07/03/2023
In 2016, I completed my MSc in Sports Rehab, whilst working alongside British Swimming and the English Institute of Sport. During which, I undertook some research on an elite population of swimmers, looking into the effect of training load on specific shoulder adaptations, specifically those that could lead to increased risk of injury. This study was then published in the shoulder and elbow journal in 2018. See abstract below!
Abstract:
Background
Shoulder pain or injury is the most common issue facing elite competitive swimmers and the most frequent reason for missed or modified training. Literature suggests that highly repetitive upper limb loading leads to inappropriate adaptations within the shoulder complex. The most likely maladaptations to occur are variations in shoulder rotational range of motion, reduction in joint position sense and shortened pectoralis minor length. This has yet to have been confirmed in experimental studies. The aim of this study was to investigate the short-term effects of swimming training load upon internal and external rotation range of motion, joint position sense and pectoralis minor length.
Method
Sixteen elite swimmers training in the British Swimming World Class programme participated. Measures of internal and external range of motion, joint position sense error score and pectoralis minor length were taken before and after a typical 2 h swimming session.
Results
Following swimming training shoulder external rotation range of motion and pectoralis minor length reduced significantly (−3.4°, p =
