# sons elbow position



## smoran (Feb 21, 2009)

hello there, got a question. my son shoots with a straight arm, not over-extended, but straight. he shoots unbeleivable, but im wondering if he should have a little bend in it. hes 12 and knows what works and feels good to him, people have commented that he may have problems later on. it almost looks double jointed, but works for him, and he says he has trouble getting his shot off when he bends it alittle. he shoots back-tension and has been for 4 years. could this cause problems down the road, or should he continue doing whats comfortableand what works for him. heres some pics.


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## mike 66 (Jan 21, 2010)

no hes fine,not everyone is built the same.....i would be a little worried about the high elbow, but if hes not bending the wrist hell be just fine.the bow arm does look over extended but im thinking hes just double jointed.....mike 66


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## smoran (Feb 21, 2009)

thanks mike 66,


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## Jim C (Oct 15, 2002)

Jimmy Despart-one of the greatest spot shooters ever, wrote a great article about bowarm position for compound archers after he had that great year in 2000 winning Vegas and (IIRC) NFAA. he said he could not understand why anyone would bend their arm. I have been coached by Tim Strickland, Ed Eliason, Terry wunderle, Don Rabska, Bernie P, Charlie and Mildred Pierson and Darrell Pace and none of them advocated a bent elbow. And I shot compound for a bunch of years in addition to 15 years of serious recurve.


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## Jim C (Oct 15, 2002)

mike 66 said:


> no hes fine,not everyone is built the same.....i would be a little worried about the high elbow, but if hes not bending the wrist hell be just fine.the bow arm does look over extended but im thinking hes just double jointed.....mike 66


I generally don't find a high elbow to be an issue unless it is causing a bad wrist position. A low elbow if far more problematic Michelle Ragsdale-one of the greatest lady archers in US history (she won the nationals in compound and placed highly in recurve in 99-shooting both bows on the same LINE) and she had a high elbow.


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## swbuckmaster (Dec 20, 2005)

I have found especially when dealing with women and girls you get a double jointed look when they first start out drawing a bow. I believe this is because they have never been taught how to properly hold the bow. 

Now my daughters have that typical girl double jointed look when they first started out shooting. I worked with them on how to turn their elbow in instead of up and Guess what the double jointed look went away.

here is a video example of my youngest daughter the first time she shot her new compound bow "look at the bad bent elbow" 

Here is what she looks like a few weeks after she worked on proper elbow position. I cant find a recent photo of her shooting with a back tension but the elbow and hand position no longer a problem. 









Here is a photo of her older sister shooting and yes she had just as bad a bend in her elbow when she started shooting. So it can be fixed with work, proper draw lengh and proper coaching. 









It is hard to tell in the photo what is causing your boys high elbow. To me he looks like he is short in the draw and this could be why to me he looks scrunched up. I do like to see the kids I coach with a lower elbow or a elbow as close to parallel to the arrow as possible. Meaning I like to have the arrow, loop, hand relaxed wrist and elbow all in line. I believe this engages the back muscles better and gives you a cleaner release. Some times it is hard to that all to work out because some people are just built different "longer arms" so they might not ever get that perfect archery look and end up with a higher elbow.. So without a better photo I cant say for sure if your boy is to short or he just has longer arms.


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## swbuckmaster (Dec 20, 2005)

I went back and read my post and the last few sentences didn't make any sense what so ever. So Im sorry for that! What I meant to say was I cant tell in the photo you posted if he is short in draw or he just has long arms which in some archers causes them to have a higher rear elbow. If the draw is correct then the high rear elbow is not a problem and it is just something he has to deal with. I however think the bow elbow is something he can work on and correct. I also don't think he needs to shoot with a bent elbow to do this either.


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## subconsciously (Aug 22, 2009)

Jim C said:


> I generally don't find a high elbow to be an issue unless it is causing a bad wrist position. A low elbow if far more problematic Michelle Ragsdale-one of the greatest lady archers in US history (she won the nationals in compound and placed highly in recurve in 99-shooting both bows on the same LINE) and she had a high elbow.


I was going the to say the same thing....Michelle shoots with a elbow even higher than that.


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## smoran (Feb 21, 2009)

thanks for the input guys. Pics were taken for some posters the shop was making and we were in between cams, his draw actually was bout 3/4 of an inch short, kid grew like a weed, and now that his new cams are on, his elbow does come down a bit, but its still high. But he's always had that bow arm elbow position. Had a hard time keeping up with him this year, he went through an 1 1\2" worth of z3cams. By turning your elbow in instead of up, would that cause a slight change of grip? He's always had a good consistant grip. Maybe relaxing his front shoulder a little more, not scrunching it up would help? Does it looked scrunched up? Ive been watching him shoot for so long, maybe some fresh eyes will pick it out. Kids rock solid when he's on the line, hardly any movement whatsoever, consistantly shoots high scores. Id hate to make many changes, but nows the time if its gonna help him in the long run. Thanks alot for any input you can give or have given, greatly appreciated.


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## smoran (Feb 21, 2009)

Re-reading the posts, maybe he's just short with long arms, lol.


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