Healthy Swimming

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Swimming is an excellent sport for children’s health, and a lot of asthmatic children have become very good swimmers. It improves fitness, controls weight, makes children feel better and more energetic, and builds strong muscles and bones.



Swimming is fun for children, especially when they meet new friends and enjoy friendly competition. As children start to perform better the coach often suggests attending more training sessions. At higher levels of competition swimmers train almost every morning and afternoon. Long hours of hard training, together with other pressures from school and family, may lead to illness in swimmers. Good habits as a junior swimmer may help prevent some of the health problems that will reduce enjoyment and success as an elite swimmer.

Swimming causes a few specific illnesses and early treatment means your child will not miss much training. It is important that children do not play any competitive sport including swimming, or train intensely, if they are sick and have a high temperature. There is a risk of serious medical consequences when a virus infects the heart muscle.



I hope the following information and advice about sickness in swimmers enables you to ensure your child maintains excellent health and is able to fully enjoy the swimming experience.



Ear infections are common in young children because the ear canal is narrow. Swimmer’s ear or otitis externa is an infection in the ear canal caused by contaminated water or debris such as wax or dry skin harbouring germs which thrive in moisture. Children complain of a sore ear and it hurts when tugged or pressed. Usually the doctor will prescribe some antibiotic drops. You need to see a doctor to make sure there is no debris in the canal which will lead to a recurrence. Ear plugs may help an early return to swimming.



Sore ears associated with upper respiratory tract illness are not caused by pool water. This condition is called otitis media or middle ear infection. The cause is usually a virus which does not need antibiotics but your doctor can examine the ears, nose and throat before deciding whether medication is needed. Viral infections cause high temperatures and general malaise and should be treated symptomatically with pain killers and rest.



Viral infections also cause the ‘common cold’. Once again children require rest and should not go to swimming training if they have a temperature and runny nose or cough. Virus particles are easily transmitted to other children by coughing and are highly contagious. Typical symptoms of a respiratory viral infection are unusual tiredness, irritability, headache, runny nose, sore throat, sore muscles and after a couple of days a cough develops. If your child wakes up feeling tired and grumpy, put them back to bed and wait a day to see whether they have recovered.



Our immune system fights viral infections. If children have late nights, or stress from exams or assignments, or family problems, the immune system does not cope as well and children catch infections easily. One or two days in bed with some Panadol will usually be all that is required. It is important not to get up early to go to training when you are sick. Viral respiratory tract infections may precipitate asthma symptoms.

Swimmers who have hayfever and asthma are prone to respiratory infections unless their asthma is well controlled. Children need to take their medication regularly even when they are well, and always have a Ventolin puffer in their swimming bag in case they have trouble breathing.



Swimmer’s shoulder is the most common injury from swimming and needs early treatment. Swimmers complain of pain in the shoulder while they are swimming. A sports physician or a GP with an interest in sport medicine should diagnose the cause of the pain and arrange appropriate treatment. Ice is not helpful as the tendons are located under muscles and bones. Sometimes medication may be required to reduce inflammation and allow the tendon to heal. It is important not to swim with sore shoulders as the condition will get worse. Sometimes swimmer’s shoulder is related to posture and physiotherapists can prescribe some exercises to do at home.



Swimmers who have a lot of sickness may become chronically tired and irritable and find it hard to swim good times. Some of these children may develop a depressed mood and parents may notice that the child is not enjoying swimming as much. Teenagers are more prone to mood disorders. Unhappy swimmers may start to worry about their weight and change their eating habits and will not have enough energy to swim well.



The recipe for healthy swimming is simple: get a good night’s sleep, eat healthy foods, drink plenty of fluids and stay happy and have fun at the pool. And the formula for doing well in all sporting endeavours is equally straight forward: peak health + peak fitness = peak performance. Those golden rules apply not just to our elite swimmers, but to the juniors as well.