The muscle imbalances associated with swimmer's shoulder (a form of bursitis) are tightness in the chest, medial shoulder rotators and lower back, and weakness in the rotator cuff muscles, the scapular stabilizers and the lower abdomen. Again, you can correct these imbalances by regularly stretching the tight muscles and performing functional exercises to strengthen the weak ones.

Swimming is a sport that requires action from two main engines of the body, the arms and the legs. The arms pull, while the legs push through their kicking action. Unfortunately, between these two swimming engines is a torso that is commonly uncoordinated and improperly conditioned. As the torso muscles fatigue, the pelvis begins to sag, creating drag in the water, and making you look much more appetizing to a shark than the healthy, strong swimmers passing you!

One of the reasons that swimmers get premature and unwanted drag is the use of the wrong abdominal conditioning exercises. For example, performing crunches and sit-ups is about the fastest way to train the body and brain to overuse the rectus abdominis and oblique muscles as stabilizers instead of prime movers. The large outer muscles of the abdominal wall are predominantly fast twitch, or "phasic" muscles, which are best suited for short bursts of work. They are not well suited to support and stabilize the spine and extremities for extended periods of time, as is necessary in distance swimming.

To improve the function of the true stabilizers of the torso so that you can properly align and capitalize on the propulsion power of the legs and arms, you must perform exercises directed at specifically improving stabilization. Two exercises that will improve the performance of the slow twitch dominant stabilizer muscles are the 4 Point Tummy Vacuum and the Lower Abdominal - 2 with Blood Pressure Cuff exercise.

Because the action of swimming requires repetitive internal rotation of the arms under load, there is a tendency for the medial rotators to become shortened and relatively stronger than the antagonistic lateral shoulder rotators. To combat this problem, which encourages forward head posture and rounded shoulders, we use an exercise called the Back Hand exercise Again, remember that you should always stretch before you attempt corrective exercises; in particular, you should stretch the pectoralis minor.

Sports Massage
As a serious swimmer you need a form of massage specifically designed for athletes Adding sports massage to your workout routine can improve your performance. As the training and playing hours pile up, so do the aches and pains. These little aches and pains can turn into a serious injury. Regular Sports Massage will help alleviate pain.

After a strenuous workout or race, sports massage will aid your recovery.

You can benefit from half an hour of work on a specific area that you feel needs attention or longer for more general and maintenance work.

Athletes around the world rely on massage as an important part of their training regimen. Sports Massage techniques, when used regularly, can increase the blood flow that is needed for recovery. Also, it will improve the range of motion and strength of injured muscles and accelerate their healing process. With a full recovery you will be able to increase your workouts and allow your body to adapt to a higher level of stress.

Sports Massage can:
· Enhance body awareness
· Identify problem areas before they develop into injuries
· Remove trigger points formed as a result of injury
· Relax and stretch muscles
· Improve range of motion
· Restore suppleness and elasticity
· Relieve pain and stress
· Free muscle adhesions and soften scar tissue caused by injury or overuse
· Improve circulation
· Flush out toxins that cause muscle stiffness and soreness
· Relax the body and mine
· Speed recovery and healing from exertion

Sports Massage techniques may differ as you have different needs at different times.

Pre-swim meet: Before the game you need a quick treatment that will be an adjunct to your warm-up, to increase your circulation and flexibility, and leave your muscles resilient and ready to go.

Post-swim meet: After a hard game you need a massage that will increase your circulation to speed the removal of fatigue toxins, relieve your muscle spasms and prevent soreness.

Fine-tuning: For regular Fine-tuning you need a massage that will search out the areas of biomechanical stress in your muscles and relieve them, before they become problems, enabling you to train harder and more consistently.

Injury Rehabilitation: For Injury Rehabilitation you need a massage that will speed your healing, increase your range of motion and reduce scar tissue to allow the muscle to expand/contract normally.

There is no reason to carry soreness and stiffness from your last session or gala into the next. By taking measures to speed your recovery following exertion you can reach a higher-level next workout. Sports Massage provides an ingredient for that complete recovery.  

Total Contrast can provide all of the above plus comprehensive advice on correctional exercises, to help with weak muscles and correction of faulty recruitment patterns in muscle groups. Using computerised Biofeedback to help identify muscle imbalances.