From Swimming, pp70-71, fourth issue of 2014
Dictated by Bob Chen, written by Bai Qiang
 
The first time I met Lu Ying was at the Leeds University Training Camp before the London Olympics.  I remember very clearly that she got the silver medal in women’s 100M butterfly then.  I met her again in April of this year, but she looked like a completely different person, down and depressed.  I heard rumors that she was thinking about retiring. 
 
Her coach, Cui Deng-rong, had told me previously that Lu Ying had not been training properly for nearly three months due to serious rotator cuff injury.  During training at home and abroad, she had sought out the advice of many doctors, including experts in Australia, America, and China, for rehabilitation treatment, but with disappointing results.  The national swimming competition held in Qingdao is just around the corner, and this is an important qualifying competition for the Asian Sports Meet.  Both the coach and Lu Ying were extremely worried, and hoped to get my help. 
 
To make a recovery of the long-term chronic “Swimmer’s shoulder” to reach competition compliance status is, undoubtedly, a huge challenge, not to mention that the National Swimming Competition was less than two weeks away.  Coach Cui also lowered Lu Ying’s entry target: participating in 50-meter butterfly race only, and getting into the top two. 
 
After I took over Lu Ying, the first thing I did was conducting a comprehensive function test on her.  From a conventional functional and clinical examination point of view, this was typical “swimmer’s shoulder.”  But somehow I was questioning myself: why did Lu Ying suffer from this problem in the first place?  So, I asked coach Cui for Lu Ying’s recent technique training videos, and watched every one of her moves in the water over and over.  After further observation and analysis, I discovered that Lu Ying’s hand and leg movements were disjointed, and that she was driven forward mostly by her thighs rather than her waist, therefore, the strength could not be transferred to her upper body.  As a result, her body’s movement relied more on her upper limbs.  Over time, her upper limbs carried too much of the load, and a shoulder injury was inevitable.  After the problem was identified, the solution gradually formed in my mind.  I discussed this with coach Cui: to resolve the comprehensive problems of Lu Ying’s shoulders in such a short time was naturally impossible.  However, correcting her technical movements and strengthening the coordination of her hands and legs were feasible in the short term. 
 

We then used one week to intensify her leg coordination through exercises in the butterfly stroke.  I was surprised that this exercise was very tough for her even though she went through a lot of lower back and abdominal muscle training.  This was apparently due to a lack of strength and insufficient control over the pelvis.  In view of this situation, I added lumbar muscle training.  During training, I also discovered that the flexibility of her lower back muscles was very poor.  On land, we used simulation of the unstable state in the water to train her to use her lower back and abdominal muscles to generate power.  And although we couldn’t help but laugh, we also encouraged her to do more belly dancing, to intensify the coordination of the pelvic muscles of her waist and abdomen.  
 
Combining with dry-land training, coach Cui also used our thinking.  He paid attention to regulation of her technical movements in the water, and gave us feedback on the changes in her technique.  Before long, we were pleased to see that not only were her butterfly kicks more powerful, but also the coordination between her hands and legs had become harmonized.  The strength of her legs and lumbar effectively transmitted to her upper body, and the entire body became easy and smooth gliding through the water.  Meanwhile, her shoulder pain also lessened.  Coach Cui seized this opportunity and quickly started butterfly technique and speed recovery training with her.
 
In early May, Lu Ying attended the National Swimming Competition in Qingdao, got first in the qualifying runs, and made it into the finals.  In a fierce final match, to everyone’s surprise, Lu Ying was in the lead all the way to the finish line, and achieved her personal best.