The question originally appeared on the knowledge-sharing network Quora on Aug. 4, 2012, the answer to which may help preserve a swimming career:
What are the most common injuries in swimming?
More from Quora: Need-to-know swim strokes | Best high-intensity interval training
Who better to answer than Carly Geehr, a former USA Swimming National Team Member?
Rotator cuff, no contest.
Okay, a little more color: As a swimmer you spend a lot of time moving your arms. Mostly overhead. The yardage adds up quickly, and that means you're cycling your arms up to tens of thousands of times per week. Granted, it's lower impact than a major league pitcher, but do you know of any pitchers who throw tens of thousands of pitches per week? Anyway. Add to that the notorious swimmer's posture — you know what I mean, hunched over, shoulders rotated forward and in — and you've got yourself a recipe for shoulder injuries. If you've got a genetic predisposition to shoulder injuries, you have to really work hard at scapular stabilization outside of the pool — because what you do in the pool sure isn't going to fix itself.
Swimming 50-100km with bad form/genetics is something you can only get away with for so long. Some shoulders can handle it, others can't. The shoulder demons manifest themselves in various ways: biceps tendonitis, impingement syndrome, labrum/rotator cuff tears ... those shoulders sure can be tricky little beasts.
Shoulder problems (based on my own observations and experience) seem to be far and away the most prevalent of injuries, but let's not forget back and knee injuries, too! Breaststrokers put a ton of torque on their knees during the kick, and some knees just can't handle it. It depends on technique to a certain extent, but some bodies just weren't designed to handle a powerful breaststroke kick. Back injuries are less common but they definitely happen with enough frequency to mention here. I had a surprising number of teammates with serious swimming-related back injuries. Not fun.
You can follow Quora — the knowledge sharing network where compelling questions are answered by people with unique insights — on Twitter, Facebook, and Google+.