Freestyle vs Backstroke for lower back pain
Advantages and disadvantages of swimming freestyle and backstroke
Doctors tell people that have lower back pain, herniated disc, and split disc, to swim backstroke, Are they right?
So I will start with saying that freestyle / crawl we swim when we look down, we can see where we swim and can lift the head a little bit up, and backstroke we can’t see where we are swimming coz we’re looking at the sky all the time.
Let’s talk about the differences in the body
Freestyle we feel comfortable coz we can see where we go, when we want to stand up, we can, in backstroke sometimes there are people in the same lane not swimming backstroke. It’s the only swimming style that we can breathe whenever we want, we don’t need to pick up our heads when we need some air, and we can take in a lot of air.
But let’s talk about swim WEST technique – or protecting the lower back, what’s better between the 2.
Sometimes, if we sink in the water, when swimming backstroke, our body gets arched and this can hurt our lower back, but the harder we work with our legs and try let them float higher will help prevent injuring.
Another thing, if we have problems in the neck or herniated disk in the neck, it’s not possible to lay on the back because we are constantly trying to hold the neck, so we put the shoulders a little higher which causes stress on the entire body, which will lead to sinking and make the head move and spin.
In freestyle this doesn’t happen, the head is down and if the legs fall, then we make a stop in the body, but don’t hurt the neck.
So what is the answer? What’s the right swimming technique? Backstroke or freestyle?
In swim WEST “learn swimming online” program we found the right solution:
We elongate our muscles, swim without breathing at all freestyle(or with a swimming snorkel), and only when our muscles are longer especially the legs, and we float better, that’s the time to start breathing in freestyle at that time learning backstroke will be very easy to learn.
If you do want to work on your swimming technique fill in the questionnaire and a swim WEST, learn to swim online program will be send to you (according to your flexibility and swimming level) https://swim-west.com/diagnosis/
the swimming workout, drills are the ones that suits you the best.
