Lane Change

Members of the Carolina swim team have a burden on their shoulders. Literally.

A swimmer receiving a shoulder massage

Shoulder pain is the number one complaint from Carolina swimmers. “Think about it,” explains Reid Jones, a second year student in the athletic training MA program in the Department of Exercise and Sport Science. “Swimmers use the shoulder joint every time they take a stroke.”

Jones works with the swimming and diving team as part of her clinical education at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. A long academic journey preceded her arrival at Carolina, beginning with her bachelor's in Equine Sciences from Colorado State University. She then worked in the thoroughbred industry in Lexington, KY for a few years before deciding to return to school.

"In my previous career, I occasionally attended to the horses' medical needs like wrapping or bandaging," Jones says, "but on a day-to-day basis, I didn't feel intellectually challenged. I like being active, and I didn't want a desk job. I knew athletic training would be hands-on."

When Jones researched more about athletic training, she learned she would need more relevant undergraduate course work before entering a master's program. Surprised but determined, she returned to school as an undergraduate at Eastern Kentucky University.

UNC-Chapel Hill was her first choice of master's programs, so Jones was delighted when she learned she would receive a graduate assistantship that included her research, teaching and clinical experience.

The clinical experience component offered in the athletic training program was a selling point for Jones. And while she wasn't a swimmer herself, she's enjoyed learning about the sport. "They put in so much time in the water," she muses. "They are constantly swimming." Jones and the rest of the athletic training staff meet with the swimmers and divers to provide injury prevention, clinical evaluation, emergency response, and injury treatment, rehabilitation and documentation. And, of course, battle the shoulder pain.

This work inspired Jones' thesis topic. "I'm looking at the swimmers over a five-month training period," she explains, "and how the time in the water affects their forward head, forward shoulder posture." Jones hypothesizes that posture will worsen during the intense training period due to the upper extremity motions the swimmers use. And posture, she says, has been linked as an indirect cause of shoulder pain.

"If we can pinpoint when posture changes the most," she explains, "we might find the ideal time for athletic trainers to intervene with a rehab program to counteract what swimmers do in the water."

Reid Jones, a second year student in the athletic training MA program in the Department of Exercise and Sport Science

Reid Jones, a second year student in the athletic training MA program in the Department of Exercise and Sport Science

♦ Laura Lacy

Photos by Ryan Comfort