Swimmers' and Paddlers' Shoulder

I went for a paddle this morning with a friend. I was on my 14 foot Bark paddleboard (which I love!) and he was on his 19 foot Eaton (which I also love!!!). We paddled a tough 14 miler from Newport to mid-Laguna and back. Well, it was tough for me, pretty typical for him. Anyways, about 10 miles into the paddle, I started thinking about the shoulder girdle, which is, by the way, my favorite girdle…..and joint.

Whether knee paddling or prone paddling, the shoulder acts in a very similar manner. Recovery (sweeping your hand forward while out of the water), like with swimming, is flexion and external rotation of the glenohumeral joint. The “pull”, again as with freestyle and butterfly, is primarily extension and internal rotation of the GH joint. Obviously, there is a LOT more going on (at the scapulothoracic, acromioclavicular and sternoclavicular articulations), but these are the basic shoulder motions for swimming and paddleboarding.

We strengthen the “pull” phase with the resistance of each pull. The recovery phase receives little to no resistance and gains little to no strength. The fast and smart among us stretch the “pull” muscles (lats, pecs, subscapularis, teres major, rhomboids, rear delts), but few of us spend any time strengthening the “recovery” muscles. This is important because the muscles that move the GH through recovery are also the antagonist muscles of the pull. They serve not just to move the arm through recovery, but they also help to stabilize the shoulder girdle.

For a healthy, non-injured paddler, I recommend large and global strength exercises for the “recovery” muscles (teres minor, infraspinatus, mid and upper trapezius). Try adding 2 days per week of exercises (the web is full of great ones!!) during season and maybe 3 days per week off-season. For the injured and suffering among us, you can start with the exercises nearly every “shoulder patient” has been prescribed: empty cans, external rotations, and Ts Ys and Ws.

For any activity you do this can hold true. Spend time strengthening the muscles that you DON’T use, and it can greatly improve the performance of the ones you DO use.