Can tumble turns on distance swims strain the knees?
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AquaticQuests
Posts: 947 Member
I did some longer swims last week 3.75 km and my knees gave me a bit of grief during the week.
I hardly hit the gym last week which is what would usually strain my knees abit so I'm thinking it must be something to do with the swimming, which would be a first, as even 5 km swims in the past have never bothered my knees.
So I'm wondering if it is perhaps all the tumble turns and wall push offs that could have caused it?
With my previous long swims there were no tumble turns involved and with say a 3.75 km with tumble turns it means almost 150 tumble turns during the course of the work out (25m pool)!
I hardly hit the gym last week which is what would usually strain my knees abit so I'm thinking it must be something to do with the swimming, which would be a first, as even 5 km swims in the past have never bothered my knees.
So I'm wondering if it is perhaps all the tumble turns and wall push offs that could have caused it?
With my previous long swims there were no tumble turns involved and with say a 3.75 km with tumble turns it means almost 150 tumble turns during the course of the work out (25m pool)!
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Replies
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Yes, incorrect flip turn technique can contribute to knee pain. If you push off while there is still torque on the knee, you can aggravate tissue.
Breast stroke kick can also be a factor, as it's a tricky kick to get right. The trick is a narrower angle at the leg extension (say hip width) than one generally goes for in competition.
(I'm prone to knee and hip pain in general, which is more or less WHY swimming is my go-to exercise, and I was very surprised to find that being a swimmer doesn't make you immune!)0 -
Noel is right, pushing off while still rotating puts stress on the knees. A similar discussion to this came up awhile back & I really concentrated on what I did during my turns because I've never had a knee issue from swimming, I discovered that I don't put my feet against the wall for the pushoff until after I have flipped & rolled over. I tend to tuck my legs in pretty tight when I flip, when I'm ready to push I reach straight back with my feet to the wall & push hard.....0
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Thanks people!
During one swim early last week, for some reason I kept flipping too far away from the wall, so I would then kick out and my feet would kind of ram into the wall (hence not much of a push off the wall) as opposed to when one is closer and then pushes off the wall.
I don't know why, but it kept happening throughout that particular swim, plus my legs were not tightly tucked in, so I'm thinking that probably was the reason my knees (which are temperamental at the best of times) decided to let me know that sort of poor tumble turn form was just not on!
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Your knees were probably sustaining a bit more impact than usual....0
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