Swimming, the best sport for chronic pain?

Physical activity is often recommended to alleviate some effects caused by chronic pain. Of course, it is necessary for a medical professional to evaluate our situation and determine whether doing sports could aggravate our pain, and even recommend a practice that is more or less advisable depending on our condition.

Among all the possibilities that we can find in terms of physical activity, there are some that have less risk of injury or have less impact on some parts of our body.

Today we would like to talk about swimming (and other activities we can do in the water), one of the most complete sports that exist, and at the same time, a “safe” way to continue exercising and improve our pain.

Why swimming is good for you

The main advantage of swimming over other types of aerobic exercise is the lower impact on our joints when swimming. If we run, or even if we walk, our legs make impacts on the ground that can end up overloading our joints. This will also depend on the degree of intensity, the duration of the exercise, or even if we execute the technique correctly.

Swimming, and other activities we can do in the water, have certain benefits over other activities, especially if we suffer from chronic pain. In fact, it is one of the recommendations of the Spanish Pain Society to stay active, since chronic pain should not be an impediment to maintaining a healthy lifestyle. Even in patients with fibromyalgia there are studies that claim that exercises performed in water have been helpful in improving pain.

Thanks to the lower impact on the joints and the resistance offered by the water to perform certain movements, we are not only improving our cardiovascular capacity, but also strengthening our muscles.

Even so, we must keep in mind that no matter how healthy a physical activity may be, it can also aggravate our pain, it can also aggravate our pain or a previous injury.

Depending on the style we practice, or the exercise we perform, it will have more or less impact on some areas of our body. That is why the main recommendation is to consult with a specialist, or even perform guided sessions with a professional who supervises the correct execution of the technique, and that allows us to adapt to our needs and level.

We must keep in mind that although the environment in which we will perform the exercises is more favorable to avoid injury, we must do them correctly and following the advice of a specialist. This is especially important when we have a previous injury or suffer from chronic pain, situations in which we will not do anything without the recommendation of a medical professional.

Benefits of swimming

Broadly speaking, swimming or exercising in the water does have a number of benefits compared to other activities. In this case it is a general recommendation, so if your particular situation is different, if you suffer from chronic pain, or if you have an injury that could be aggravated by this activity, consult your doctor first.

These are the main benefits of swimming:

• Our weight in the water is only 10% of our weight on land, making it an ideal option for people with reduced mobility due to overweight or injury, as well as for pregnant women or older adults.
• Swimming involves the whole body, lower and upper extremities, as well as the torso. Few activities are so complete at the time.
• In addition, because it is so complete, it allows us to work on endurance, strength and flexibility at the same time.
• Improves coordination.
• Swimming and gentle exercises in the water help us to relax and release tension and reduce stress.
• As a cardiovascular exercise, it promotes calorie burning and helps us lose weight.
• We improve our lung capacity.

Depending on the style we practice, or the type of exercise we do in the water, we can enhance other aspects or more specific areas. Even so, the list of benefits is long and interesting enough to make swimming an activity to keep in mind if we want to stay in shape.

And as we always say, consult a medical professional about the suitability of swimming for your particular case.