ToniB
11-09-2006, 20:27
Hi everyone,
I'm 31 and live in East London. I'm not a strong swimmer at all because I have a problem with my back which means that I can't bend my spine and it gets painful to use my shoulder muscles to swim for more than a few metres.
Recently I spent some time in hospital, and had hydrotherapy every day in a gorgeous new hydro pool. I gradually became more and more confident in swimming around the deep end with various floats and things, and then someone suggested that I try using flippers and a snorkel. The physiotherapists had some of these for people to borrow, and as soon as I tried swimming with them I was hooked! The flippers meant that I barely had to move my arms much at all, whilst swimming with my face down under the surface of the water removed the strain from my neck and felt extremely comfortable :D Also, once I started to swim with my face underwater I realised that the water just bobs you up and that it's actually really difficult to sink.....which did a lot for my confidence! I love the feeling of weightlessness and peacefulness that I get from just swimming about with the snorkel :)
Anyway, since I left hospital I have bought myself a mask, snorkel and fins. I've no idea if they are any "good" but I'm only really intending to use them in a pool. I've just found out though that the flippers are meant to be used with shoes, as they have straps on....they are huge though, so I might invest in some smaller fins of the type that you wear with bare feet. I'm lucky in that I have access to a private swimming pool through my partner's work, as I've been reading how snorkels/masks are banned in a lot of public pools.....however, this pool is only 1.4m deep all along, so I don't get to swim out of my depth, and it's right across the other side of London.
I wondered about joining my local sub aqua club, which is based down the road from me in Bethnal Green's York Hall.....but I'm not interested in scuba diving (yet!!), I just want to be able to scud about and keep myself fit by swimming with the snorkel, so I'm not sure how welcome I'd be.
If anyone has any advice etc for me I'd be very grateful :)
Cheers!
Toni
I'm 31 and live in East London. I'm not a strong swimmer at all because I have a problem with my back which means that I can't bend my spine and it gets painful to use my shoulder muscles to swim for more than a few metres.
Recently I spent some time in hospital, and had hydrotherapy every day in a gorgeous new hydro pool. I gradually became more and more confident in swimming around the deep end with various floats and things, and then someone suggested that I try using flippers and a snorkel. The physiotherapists had some of these for people to borrow, and as soon as I tried swimming with them I was hooked! The flippers meant that I barely had to move my arms much at all, whilst swimming with my face down under the surface of the water removed the strain from my neck and felt extremely comfortable :D Also, once I started to swim with my face underwater I realised that the water just bobs you up and that it's actually really difficult to sink.....which did a lot for my confidence! I love the feeling of weightlessness and peacefulness that I get from just swimming about with the snorkel :)
Anyway, since I left hospital I have bought myself a mask, snorkel and fins. I've no idea if they are any "good" but I'm only really intending to use them in a pool. I've just found out though that the flippers are meant to be used with shoes, as they have straps on....they are huge though, so I might invest in some smaller fins of the type that you wear with bare feet. I'm lucky in that I have access to a private swimming pool through my partner's work, as I've been reading how snorkels/masks are banned in a lot of public pools.....however, this pool is only 1.4m deep all along, so I don't get to swim out of my depth, and it's right across the other side of London.
I wondered about joining my local sub aqua club, which is based down the road from me in Bethnal Green's York Hall.....but I'm not interested in scuba diving (yet!!), I just want to be able to scud about and keep myself fit by swimming with the snorkel, so I'm not sure how welcome I'd be.
If anyone has any advice etc for me I'd be very grateful :)
Cheers!
Toni