All kidding aside, I'm really interested in what it is with swimming that helps the pain. There is another member who is often there at night when I'm doing laps, he just uses those aqua floaty things, and goes into the deep area and floats there for about 40 minutes. I finally talked to him tonight when he wanted to know what that crazy contraption was that I swim with (my waterproof iPod housing). Turns out he says that he suffers from some form of arthritis (not RA, I asked...thinking about our WendyR) and that he can go from awful pain when he gets into the water and sometimes can leave pain-free afterwards.

One theory is that the water and the floats allows him to gently use his muscles, increasing circulation and better blood flow, but by using the floats creates a situation where there is effectively zero resistance and the muscles aren't stressed and possibly damaged like they might be with traditional exercise.

I think in my case the breathing is a BIG part of why I get a benefit from swimming, it often feels like when I really push myself and get to the point where I have to keep myself really calm and control my breaths in order to do the flip turns and maintain form is when I feel the best afterwards.

What do you guys think?

Dow