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Road to recovery – via swimming?

Posted on 17 July 2011

In March I suffered a bad injury whilst skiing. That meant that I have been off any activities since then. To not be able to Run, Cycle or Swim has been painful and I am sure my fiancee, Daniela, can attest to the fact that I at times become unbearable when I am not training.

I tried to cycle a few weeks back, but It really hurt me, so I left it a few more weeks. About a month ago I tried ones again to do gentle runs of 1km and also some swimming, but it turned out I becambe very stiff in my back from the swimming.

I have now the fortune of a pool in the house where I live, so I will make sure I make that most of that and start to use it frequently. I was told that my back was not broken when I did a scan, and the problem was due to some of the discs had deformed, but that they would reform after a while. Jamile said he had suffered a back injury whilst sky diving a few years back and he said it took him two years to be free from the pains! Lets hope it wont be that long for me.

So today the road to recovery has officially started. I will start with swimming and some gentle exercise like push-ups and similar.

It seems like a few blogs out there have the same idea to use swimming to strengthern your back.

Healthy Heart & Mind is specifically mentioning backstroke and water walking / exercises.

This Chiropractor is saying the same.

I will let you know how I get on, and if swimming can be the road to recovery for me!

If you have experienced similar back injury, please let me know what you did to get back into running again.

  • http://www.lyhagen.com Fredrik

    Good to see that you’re on the road to recovery again.
    I was out for around 2 months early spring due to back pains, thought it was deformed discs around L4 but both the neurologist and the physiotherapist said it was just due to muscle spams around the spine. Nevertheless, I learned that deformed discs bulge inwards towards the front of the body and to facilitate recovery one should do the “upward facing dog” posture from yoga to open up the joints on that side of the spine. Any forward stretching (convex spine) will further compress the discs between the joints. Check it with your chiropractor to see what he says!

    I am now fully back to health but I have incorporated a variation of the yoga sun salutation to my post-workout routine and to rest days to make sure I always work on my mobility and this one is good for spine health in particular.

    Hope you’re back on the trails soon!

  • Anonymous

    Thanks Fredrik! I had not heard of the upward facing dog, only the downward facing dog, so I will have to see what it feels like if I try it… I am sort of on a trial and error at the moment, and although I wake up with a stiff neck at times, I have sort of come to the conclusion that I should just get on with it… I played tennis three days in a row now and combined with swimming that it not giving me more pain. 

    In the end a matter of time I think. Might go a check a chiropractor out though… 

    Good to hear that you are back in fitness too, take care!