Performance Plateaus and Injury Recovery

Unfortunately, many swimmers experience a performance plateau (a period of time where there is no improvement) at some point in their careers. Injury, usually to the shoulder, is another common (way too common!) condition that many swimmers face. Fortunately, a thorough analysis can uncover biomechanical and/or physiological reasons for both conditions.

As long as a swimmer is improving, he/she may not see the need to focus on technique. Quite often, a single adjustment can help a swimmer break out of a plateau. For example, every swimmer has some wasted motion in their stroke - typically at the very beginning of the pull. Minimizing this wasted motion increases propulsive force (as well as stroke rate) and can result in a substantial time drop.

Similarly, attention to technique can also help a swimmer recover from an injury and help prevent further problems. For example, it is very common for swimmers to complete the entry in both fly and free with the hand closer to the surface than the shoulder in a position that is classically related to shoulder impingement syndrome. Adjusting the entry angle can position the arm to avoid stress on the shoulder. This adjustment not only decreases stress on the shoulder to speed recovery, but has the added benefit of faster swimming!

There's no need to continue in a plateau and/or suffer from an injury. Once the responsible technique limitation is identified (either by observation, video, or force analysis), correction is straightforward.