Improving swimming with Pilates

Transcription

1 Improving swimming with Pilates Yuliya Vetushka Russia, Moskow

2 2 Abstract Swimming, a popular recreational sport, involves 120 million participants yearly. Of these, more than 165,000 are age-group swimmers registered with United States Swimming,Inc., and almost 19,000 swimmers 25 years of age or older are registered with United States Masters Swimming. In addition, numerous students are in high school and collegiate competitive swimming programs, and an increasing number of people swim regularly for fitness. Although it is possible for competitive swimmers to incur several injuries from the sport, such as tendinitis in the shoulders or knees, there are also multiple health benefits associated with the sport. Prevention of shoulder pain in swimmers is perhaps the most important goal. The functional property of the Pilates method is one of its most unique and valuable attributes. Pilates helps improve Scapular Control with scapula-humeral rhythm.

3 3 Table of Contents Title Page 1 Abstract 2 Table of Contents 3 Anatomy 4-5 Case Study- Including BASI System Regime 6-9 Conclusion 10 Bibliography 11

4 4 Anatomy Almost every muscle in your body is used in swimming. However, the primary muscles used are the gluteal, hamstrings, and quadriceps as a result of kicking through the water. The upper-body muscles used in swimming include the deltoids (shoulder muscles), latissimus dorsi (back muscles), trapezius, and rhomboids (mid-and upper-back muscles), as well as the biceps and triceps. In some strokes (e.g., the butterfly), the rotator muscles are involved, allowing the shoulders and arms to get a complete workout in all three planes of the body. The abdominal and back extensor muscles stabilize the trunk to maintain the efficiency of the stroke. Swimmers Shoulder Swimmer s shoulder is an umbrella term covering a range of painful shoulder overuse injuries that occur in swimmers. Because there are various parts of your shoulder that can be injured from your swimming stroke, your pain can be anything from a local pain near the shoulder joint, to a spreading pain that travels up your shoulder and neck or down into your arm. Being an overuse injury, it is caused by repeated trauma rather than a specific incident. Over 1/3 of top level swimmers experience shoulder pain that prevents them from normal training. What Goes Wrong in Swimmers Shoulder? The shoulder is a very mobile joint and being so mobile, it needs to be well controlled by the muscles and ligaments that surround the joint. Over-training, fatigue, hypermobility, poor stroke technique, weakness, tightness, previous shoulder injury or use of hand paddles can lead to your muscles and ligaments being overworked. If this goes on, injuries such as rotator cuff impingement and tendonitis, rotator cuff tears, bursitis, capsule and ligament damage, or cartilage damage can occur.

5 5 Shoulder Anatomy Shoulder is a ball and socket joint, with a rim of cartilage that goes around the socket to make it deeper and more stable. Joint capsule, a fibrous material, with thicker parts of the capsule forming ligaments. A number of muscles and the tendons from these muscles run around and over joint. The muscles that have the most effect on joint stability are called the rotator cuff. The cuff is made up of four muscles which work together to help keep shoulder cantered in the socket. Shoulder blade (scapular) is the base of shoulder and arm movements. Normal shoulder blade-shoulder movement - known as scapula-humeral rhythm - is required for a pain-free and powerful shoulder function. Alteration of this movement pattern results in impingement and subsequent injury.

6 6 Denis, my client, is 14 years old. He is engaged in swimming 3 times a week, and participates in competitions between schools. By connecting Pilates to his training mode, he wants to increase the speed of swimming by improving the technique and at the same time protect himself from injuries. My task was to create a program in which Denis will meet, strengthen and balance the mechanism of the shoulders and the whole body. Using the principles and block system of Basi Pilates, I developed the following program, in which I used most of the Cadillac, due to the fact that exercises on it give more stability and the ability to concentrate on small and local movements in different parts of the body. This makes it a great opportunity to create a strong connection between mind and body. Warm-up Foot Work - Cadillac Abdominal Work - Cadillac Hip Work - Cadillac 1) Roll down 2) Pelvic Curl 3) Spine twist supine 4) Chest lift 5) Chest lift with rotation 1) Parallel hells 2) Parallel toes 3) V-position toes 4) Open V-position heels 5) Open V-position toes 6) Calf raises 7) Prances 8 ) Single leg heel 9) Single leg toes 1) Warm up SERIES-Roll up with roll up bar 2) Mini roll ups 3) Mini roll ups oblique 4) Roll up top loaded 5)Roll up bottom loaded 1) Frog 2) Circles down, up 3) Walking 4) Bicycles 5) SINGLE LEG SUPINE-frog 6) Circles down, up 7) Hip extension 8) Bicycles Roll down allowing the client to focus on his alignment, coordinate breath with movement and concentrate on being in the moment. Fundamental warm up focus on neutral spine, pelvic stability, spinal articulation, spinal rotation and hamstring control. The results of the survey of athletes and coaches, the analogy with the rowing organs in fish and aquatic mammals also indicate that the most effective traction should develop passive, "off" foot. It should be noted that the passivity, "softness" of the foot in everyday life increases the risk of injury, as well as injuries to the ankle, which literally pursue many swimmers. The task is to learn to control the foot and ankle in everyday life. Training abdominal muscles of the press during swimming begins with the ability to consciously strain the muscles of the abdomen and body, as well as the ability to maintain these muscles in a conscious tension. In addition, the correct breathing technique is also important. Swimming makes very high demands on the musculoskeletal system of the legs. Suffice it to say that often during one training session the athlete performs thousand kicks with great force and speed. These exercises help maximize hip dissociation with hip extensor

7 Spinal Articulation- Cadillac 1) Monkey original 2) Tower prep control and strength. It is important to control movement of all sections of your back and spine. Stretches- Cadillac 1)Shoulder stretch The latissimus dorsi, pectorals and shoulder internal rotators characteristically shorten and the thoracic curvature increases collectively leading to a loss of extension through the thorax. A scenario that functionally predisposes impingement, this postural adaptation can result in a compressive force in the acromio clavicular joint and eventually, the sternoclavicular joint. Thoracic spine extension is necessary for protecting the shoulder joint from injury. Full body integration (Fund/Int) - Cadillac Arm work -Cadillac 1) Sitting Forward 2) Side reach 1) Shoulder adduction single arm 2) Shoulder adduction Double arm 3) Sitting side prep 4) Sitting side Low back injuries in swimmers most often are caused by repetitive stress during turns and the strain of poor head and body position in the water. Torsional strain can occur when the body does not roll as a whole unit during the stroke cause in gab normal loading at the point in the spine where the rolling stops. This predisposes the swimmer to overuse or acute injury or both. Pelvic musculature, particularly tight hip flexors can reduce hip extension resulting in hyperextension of the lumbar spine and anterior pelvic tilt. Scapular stabilization is required for shoulder rehabilitation. The aim of this phase is to align the scapula as an appropriate base of support for the action of the rotator cuff muscles. To achieve optimum function the shoulder is held back and down through scapular retraction exercises. Swimmers with painful shoulders have been found to recruit the rhomboid muscle more in the propulsive phase than noninjured swimmers. These muscles should be trained to contract in a normal state, which will reduce the forward shoulder posture and allow increased sub acromial space. Consideration

8 Full body integration- Reformer (Adv/Master) Leg work-reformer Lateral flexion/rotation- Reformer Back extension- Reformer 1)Tendon stretch 1) JUMPING SERIES-Parallel position 2) V-position 3) Single leg parallel 4) Leg changes should also be given to the lower trapezius as it counteracts the upward scapula pull by the upper trapezius, which is active throughout freestyle stroke. The serrates anterior is active throughout the entire stroke cycle and thus must be trained to resist fatigue. Similarly, the rotator cuff muscles are also active throughout the entire stroke range and may also be prone to fatigue related injury. Spinal stability and impaired motor control must be addressed. Motor control skill has been shown to be compromised under challenging aerobic circumstances. The multifidus muscles of the lumbar spine are associated with atrophy in those with acute low back pain. The atrophy was unilateral to the side of pain and at the same level as the palpable joint dysfunction. Spinal stabilization exercises (sometimes referred to as core stability exercises ) have been shown to prevent multifidus muscle atrophy. Trunk muscle coactivation using an abdominal bracing technique has been shown to increase the margin of stability when performing activities. Fast swimmers need to be in order to have an explosive start and fast walls. This means jumps can give ankles a much needed boost in terms of strength. 1) Side over on box Swimmers should also be encouraged to roll their bodies from side to side when swimming freestyle and backstroke thus reducing the tendency of body swinging from side to side as a result of alternating lateral and vertical movements of their arms. 1) Breast stroke Prep 2) Breaststroke 3) Pulling Straps 1 4) Pulling straps2 Backstroke swimming requires the prolonged contraction of the anterior neck to keep the face above the water line, a position, which may predispose cervical spine hyper flexion. These muscles are prone to fatigue and

9 can result in muscle soreness afterwards. Poor body rotation places add depressure on the shoulders by not allowing them to be deep in the water, thus not allowing them to trace the required S shaped curve. This in turn can affect the neck by increasing the strain of anterior structures and encourage the forward head carriage posture.

10 10 Conclusion This program allowed Denis to maintain the best possible technique at all speeds during a workout. He found out how to go fast while using good technique, which will create bigger gains. Performing swim strokes and paying attention to hands, arms, elbows, shoulders, and other parts of the body help him increase a swimmer's awareness in the water. If swimmers try to go fast with poor technique, they are wasting energy. In particular, making Pilates a part of a swim workout will help him develop a better technique and most importantly to protect it from various injuries.

11 11 Bibliography Isacowitz Rael, Study guide: Comprehensive Course, Costa Mesa, California: Body Arts and Science International, Rael Isacowitz, Karen Clippinger «Pilates Anatomy», wimming_a_discussion_of_technique Spinal Musculoskeletal Injuries Associated with Swimming: A Discussion of Technique Article (PDF Available) in Australasian chiropractic & osteopathy: journal of the Chiropractic & Osteopathic College of Australasia 12(2):72-80 December 2004 Source: PubMed