To maintain a healthy spine, you need to pay special attention to physical activity. Correct loads help strengthen ligaments and muscles, make your back more flexible, and improve posture. There are many options for physical activity, but the most optimal of them is swimming. It’s not for nothing that orthopedists and vertebrologists prescribe their patients to visit the pool: regular swimming classes significantly speed up the treatment process and are considered an excellent prevention of relapse. Let's look at how to properly swim in the pool for various spinal diseases.
How to swim in a pool for your spine
How does therapeutic swimming help your back?
First of all, swimming relaxes the supporting muscles of the spine. At the same time, other muscles develop that should come to their aid - the abs, the trapezius muscle of the back. In water, all this happens smoothly, without unnecessary overloads and unwanted jerks. In addition, swimming improves endurance, coordination, and flexibility; normalization of the respiratory, cardiovascular systems and general strengthening of the body.
Contraindications for swimming
Swimming for the purpose of health has no restrictions on age and level of training, but there are certain contraindications for health reasons:
- serious pathologies of the cardiopulmonary system;
- skin diseases - eczema, dermatitis and others;
- viral and bacterial infections;
- exacerbation of osteochondrosis, sciatica;
- any disorders of the central nervous system.
Before you sign up for the pool, you need to be examined and consult with your doctor to avoid negative health consequences.
Before visiting the pool, you should visit a therapist
As for the inability to swim, this is not at all an obstacle to training: with the help of specialists, you can quickly learn how to float on the water and master basic techniques. In addition, there are special sets of exercises in water, for which you do not need to be able to swim. They may be slightly less effective than swimming, but still give better results than exercise on land.
Useful exercises in the pool for the back
During wellness procedures in the pool, the main thing is not to overload. It’s good if you use additional equipment - a swimming board, a calabashka, a ball.
When swimming on your stomach, you do not need to raise your head above the water. Only a smooth rotation of the neck to the sides, synchronized with the swings of the arms.
It is useful to perform the “Spiral” exercise, swimming and rotating at the same time from your back to your stomach, in one direction. But this is only in cases if you do not have any pain in the spine at the moment.
Swimming on the back is carried out with alternating circular swings of the arms far behind the head.
All this is done slowly, observing alternation of movements. 18 Mar 2021
Intervertebral hernia
If you are absolutely healthy, swimming will contribute to the overall strengthening of the muscles of the whole body. In the case of such an unpleasant and dangerous disease as intervertebral hernia, the load received in the pool will strengthen the muscle corset. This will reduce pain, because the muscles will better support the sore spot. In addition, swimming improves blood circulation, which is extremely important for improving your condition. The only thing you need to remember is that excessive stress on a sore back is strictly prohibited, so you should swim on your back.
Do not overdo it!
Of course, having learned about the benefits of swimming for the spine, many will immediately think about purchasing a pool membership. However, there is no need to rush here. Of course, you can swim just for your own pleasure, but if you have back problems, some styles may be contraindicated for you or cause severe pain. Do not hesitate to talk to your doctor first, because for medicinal purposes it is recommended to visit the pool no more than three times a week and swim in the correct style for an hour. It is impossible to draw up a treatment plan for yourself if you do not have a medical education, but after an active swim “not prescribed,” your back may well hurt.
As you can see, the benefits of swimming in a pool for the spine are undeniable, however, if you have a severe disease, self-medication will not bring any benefit. Therefore, consult a doctor if you suspect that you have certain disorders in the spine area, and swim to your health under the strict guidance of a doctor or instructor!
Possible diseases
If, after immediately swimming in the pool, a sharp and long-lasting pain occurs, you need to immediately examine the spine in order to rule out diseases of the musculoskeletal system.
Osteochondrosis
Osteochondrosis is one of the most common causes of back pain. Dystrophic transformations of cartilage tissue can cause this disease, which most often affects people over the age of 40. The most striking manifestation of osteochondrosis is aching pain in the back, which can
accompanied by aches and numbness of the limbs, if physical activity exceeds the permissible norm, this can only increase the pain.
Competent training in the pool with an experienced instructor and water aerobics will help relieve muscle tension, and with diligent training in compliance with all the rules, you can completely forget about it. Normal metabolism, blood circulation, proper breathing while swimming - all this helps to alleviate the symptoms of osteochondrosis. If there is an intervertebral hernia, then it is this that manifests itself as local back pain within the affected disc.
Swimming will be of great benefit for hernias in cases where all performance techniques are strictly observed.
Rachiocampsis
Curvature of the spine, or in medical terms, scoliosis, can also become one of the causes of back pain. This disease is characterized by incorrect position of the shoulder blades, shoulders and pelvis. If the fight against this disease is not started in time, it can lead to the destruction of internal organs.
Swimming is very useful for scoliosis, however, training will vary significantly, depending on the degree of the disease, exercises and exercise regimen should be strictly controlled by a specialist, and he will also take into account the course of the disease and the age of the patient.
Muscles are stabilizers of the lower body[edit | edit code]
The lower part of the torso stabilizers: in the hips, lumbar back and abdomen - are important for a level position in the water and better functioning of the hips and shoulders as a single mechanism. In swimming, the ability to control the deep stabilizer muscles is perceived differently than in any other sport, and this is a little confusing.
To successfully control the stabilizing muscles of the trunk, you need to feel the stretch between the pelvis and chest. In a sense, you should try to separate these parts of your body as much as possible, as if you were lifting your chest, moving it away from your hips as much as possible. If you try this, you will feel your posture improve, your chest moving forward and your shoulders turning back - a wonderful feeling! However, be careful: you should avoid holding your breath in this exercise.
If there are problems with the position of your legs in the water, then the first thing you need to do is work on your posture. This will help raise your legs, you will glide easily in the water - and this alone will be an indicator of significant improvements.
In our work we use imagination exercises. This helps to properly engage the bottom of the stabilizers.
“Torpedo push” with fins[edit | edit code]
Perform continuous kicks up and down, while holding your arms above your head so that your posture resembles a torpedo. For a streamlined position, you need to stabilize the muscles of the thoracic back, as well as stretch the muscles of the shoulders and chest. Now swim with fins a distance of 50 to 100 meters. Whenever you start a freestyle swim, you should always try to perform a good push-off and glide (see Drills for Swimmers). The immediate focus should be on the stability of the lower stabilizing muscles, using the visual examples below. When you swim freestyle, keep this in mind, and learning to coordinate the work of your stabilizer muscles will definitely benefit you.
Licorice stretching stick[edit | edit code]
To better visualize what stretching the stabilizer muscles of the torso should look like, imagine one end of a licorice stick attached to your pelvis and the other to your ribcage. When you swim, you should try to always keep the stick extended.
Tighten your buttocks![edit | edit code]
A somewhat crude example: imagine that you have a one-pound or one-dollar coin held between your buttocks. In order to hold it, you need to slightly squeeze the gluteal muscles. This exercise also encourages the legs to work from the hip rather than the knee by working the gluteal muscles.
Pelvic lift[edit | edit code]
Think of a slight upward pelvic lift (technical term: anterior tilt) that lifts your buttocks slightly toward your lumbar back.
Even though the ability to coordinate the work of stabilizers is of great importance, we can easily forget about this during a swim. But when going through any new distance, there is one wonderful way to remind yourself of the torso stabilizers: use a “torpedo” push with acceleration (“glide push”), because it involves stretching all the muscles of the core. If you perform such a push before the start of the swim, the relationship between the belt of the lower and upper extremities will improve, and you will remember that you need to hold it and feel the stretch throughout the entire distance.
Floor
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Many triathletes who train with us in Perth think that there is no need for a good torpedo push before the start of each pool, because pushing in open water is not practiced. This is true, but they miss the opportunity to control the deep stabilizing muscles of the trunk during swimming, which is very important for eliminating the fishtail effect (when the legs wobble from side to side) and for maintaining a high body position in the water.
Osteochondrosis
With osteochondrosis, cartilage and intervertebral discs are affected, that is, pain causes significant discomfort. Doctors, in addition to medications, always prescribe physical therapy, including, without fail, swimming. In this case, the benefits of swimming in the pool for the spine include stretching the spine, improving blood circulation, and strengthening the muscles that support the spinal column. This type of exercise, unlike many others, is extremely useful because it improves blood circulation and, accordingly, the regeneration of damaged tissues. Even if you don’t know how to swim, use the support of an inflatable pillow that you will hold with your hands. For “advanced” swimmers, you can make the task more difficult: first hold onto the pillow with your hands, and then press it with your legs, so the load will be even.
Recommendations and methods of treatment
Individual therapy for back diseases can only be prescribed by a doctor during a face-to-face consultation, but there are general recommendations that all people who suffer from back pain after swimming need to follow:
-reduce the intensity and frequency of training;
-don’t try to beat anyone else’s performance.
- for completely different problems that have arisen with the spine, be it osteochondrosis, hernias, scoliosis - swimming should be exclusively therapeutic in nature, which means a reasonable approach in choosing a swimming style, not to overstrain the back muscles with deflections and twists.