Managing swimmers with injuries is sometimes the most
difficult part of coaching. As a coach you get frustrated, are bummed because
of setbacks, yet determined to make sure your swimmer heals as needed. As a
swimmer (or any athlete in most cases) you are just frustrated because the
healing process is never quick enough. You
feel you are going to miss out, be left behind and never recover.
I have a swimmer who recently got injured in an Advanced PE
Class at her high school. How did the injury occur? Well that is the tough
part. I do not know exactly how or what my swimmer was doing when the injury
occurred and the truth is they are not 100% sure what they were doing either. This
doesn’t surprise me because athletes are stubborn by nature. I sure know I was when I was still
swimming. We think we are invincible and
can push ourselves through anything with no repercussions.
My swimmer did not say anything to me to start. I noticed a few times during a tough aerobic
set that this swimmer kept grabbing her shoulder. I asked the swimmer if everything was okay
and she said that her shoulder was a little sore. As she kept swimming I started to notice the
pain on her face. So, I pulled her out of
the water and started to ask more thorough questions.
As an athlete it is very important that you are honest with
yourself, your family and your coach.
The injury I mentioned above turns out it is not as serious as it could
have been had, but mainly because we caught it so early. As a coach, you need to be aware of each and
every one of your athletes to the best of your ability. You need to pay
attention to signs that indicate something is wrong…physically or emotionally.
As a result of my discussion with her we decided to take a couple
of days of rest to see if it was just something minor. However, and the pain
remained. The swimmer was able to go to
the doctor and after x-rays and an MRI they found one of her tendons was
beginning to fray in the rotator cuff. Yikes!
This sounds bad, but it is not nearly as bad as it could have been.
Based on my swimmers PT requirements and MRI results we have
completely shut her down from using her arms. We decided since being out of the
water is not an option for her that our focus would turn to her legs while she
completed about 6 weeks of physical therapy. This allowed her to continue her
cardio work and let the shoulder recover.
She is also supposed to ice and take an anti-inflammatory medication
(talk about a challenge) daily to help promote the healing.
In the long run, this has turned into a learning experience
for me as a coach. I can do everything
to pay attention to all my swimmers and stay aware of everything going on in
the pool, but unless they physically and obviously show signs of injury I do
not know unless they tell me. As an
athlete it is important that they are aware of what their body is telling them
and that they be their own advocate if something is not right. I have mentioned the importance of
communication between athlete and coach. But the truth is, a good athlete wants
to push themselves no matter what.
I read an article today about an NFL player (Russell Allen) that hid his injury that drives the point of communication home. (Here is the link to the article about Russell Allen) There was a football player that took a hit
that looked like nothing, but described it as getting his bell rung. He hid it from the coaches and it turns out
shortly after the hit he had a stroke.
He also was lucky, but his injury was much more severe. He can no longer play football but he is
alive. Now in my case, my swimmer’s
injury was nothing life threatening but it serves to make my point.
As a coach, in a highly competitive sport, it is sometimes
hard to try and not push your athlete through an injury. And many injuries
athletes can push through with any side effects or repercussions. But when an
injury potentially sidelines one of my swimmers I find myself telling my swimmers, and myself, this is a
marathon not a sprint. There are going
to be bumps in the road, mountains to climb, plateaus to cross, but in the end
the most important things are to be happy, healthy and have no regrets!
