title: Practice habits and attitudes and behaviors concerning shoulder pain in high school competitive club swimmers.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  The objective of this study is to describe the practice habits, injury frequency, and attitudes and behaviors concerning shoulder pain in high school-aged competitive swimmers and describe the relationship between attitudes and behaviors.
  
  
  METHODS
  Cross-sectional research design.
  
  
  METHODS
  Local swimming clubs.
  
  
  METHODS
  One hundred two swimmers, aged 13-18 years, at the top training level of their club team were included in the study.
  
  
  METHODS
  Participants were given a survey with questions regarding swimming practice and attitudes and behaviors concerning shoulder pain.
  
  
  METHODS
  Practice habits (yards/week, practice/week, dry-land and weight/week, and months swimming/year) and attitudes and behaviors concerning shoulder pain.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Subjects completed an average of 6.89 ± 1.41 swimming practices/wk of 6000 to 7000 yd/practice. The majority of swimmers believe that mild and moderate shoulder pain is normal in swimming and should be tolerated to complete practice, while a majority responded that they swim with shoulder pain. Seventy-three percent of swimmers reported using pain medication to manage their shoulder pain. There was a significant correlation between attitude and behaviors of moderate and severe shoulder pain.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Club swimmers have a high frequency of practices, comparable to collegiate and professional swimmers. They believe that shoulder pain is normal and should be tolerated to complete practice. The association between the swimmers' attitudes and behaviors indicates that the interventions that educate the swimmers, coaches, and parents may be effective in changing their attitudes and ultimately their behaviors, decreasing the number of athletes who train with shoulder pain.
authors.affiliation: Department of Exercise and Sport Science, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, North Carolina.
authors.forename: Elizabeth E
authors.initials: EE
authors.lastname: Hibberd
authors.forename: Joseph B
authors.initials: JB
authors.lastname: Myers
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005260:Female; D007722:Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D020069:Shoulder Pain / Q000523:psychology*; D013550:Swimming / Q000293:injuries*