Chiropractic Care for Swimmers: Managing Swimmer’s Shoulder and Overuse Pain
Whether you’re doing laps at the local pool or training for an ocean swim, the repetitive overhead arm motion in swimming puts a huge number of cycles through your shoulders every session. Dr. Adam Arnold sees competitive and recreational swimmers from around Charlestown and Lake Macquarie at Be Amazing Chiropractic, and shoulder pain is consistently the most common complaint.
Why Swimmers Get Shoulder Pain
According to Better Health Channel, “swimmer’s shoulder” is a well-recognised overuse injury affecting both competitive and recreational swimmers, and incorrect technique combined with a poor warm-up are named as common causes. Given the sheer repetition involved — thousands of arm rotations across a week of training — even small technique issues can accumulate into a genuine overuse problem over time.
Common Pain Patterns We See in Swimmers
At Be Amazing Chiropractic, swimmers tend to describe a familiar handful of patterns: shoulder pain that builds gradually across a training block, neck tension from breathing technique on one side, and lower back discomfort in swimmers who favour certain strokes. Some notice it appearing after a sudden increase in training volume, while others feel it develop slowly as a season of regular swimming progresses.
How Chiropractic Care Can Support Your Swimming
Dr. Adam Arnold brings more than 30 years of Australian clinical chiropractic experience to assessing swimmers, combining Traditional Chiropractic Care with Zone Technique and Quantum Neurology to look at how your shoulders, spine and nervous system are coping with the repetitive demands of your stroke — not just the spot that’s sore. An assessment covers your training history and typical stroke patterns, and a hands-on examination, before discussing an approach that may include manual treatment and practical guidance on managing training load. As with any care, results vary from person to person and outcomes can’t be guaranteed — the goal is to help you understand what’s going on and manage it sensibly alongside your swimming, not to promise a fix.
Staying Pain-Free in the Pool: A Few Practical Habits
Better Health Channel recommends always warming up, stretching and cooling down around a swim session, gradually increasing training intensity and duration rather than jumping straight into a heavier load, and getting instruction from an accredited swimming coach to check your technique — particularly if shoulder pain keeps recurring. Avoiding swimming through an existing illness or injury is also worth taking seriously rather than pushing through.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is shoulder pain just something swimmers have to live with?
It’s a common complaint, but “swimmer’s shoulder” is a recognised overuse injury with identifiable causes, including technique and training load — not something to simply accept as inevitable.
Could my stroke technique be causing my pain?
Quite possibly. Incorrect technique is named as a common cause of swimming injuries, so a coaching review alongside an assessment of how your body is coping can both be useful.
Should I keep swimming through shoulder pain?
Generally it’s better to have persistent or worsening shoulder pain assessed rather than training through it, since overuse injuries tend to get harder to manage the longer they’re ignored.
Will chiropractic care fix my pain permanently?
No one can promise that, and Dr. Arnold won’t. What an assessment can offer is a clearer picture of what’s contributing to your symptoms and a sensible plan for managing them going forward.
How quickly should I increase my training volume?
Gradually. Better Health Channel specifically recommends building up intensity and duration step by step rather than jumping straight into a heavier training load, since a sudden increase is a common trigger for overuse injuries like swimmer’s shoulder.
If swimming has left you with shoulder, neck or back pain, book a $99 New Patient assessment with Be Amazing Chiropractic in Charlestown and get a clear picture of what’s going on.
Related reading: What Causes Sciatica, and When Should You See a Chiropractor? and Find a Gentle Chiropractor in Charlestown: A Patient’s Guide
