For months now, I have been going to the local swimming pool as I recover from my back operation in February 2025. It was recommended by the surgeon that I do aqua jogging as the best exercise especially in those early days. It is actually very basic. You strap a flotation belt on – I bought my own so I don’t have to constantly adjust the ones at the pool – and off you go walking up and down the pool. I have always tried to take good strides and also to move my arms in a marching fashion, so that upper and lower limbs are involved. This has been the primary thing that has brought me to the point where I have for the most part recovered from my operation.
Lately, in the last few months I have continued to do the aqua jogging, but have added in some actual swimming. First, I started with breastroke, but not putting my head in the water and just did a few half lengths at first and then some full lengths. However, it was difficult in that I was getting a sore neck from keeping my head out of water
The next thing was that I decided that I would try some freestyle. I purchased some cheap goggles and started out using flippers from the pool, but have recently purchased my own flippers. Where from? From that good old standby “Temu” which has seen a bit of my custom over the years. I now have bright rainbow fins and I feel that wearing them is helping me a lot. I wonder how many other people with Parkinson’s swim for their health and to keep their limbs moving and hopefully cooperating together?
The main problem that I have is getting my breathing right. Looking at things logically, the fact is that I have not actually attempted to swim properly for about 20 years. I never was a great swimmer, but I could do a few lengths. I have learned the hard way, that you need to ensure your mouth is closed when you are coming up to the end of the pool. Splashback straight in your mouth soon reminds you! I have unfortunately ingested some pool water each time I have been swimming, so my insides have probably been well spring cleaned with chlorine. Yummy!
It is probably quite a big ask to ask my slow processing brain to attend to all that needs to go together to accomplish actual swimming. You cannot let your attention wander, that’s for sure! When you think of it, there are a lot of elements to swimming. You need to remember to kick and propel yourself through the water. I find fins/flippers help me to do this effectively, as I am sure having Parkinson’s affecting the left side of my body will in all likelihood affect my strength in kicking. Then, I need to ensure that I am moving my arms in the right way to propel myself forward. I can’t really describe how that is – You tube would give you a better idea – but I think I am getting there. Last of all and probably the most important is breathing. An essential element for all of us, but particularly when trying to stay alive – and swim a length – in the swimming pool. Lots of thoughts go through my head as I am trying to master my breathing.
Thinking about breathing when swimming, it occurs to me that there is quite a lot more complexity to breathing when swimming. It is obviously quite different from breathing out of water, where basically the mechanics of it all are breathe in and breathe out! When swimming there is much more to remember and process all at once. You need to coordinate your arms and your legs to move at all. At the same time, you need to work out how to breathe in air without breathing in half the pool! To aid with this, I have been told to roll on my side so more of my face is out of the water and thus less danger of pool water consumption. I also have to decide on a big breath or a small breath or a medium breath? Challenging. Do I breathe on both sides or only on one. I don’t know what the “rules” are, but I seem to only be able to breathe on my left side. Next after taking the breath – hopefully without ingesting water at the same time – I need to decide whether to breathe out through my nose or my mouth. I am trying to breathe out and blow bubbles out of my nose. This is partly so that my mouth is not in danger of breathing in when I need to breathe out.
So, you can see from this, that the whole breathing thing – with slowed processing no less – is very challenging. I think I am likely to need to practice, practice, practice and then practice some more. I have briefly toyed with the idea of getting someone to give me a few lessons, but my recent experiences when people try to teach me stuff did not have stunning results. The problem is, where would I find a teacher who is familiar with Parkinson’s and the challenges it poses in trying to re-learn how to swim? When others at the pool have tried to assist, my old nemesis which is slowed processing rears their ugly head. More than one sentence – with demonstration if provided – means that I have to attend to what they are saying and absorb it, whilst also trying to figure out how best to move my body as a whole.
So, don’t hold your breath for me to be an Olympic swimmer, just getting through a few lengths of the pool without consuming copious amounts of water will be amply sufficient!
Watch this space, some day in the future I might just say that I have cracked it and swimming is working better for me.
I’ve just finished a podcast relating to this topic. Pop on over to Spotify if you would like to take a listen.
My journey with Parkinsons 