Swimming is an excellent form of exercise because the buoyancy of water supports your body's weight, reducing stress on your joints and spine and easing range of motion.
However, like all forms of exercise, you need to be careful because certain strokes and maneuvers in the pool can make your lower back pain worse.
The buoyancy of water supports your body weight, reduces joint stress, and allows for greater range of motion. See Swimming and Back Pain
How to Swim with Lower Back Pain
1. Modify your stroke to avoid twisting your back
One problem with swimming is that many strokes and swimming movements create repetitive rotational motion throughout the spine.
Rotational motion may contribute back pain by increasing inflammation of spinal elements.
Here are several adjustments you can make to avoid this kind of motion:
- When swimming crawl or breaststroke, use a mask and snorkel to eliminate the need to arch your lower back while lifting your head up for air, or as you rotate your lower back when turning your head to take a breath.
- Swim with a modified backstroke. This means you lie back on the water and kick your legs for normal backstroke, but instead of raising your arms overhead, you push yourself through the water with your arms at your sides and pushing at the same time. This is the same way children first learn to do the elementary back stroke.
Work with a coach or athletic trainer to perfect your stroke, such as learning to keep your shoulders in line with your hips while swimming.
2. Avoid swimming techniques that make your back pain worse
The position and movement of various strokes have the potential to make your back pain worse, for example:
- Butterfly and breaststroke force your lower spine to arch backward during the stroke. These movements add stress to the facet joints in the back of your spinal column, and may cause increased low back pain.
- Freestyle and backstroke create less spinal extension; however, pain may occur due to the repetitive rotational motion of spinal structures.
The bottom line is that there is no one best or safe stroke for anyone with back pain. It will depend on several factors, including the underlying cause of your back pain and your swimming ability, mechanics, and workout intensity.
Because of potential risks involved, if you have back pain, or if swimming causes you back pain, it's best to get advice from your doctor and/or physical therapist before starting a swimming exercise program.
3. Start with water therapy
If you love swimming but find it's hard on your lower back, you may find it best to start with water therapy.
Water therapy, also known as aquatic or pool therapy, is an exercise program that takes place in warm water. You benefit from the gentle resistance of the water, as well as its buoyancy.
Water therapy can provide many of the same benefits as swimming, as the activities are done in water so there is less pressure on the spine than during land-based exercise.
The warmth of the water for water therapy has also been shown to relax tight muscles, allowing for additional range of motion during exercise and may allow you to exercise for longer periods.
Like many exercise programs, a good water therapy program will start out with gentle exercises and get progressively more challenging over time.
Final Thoughts
Many individuals also say that by its nature, working out in the water provides an added benefit of enhanced feelings of calm and peace.
Before starting swimming or any new exercise program, it is a good idea to check with your doctor and/or physical therapist.
As with any exercise, the bottom line is to let pain be your guide—if it hurts, stop what you're doing.
