<p>Are anyone of you on the swim team? Have you gotten any injuries? If so, how bad was it and how long did it take you to heal? I'm a beginner looking forward to join the JV Swim Team but I haven't been condition at all until these past few days. My flexibility is not good, neither are my joints (which have gone through some inflammation). I'm debating on whether I should join or not (the Varisty coach said there were people who never knew how to swim on the team, so I'm guessing it's not that hardcore).</p>
<p>Is it possible to swim less than everyone else and work my way up? I'm kind of guilty asking for it, but it's not like I'm in Varsity or anything. I mean, if you get injured you still need to stop until you heal right?</p>
<p>I don't understand exactly what you're asking.</p>
<p>I think you should try it out, see if you can do it with school and other ECs and your health and whatnot. It really doesn't sound very "hardcore", as you put it, especially as it's only JV. Just listen to your body and know your limits.</p>
<p>When I was on the swim team in 7th grade somebody pushed me into the pool. Somehow I landed on my ankle funny and sprained it. I was out for four weeks and I couldn't swim in a competition for another month after it. </p>
<p>No, you can't swim your way up by practicing less than everybody. I had to practice twice what everybody else did to get back to normal and then I still practiced twice as much just to get better than I had been. </p>
<p>You're just going to have to recondition yourself, but not to the point that you injury yourself further. </p>
<p>Yay swimming rocks. Usually the people who get injuries are the new swimmers or people who haven't swum in a while. If you have a serious injury you obviously cannot swim, but if it's just minor you can usually swim through it. I've had some shoulder injuries, but it wasn't too serious and icing it really helped. As far as swimming less than everyone else, I'd recommend swimming as much as you can handle, practice makes perfect :)</p>
<p>I've been swimming for most of my life...8 years competitively. During that time, I have not received any serious injuries from swimming. Unless you count an occasional belly flop, but those are done on purpose. :D</p>
<p>I have known people who have injured their shoulders or other joints, but this was because they swam six days a week for more than 2 hours a day. Their injuries were also due to some sports outside of swimming or from some flaws in their technique.</p>
<p>Fear of injury should not prevent you from swimming. It is one of the safest sports out there, and injuries can easily be prevented with stretching before and after workouts, as well as icing the areas that are in pain. If you have any more questions, feel free to pm me.</p>
<p>Swimming is not high impact and there are less injuries than some sports but still some - the most likely injuries are shoulder - that's what I saw most of when my 2 swam. It is hard work so don't go into it thinking otherwise. Some boys my daughter knew kept teasing her that swimming was 'easy' so her coach said he would give $50 to any of them that could beat her in a race. Two tried it and about died. The others chickened out. But it is a great sport. On my daughters HS team there were swimmers who had not swum competitively before HS and ended up going to State. And there those who did not. But go for it. You never know - you might be a star!</p>
<p>I've been swimming competitively for almost 10 years now, and the only injuries I've gotten were muscle and shoulder aches as a result of overtraining (my Y team is extremely competitive), and scratches from scratchy lane lines and annoying swimmers while swimming. </p>
<p>I agree with everybody else here -- swimming is one of, if not the safest sport. Probably the worst injury you can get is an ankle sprain from slipping/falling on the pool (seriously).</p>
<p>I would strongly recommend you to try out for the team. However, it is nearly impossible to "work your way up" if you swim less than everybody else.</p>
<p>If you have bad joints swimming is one of the best sports to look at, practically no impact at all. I cant think of anything better... Maybe bowling</p>
<p>I don't mean "work my way up" as in improve my ranking or go on to Varsity (sorry if I actually said that before). Actually, I just want to get better this year slowly (i.e. slowly increase my practice time and not go from swimming 30 minutes to 2 hours in a short amount of time). I just don't want to damage my joints further.</p>
<p>I'm a junior and I played baseball my previous years but got many injuries. If I don't have a sport this year, it won't really affect my college application right? I'm kind of at my "healing phase" right now and swimming is like the only sport good for my joints and muscles. I've also taken lessons as a child.</p>
<p>Hah, I think I'm the only one with injury stories...although they should be taken with a grain of salt, my friend and I are varsity and he pushes himself perhaps more than he should every practice. </p>
<p>He got a hairline fracture on his shoulder after a 50 free relay...he kept practicing until he realized he wouldn't get better unless he sat out awhile. I've pinched a nerve doing backstroke, lasted about a week. When I started out swimming (been swimming since i was 3, I'm now a junior :) ) I'd occasionally bang my head on the wall during backstroke. Nothing hurt but my pride.</p>
<p>Most of the injuries I see are caused by inexperience. You should do fine.</p>
<p>Another sport you wouldnt expect injuries from is track, but last season I got my finger stuck in a relay baton. You can always get hurt if you really try.</p>
<p>It's hard to get hurt in swimming. Most of the time, injury is due to either improper stroke mechanics, failure to stretch, or carelessness.</p>
<p>I've done club swimming since I was 5 and high school school all 4 years. I have yet to get an injury (besides occasional joint pains that last a few days). Collisions with fellow swimmers in the lane occur occasionally, but they aren't too bad and you shouldn't have to worry about it</p>
<p>Just remember to stretch that which can be injured: legs (hamstrings, quad, calf), shoulders, back. If your whatever stroke your swimming feels like its straining a muscle, it's likely your doing something wrong.</p>
<p>Okay. Yes I have been seriously injured during swimming. Sooooo, I was getting out of the pool, I feel, and I broke my leg, my ankle, my foot, and my growth plate. Got surgery. Couldn't feel my leg. Planned to cut my leg off. I felt it 10 minutes til surgery to cut off my leg. Couldn't swim for like 8 weeks.</p>
<p>That was incredibly hard to read and follow. Did you leg end up getting cut?</p>
<p>And by the way, that really has nothing to do with swimming itself. Just the dangers of getting into and out of a pool, which if you're careful or not unlucky, are small.</p>
<p>Getting your finger stuck in the baton is not an injury. An injury is when you can't run anymore, getting hurt is just something that happens to you. There is a large difference. </p>
<p>However, track probably has the most injuries. If you actually work hard it takes a toll on your body and everything that goes with that.</p>
<p>Hey, I get my thumbs stuck in the lane lines all the time!</p>
<p>And you have to be careful with swimming butterfly with two people in a lane. You can wack each other's wrists! When that happens, we usually pause and go "owwwww" before swimming on.</p>
<p>Yeah, that butterfly smack is killer, especially if one of your arms hits the lane line (ouch!). I was on my school's swim team in grades 10-12 and it was killer on my arms. I have joint problems, though, and every practice I would get severe pain in my shoulders and elbows (I could hear the bones scraping together, very painful!) So, yeah, I wouldn't suggest swimming if you have any problems with your arms, it can be brutal! :(</p>