cramps within individual muscle fibers due
to insufficient stretching, warm-up or overwork. You will not feel the individual muscle cramps
but over time they can cause pain at the
insertion point for the effected muscles. In the knee, this occurs below the knee cap
or on the inner side of the knee cap. In shoulders pain will be at the front of
the shoulder. Pain in other locations is typically not
from swimming.
Stretching Exercises
Hold each for 30-60 seconds
For the Knees:
Get on your knees then lay back onto the
floor with your ankle just outside your hips.
While standing, bend your knee and bring
your heel straight back toward your butt.
For the Shoulders:
FULL arm rotations- slow wind mills
  
Pull across the shoulder-
reach across your chest and pull your arm
close toward the chest stretching the muscles
on the back of the shoulder blade.
Standing a few feet from a wall. Bend sideways
at the waist to touch the wall and stretch
the muscles across the shoulder, side and
back. The same can be done between sets by
grabbing the lane ropes and stretching out
Lay down on your stomach with your arm running
across your chest and press the shoulders
toward the floor.
|
