I don't know much about meds, but...

You said that you've been swimming more than regular lately so your shoulder may just be slightly overused. You can still do your workouts but just do things that avoid using your shoulder. Do you have a paid of fins? Put them on and swim with them to relieve the stress on your upper body. You could also do kick workouts, but instead of using a board, kick on your back with your arms at your side. Also, avoid free style and back stroke for a while. If the pain is still too much and doesn't get better after a week or so, it may be time to visit the doc again.

Hope it gets better soon!

Very low weight shoulder exercises will help you immensely... and this is coming from someone that has had shoulder surgery due to swimming. Even as low of a weight as a can of beans. The movements are less about lifting and more about stabalizing. You can google a million different things to do.

If you sit in a high back chair and sit as tall and straight as you can. Put your hands under your thighs palm up and lift your shoulders. My doctor advised me to do this as it is gentle and you have the resistance of your hand being under your leg not weights. Xxx

Hi,

Are you swimming front crawl and only breathing on one side. I used to get a pain in my shoulder then read about bilateral breathing, (i.e. breathing on both sides). I started doing this and have not had any pain since.

Your stroke can stress your shoulder. Your Stroke Technique can make a big difference. For myself if I swim 'wider' and don't cross over under my stomach with a good high elbow, 'knock wood' my shoulder doesn't bother too much, but if I crossover then it does hurt.
I'd recommend taking a class and or joining a Masters team to get coached on Your Stroke Technique

I have another question: Does the pain go away, or do you need to see a physio therapist?

The cause of my shoulder pain is overuse. I was having problems doing the front crawl because of back pain, and flipped over on my back, which was great. Except that I swam 90 min at a time without building up to it, and added sprints the first time too. So now the shoulder hurts whenever I raise my arm over my head.

Will the shoulder come back to normal on its own? Or is some intervention required.

I might add that I intend to keep on swimming, using the side-stroke, or a modified backstroke and breast stroke, until I can crawl again.

I have been trying to put my arm in next to my ear. Those who know strokes: is this the right way to do it?

I was a college swimmer and just recently started competing in triathlons. Sometimes the pain is unbearable...
icing and anti-inflammatory meds help, but unfortunately it's just part of the sport....
Most of my teammates suffered from shoulder pain at one point

Grasette, you want to be putting your arm in about 6 inches in front of your face for crawl, but IN LINE with your shoulder, there are some great technique videos on youtube for this. I imagine that putting it right next to your shoulder would actually hurt a lot! Improper technique can really start to wear shoulders down and this is likely for you since the pain goes away with backstroke. New technique may feel weird or even bad at first, but in the long run it will probably help.

The best thing for my shoulders has been to rest, but if you feel the need to keep swimming, do things that are lower impact for your shoulders. Do some kicking exercises, (without a kickboard while in streamline on my back hurts my shoulders less but it's up to you), or swim with fins, especially short fins, on to alleviate the amount of work that your ams have to do. Feel free to add me or message me with specific questions!