Swimmers are frequently burdened with gradual onset shoulder pain during training and competition.(1) While the demands on the shoulder in swimmers are high and specifically related to swimming volume/mileage,(2) injury risk profiling is in its infancy and consequently specific evidence on prevention strategies seems absent.(3-5)
To support physiotherapeutic clinical reasoning and decision-making in musculoskeletal shoulder physiotherapy, the goals of the focused symposium are various. In the exemplar athletic discipline of swimming, where progressive training volume needs technical optimisation and vice versa, it is important to emphasise on the biopsychosocial profile of a young female swimmer and how this profile meets the demands of the sport with all its stakeholders.(3, 6-8) During subsequent lectures we will dive deep into the biopsychosocial model, (shoulder) pain mechanisms, load management strategies and key learnings from a shoulder injury. We will focus the female adolescent patient with shoulder pain and highlight specific tools for the rehabilitation process to build a resilient person after an episode of pain. The presentations will highlight key principles that can be transferred to any other active young patient with gradual onset shoulder pain that we meet in daily physiotherapy.