A Guide to Swimmer's Neck (Learned the Hard Way) ✨

Today after my 30-length swim, I ended up with neck pain and a tension-like headache. It eased with some gentle stretches, reiki, rest, warmth, and an ibuprofen. I've had this before after a decent length swim, and I tell ya - it's unpleasant.

Don't let that put you off swimming though, because there are absolutely ways to prevent it.

For me, I've literally dived in deep this week swimming 5 days straight, increasing distance each time. I haven't been stretching beforehand - I never have - but after researching this more and feeling the pain today (and knowing it's preventable), I certainly will be from now on if I want to keep improving.

It makes sense when you think about it, right? Our heads are like gigantic watermelons, heavy as anything 😂 and in the water, you're constantly turning to breathe while trying to hold your head and body in line. Apparently "swimmer's neck" is a real, common thing - muscle strain and stiffness in the neck caused by repetitive head turning and poor positioning. It usually comes down to lifting the head too high to breathe or twisting just the neck instead of rolling the whole body with it. Add in fatigue and weaker upper back or core muscles and the neck ends up carrying more of the load than it should. All the more reason to work on my core more which I identified during my swim today too.

What I'm changing:

• Stretching and neck work, before and after swims now - not just after the pain shows up.

• More water on my heavier distance days - even though I'm surrounded by water, my body's working overtime to regulate temperature and is using nearly every muscle. I learned that lesson the hard way during BigSwim training last year too.

• Watching my technique - rolling my whole body to breathe rather than just craning my neck, keeping my eyes down and forward rather than lifting my head, and being more mindful with breaststroke too.

• Bilateral breathing - alternating which side I breathe on so the strain doesn't build up on one side. This is something I'm very mindful of.

Aside from the technique side of things, I haven't been in the pool for a while, and my neck muscles are very clearly trying to catch up. They're literally saying, hey, ease up cowgirl. Pain is a messenger (you can read about it in a previous blog post here) - a response to something, be it thought, emotion, or action, so when I feel it, I slow down and assess. My body is talking to me. There's nothing wrong, I just need to adjust a few things.

So - water, stretching, easing into it, and paying closer attention to my technique. That's the plan going forward.

(A quick note: if pain ever radiates down your arms, causes numbness, or sticks around longer than 10 days, that's worth getting checked by a professional rather than just stretching it out.)

Here's a great video of the exercises I'll be doing before and after my swims:

swimmers neck exercises ❤

And as always, keep on swimming, growing and showing up for yourself 😊