TECHNIQUE CAN REMEDY ‘GOLFER’S ELBOW’ In the last issue, John Shackleton sought advice on the elbow pain that is disrupting his training for an at empt on the 30km Cook Strait. The condition is known as ‘golfer’s elbow’. The question was fi elded by our sports injury specialist, Paul Hobrough. Below, our swim technique specialist Paul Newsome adds to this advice…
Technique expert Paul Newsome says… While Paul Holbrough provided solutions for how to treat the pain from golfer’s elbow, I would like to advise on issues within the swimmer's freestyle stroke that may be causing the condition, as well as talking about how to modify one’s stroke to address these issues. Some coaches and swim programmes encourage their swimmers
to 'fi nish strong' at the back of the stroke, by emphasising the push immediately prior to the hand exiting the water at the rear of the stroke. This causes the swimmer to hyper-extend the elbow and excessively internally rotate the shoulder. As well as stressing the shoulder joint, the hyper-extension at the elbow can cause the condition medial epicondylitis (or golfer's elbow). Swimmers who overly lengthen their freestyle strokes are particularly susceptible to this condition. Instead of locking out straight, the arm should exit the water with a slight bend of around 150º at the elbow. The palm of the hand should be turned in slightly towards the thigh to complete the stroke smoothly.
THE ARM SHOULD EXIT THE WATER WITH A SLIGHT BEND OF AROUND 150º AT THE ELBOW
PAUL NEWSOME GUEST EXPERT Paul is the founder and head coach of Swim Smooth and is a world-recognised authority on freestyle stroke correction and training methods. Aſt er racing as an elite triathlete on the World Class team at Bath University, he now coaches and develops a large squad of swimmers in Perth, Australia.
COLIN HILL
Our long-distance swimming expert A passionate pillar of the open water swimming community, Colin Hill is the marathon swimming technical operations manager for London 2012 Olympics. He devised the Great Swim series and swam the Channel in 2009.
PAUL HOBROUGH Our sports injury rehabilitation expert Ex-international kayaker Paul Hobrough is the founder of Physio & Therapy UK (
physioandtherapy.co.uk), which specialises in sports injury treatment and injury prevention for athletes. His clients include people of all abilities, even Olympians!
MY WETSUIT IS GIVING ME BACKACHE
I took up swimming to help with lower back pain. About 14 months ago I suff ered a prolapsed disc, and had a discectomy. The surgery was a success and aſt er a couple of weeks I was doing some light swimming. But some time later when I tried to swim in a wetsuit my sciatica returned. My theory is that because of the extra buoyancy in the legs and chest, my body is held by the wetsuit in an inverted arch, so placing strain on my lower back. I use a 2XU V1 wetsuit. Have you heard of similar problems, and do you know of any wetsuits with reduced buoyancy? Richard Jafrato via email
Our sports injury expert Paul Hobrough says… There are a few issues to consider here. Firstly, you probably need some stroke analysis to check the rotation (or lack of it) of your lower back and hips on
each stroke. Although this is not my area, my guess is your wetsuit inhibits the rotation of your lower back and hips, compared to how they rotate when you are not wearing it. But as I say, this is a guess. Secondly, you need to have your core strength analysed, because you mention that your back is being held in “an inverted U”, by which I assume you mean hyper-extension of the lumber spine.
Following surgery, you must have had a series of core strengthening exercises to do, and I recommend that you continue with these at least twice a day.
There are exercises you can do to strengthen the body's ‘natural corset’. See
physioandtherapy.co.uk for more information. Plus if you buy a cheap blood pressure cuff you can get some excellent biofeedback, ensuring you’re get ing the most from the exercise.
Lastly, you need to see a physiotherapist to make sure you are not causing any damage through swimming – having had major surgery this ought to be a priority if your symptoms reoccur.
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