Here is an email from Cheryl, who did a workshop at the start of November.

 It seems to be shoulder injury season – perhaps others in similar situation may find this useful.

 

 

"Hi Dunstan
Hope you are well.
I was wondering if you might be able to help me.   
I had a cycling accident 2.5 weeks ago and landed heavily on my left shoulder.  I haven’t been in the pool for 3 weeks now and my doctor has advised me not to do any freestyle for another 2 weeks.  I validated for Ironman at the Geelong Half Ironman in Feb and have decided that I am still going to do it in just under 4 weeks.  So I was wondering if you could advise me what drills or swimming you think that I could do to regain/keep my swim fitness. 
 
PS I was really happy with my swim time of 40 minutes at Geelong, which is
largely thanks to the 2 day course.  Looking forward to doing a refresher
and maybe even the full course again sometime soon.
 
Thanks for your help.
Kind regards
Cheryl" 

 

 

 

Hi Cheryl.

 

Well done on your Geelong swim.

Sounds like a nasty bike crash you had.

I fell off 2 weeks ago and broke my collarbone!

http://www.flickr.com/photos/senseofmovement/sets/

 

Sounds like we both have ambitions to heal well and quickly.

If you can remain positive you can certainly turn this to your

advantage. The key thing is to be super sensitive to your

shoulder and your body sensations… especially PAIN!

 

Pain is a great indicator when recovering from accident

or injury. It is your body’s way of letting you know what

you should and shouldn’t do. For this purpose I recomend

you use the minimum amount of painkillers that you can.

I managed my pain with homeopathic arnica which supports

the body in healing.

 

As far as swimming goes I would recommend you use the next

week to consolidate your balance using mainly

 

>Jellyfish

> Superman

> Skating

> Fish

 

These will allow you to keep your ‘feel’ for the water and you

can look for the ‘dry hip’ sensation which lets you know you

are balanced. If it hurts your arm to hold it extended you can

just practise on the other side. Looking at your video your 

balance was really good at the end so start to feel as though

you are really holding the positions from your core.

 

Next week you can do some gentle Underswitches (Spearswitch)

with fists to avoid pulling on your shoulder. Do plenty of ‘revving

the engine’ to engage your core. You could also do some basic

pilates to activate that area and build power for when you are

able to use your arms again.

 

Beyond that you can bring back your recovery with these focii:

 

1) Really loose arms, hanging from the elbow

2) Enter Wide – wider than you think

3) Drop the arm in under its own weight

4) DO NOT PULL – emphasis on hips sending you forward instead.

 

ABOVE ALL LISTEN TO YOUR BODY

Allow your pain or discomfort to guide you in your recovery.

 

I look forward to hearing how it goes.

 

Dunstan