Chronic pain affects between 30-50% of adults in the world, with musculoskeletal disorders being one of the largest burdens of global disease. Around 6% of the world deal with these types of disorders, which can affect quality of life and even healthy aging. The good news is that there are ways to improve the level of pain you’re feeling through athletics. One of the top ways to mitigate aching and inflammation is to swim — a proven exercise for managing and relieving pain levels. Knowing that swimming is an activity that offers plenty of benefits for your physical health, it pays to learn what happens to chronic pain when you swim.
Why Swim?
Learning to swim is a life skill that can even save your own and someone else’s life. When you swim, you’re not only getting the pleasure of cooling yourself in the water, but also of exercising and moving your limbs, making it a fantastic way to stay fit. Everyone can learn how to swim and even those who are afraid of the water can slowly overcome their fears by doing it gradually, taking small steps at a time, and wearing a life-jacket until you get the hang of it.
For people who are experiencing chronic pain whether due to a job that involves repetitive motion, sitting all day, or as a result of a medical condition, swimming offers a wonderful respite. By being in the water, you are relaxing, helping muscles relax and relieve pain. Moreover, swimming also allows all muscles in the body to move, which majorly helps in reducing pain levels. As a form of exercise, it is safe as the water cushions your movement unlike weight-bearing activities.
What Happens When You Swim?
Hitting the water is an ideal opportunity to help manage a range of medical conditions. It is a low-impact activity that puts minimal stress on the joints. The buoyancy of the water enables you to move your limbs and joints easily, making them supple and flexible. Swimming also offers a variety of strokes with different movements that can be tailored to address specific mobility issues.
For example, low back pain is often caused by strained muscles in the back. By swimming which is a non-weight bearing exercise, you ease the stress on the joints in the body. In addition, the pressure of the water improves blood flow to the large and small muscle groups in the back. The backstroke is ideal for back pain because the movements strengthen the abdominal muscles as well as enhance support to the spine.
How to Swim the Right Way
Alas, poor strokes and swimming techniques can also exacerbate body pain. Although the buoyancy of the water reduces the stress on the joints during the activity, it is still possible to overuse the body while swimming. Hence, it is critical to avoid inflicting harm on your body that will cause even more pain.
Learn to do the proper strokes to reduce overstretching of the muscles. One way to do this is to avoid lifting the head in the water while doing the crawl or breaststroke. Swimming can alleviate sore and stiff neck and by keeping the head straight and the body aligned with the head, you will avoid problems according to USA Swimming. If doing a breaststroke, you need to keep you head aligned with your spine to prevent stiffness.
Swimming is a great way to alleviate the symptoms of chronic pain. With the proper swimming techniques, you might not need extensive physical therapy or medication drastically improving your quality of life.
