Update on Rehabilitation Strategies for Swimmers' Shoulder: A Narrative Review

Abstract

Swimmers' shoulder is one of the common overuse injuries having multifactorial causes with a gradual onset. Swimmers' experience pain in the pull-through phase, during the mid-stroke wherein the arm is maximally internally rotated and adducted. This occurs due to a significant amount of force generated by the pectorals, latissimus dorsi, subscapularis, serratus anterior, rhomboids, and supraspinatus for this movement. The repetitive use of shoulder muscles during the swim strokes predisposes it to overuse injuries among which shoulder impingement is common. It hinders participation of athletes in competitive events and reduces the efficiency of the swim performance. This review aims to provide a consolidated overview and identify various rehabilitation strategies and exercise programs for swimmers' shoulder. A thorough search was done on PubMed, ScienceDirect, Web of Science, Cochrane, CINAHL, and Clinical Key to find relevant articles in relation to the rehabilitation strategies available for swimmers' shoulder. Overall, this review suggests that aquatic concentric-eccentric exercise, Kinesio taping, land-based strengthening exercises, and rhythmic stabilization exercises significantly improve pain and functional activity in individuals with swimmers' shoulder.

Keywords

swimmers' shoulder - shoulder impingement syndrome - shoulder pain - rehabilitation

Authors' Contributions

S.D. did the literature search and manuscript preparation and A.N. completed the results analysis, editing, and checked grammar.

Publikationsverlauf

Artikel online veröffentlicht:
25. Juni 2024

• References

• 1 Yfanti M, Samara A, Kazantzidis P, Hasiotou A, Alexiou S. Swimming as physical activity and recreation for women. TIMS Acta. 2014; 8 (02) 137-145
• 2 Pyne DB, Sharp RL. Physical and energy requirements of competitive swimming events. Int J Sport Nutr Exerc Metab 2014; 24 (04) 351-359
• 3 Lazar JM, Khanna N, Chesler R, Salciccioli L. Swimming and the heart. Int J Cardiol 2013; 168 (01) 19-26
• 4 Bradley J, Kerr S, Bowmaker D, Gomez J. Review of shoulder injuries and shoulder problems in competitive swimmers. Am J Sports Sci Med 2016; 4 (03) 57-73
• 5 Tessaro M, Granzotto G, Poser A, Plebani G, Rossi A. Shoulder pain in competitive teenage swimmers and it's prevention: a retrospective epidemiological cross sectional study of prevalence. Int J Sports Phys Ther 2017; 12 (05) 798-811
• 6 Escamilla RF, Hooks TR, Wilk KE. Optimal management of shoulder impingement syndrome. Open Access J Sports Med 2014; 5: 13-24
• 7 Torres-Ronda L, Del Alcázar XS. The properties of water and their applications for training. J Hum Kinet 2014; 44 (01) 237-248
• 8 Eider J, Łubkowska W, Paczyńska-Jędrycka M. The significance of swimming and corrective exercises in water in treatment of postural deficits and scoliosis. Central European Journal of Sport Sciences and Medicine. 2014; 6: 93-101
• 9 Gulhane TF. 5 Important types of swimming stroke: review paper. Int J Phys Educ Sports Appl Sci 2015; 1: 103-104
• 10 Wei T, Mark R, Hutchison S. The fluid dynamics of competitive swimming. Annu Rev Fluid Mech 2014; 46 (01) 547-565
• 11 Matzkin E, Suslavich K, Wes D. Swimmer's shoulder. J Am Acad Orthop Surg 2016; 24 (08) 527-536
• 12 Gourgoulis V, Boli A, Aggeloussis N. et al. The effect of leg kick on sprint front crawl swimming. J Sports Sci 2014; 32 (03) 278-289
• 13 Hill L, Collins M, Posthumus M. Risk factors for shoulder pain and injury in swimmers: a critical systematic review. Phys Sportsmed 2015; 43 (04) 412-420
• 14 Feijen S, Struyf T, Kuppens K, Tate A, Struyf F. Prediction of shoulder pain in youth competitive swimmers: the development and internal validation of a prognostic prediction model. Am J Sports Med 2021; 49 (01) 154-161
• 15 Nichols AW. Medical care of the aquatics athlete. Curr Sports Med Rep 2015; 14 (05) 389-396
• 16 Bhardwaj A, Singla S, Singh J. Review of literature on swimmer shoulder in athletes and its rehabilitation. Indian J Physical Education Sports Applied Science 2022; 12 (02) x
• 17 Faggal M. A comparative study between two exercise programs in treatment of swimmers shoulder. J Med Med Sci 2018; 13 (02) 1-7 (RJMMS)
• 18 Abdelmohsen A, Elhafez S, Nabil B. Core stability in adolescent swimmers with swimmer's shoulder syndrome. Physiother Quart 2021; 29 (04) 33-41
• 19 Deshpande S, Kulkarni CA, Wadhokar OC. Land based exercises versus pool based exercises for swimmer's shoulder in competitive swimmers: randomized clinical trial. J Med Pharmaceut All Sci 2021; 10 (04) 3296-3299
• 20 Mehrpour Z, Bagheri S, Letafatkar A, Mehrabian H. The effect of a water-based training program on pain, range of motion and joint position sense in elite female swimmers with impingement syndrome. J Adv Sport Technol 2020; 4 (01) 72-81
• 21 Abshenas E, Karimi Zadeh Ardakani M, Hamzeh Shalamzari M. Short-term and long-term effects of Kinesio-taping on pain and functional stability in swimmers with shoulder impingement syndrome. Physical treatments. Specific Phys Ther J 2021; 11 (04) 227-238
• 22 Hanson JH, Ostrem JD, Davies BL. Effect of Kinesiology taping on upper torso mobility and shoulder pain and disability in US Masters National Championship Swimmers: an exploratory study. J Manipulative Physiol Ther 2019; 42 (04) 247-253