In Australia, where I live, summer has ended. Based on what I know from previous years, within a few weeks the temperature of the water in backyard pools will go from “balmy” to “fresh”. Another few weeks after that, and the water becomes “nippy” and off limits to all but the most dedicated swimmers for another 6-9 months.
I’m no polar bear… I can’t do ice-plunges and bucket-challenges. As I’ve written before, I’m a super-hottie not a cool-kid kinda pain person. Even a wet sponge across my eyes can give me an ice-cream headache unless I’ve reached a pain level where I’ll try anything (picture here).
But I do like swimming… when the temperature is right… and there are no (or not too many) screeching children about… call me a Karen, but I hate being splashed or having an (albeit weightless) bouncy-beach-ball thrown in my direction.
When I was much, much younger, I liked swimming laps as a form of fitness. I could go for an hour and enjoy every minute of it. That’s not me anymore. I’m just not fit enough.
That said – I really wanted to try swimming again. So, over the last few weeks I’ve tried swimming laps in my backyard pool (#blessed). It’s not a very long pool, so “10 laps” might sound like an impressive achievement, but they’re little-bitty-laps.
Most of the time I wear a baseball cap and sunglasses and just do breastroke after I’ve done my dawn walk with the dogs. I’m sure the neighbours think I’m a little odd, swimming in super-slow-motion, but it works for me.
Mostly.
There is something wonderful about the weightlessness of swimming, especially if you have scoliosis or a bad hip (like me). There is also something akin to Tai Chi in the slow-motion movement. Something very mindful in the sensation of feeling your fingers move through water. Something wonderful about being cool when the air is warm. Something almost loving about the gentle embrace of still, silent water, when you have it all to yourself.
BUT.
I have noticed that my neck gets a crick in it. By keeping my head above water for the 10 or 20 laps, my turtle-neck is stretched at an unusual angle (the exact opposite of when I type or read). This should potentially be a good thing, stretching my neck in a new and different way. However, over the last couple of years I’ve learnt that when you suffer from chronic pain, “different” often feels uncomfortable and triggering, even if it is meant to be “good-different”. My migraine-pain-brain doesn’t like change. And glitchy-neck-anything is never a good thing for migraine-me.
Curious about whether I was doing myself more harm than good, I did a quick web search to see if swimming was recommended for migraines or not.
Migraine Australia included it as Hack #19 for helping your migraine: Our Top Migraine Hacks – Migraine Australia – but noted that you should be careful about swimming alone if you have hemiplegic, vestibular or brainstem migraines (i.e. your balance is affected).
I found out about Rachel, a super-inspiring person who felt like swimming improved her migraine-life: How swimming helped my migraine – The Migraine Trust
On the flipside, however, there was A LOT MORE literature on how swimming can GIVE you a headache. Issues included sinus problems, poor air-circulation (if you have your head under water too long), and yes, swimming in a way that gives you bad posture and pinches the nerves in the back of your neck. Oh! and I just found a post about too-tight swim caps and goggles that squeeeeeeeze your head and eyes… yikes.
Sigh.
The ways to avoid swimming-headaches were similiar to avoiding headaches in general: stay hydrated, watch your posture and breathe better.
Overall, I suspect it’s a “horses for courses” subject – strange metaphor sorry (unless they’re seahorses!!!)- what works for one person might make things worse for someone else.
You do you.
Curious if anyone here has found swimming (beach or pool / public or private) to be a definite cure or a curse for their chronic pain.
Take care taking care, Linda x
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[PS – disclaimer – I’m not a doctor or physiotherapist – make sure that you talk to your own healthcare provider before adding or subtracting swimming to your fitness routine.]
PPS – a quick shout to women in Australia – there’s a 4 night retreat coming up in Tasmania in March that I came across – it’s a little far from home for me at the moment, but I LOVE the idea of flowing with fiery femininity (link here):
The Mindful Migraine 
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