# Preventing archery related hand injuries?



## TheWonderLemon (Nov 4, 2013)

Hello!

So I do a lot of tennis ball hunting with a recurve bow and more recently, a longbow*. A couple of weeks ago I went to shoot archery at an indoor range and I noticed that I was getting a really sharp pain whenever I drew the bow-- it felt like it was between the knuckles of my ring finger and my pinky on my drawing hand (I'm a righty, so this is in my right hand). This pain only happens whenever I try to hold out my fingers and curl in my pinky or extend my pinky with the rest of my fingers curled into a fist

As of now, it still hurts (albeit, not sharply) but it's mostly stiff and I don't have the same mobility in my ring and pinky fingers on my right hand as I do my left. Has anyone ever had this sort of hand injury before? What kind of stretches can I do to help loosen my fingers up again? How long will this take to heal?




*if anyone's wondering, my recurve bow is a 45 lb. OMP explorer and my longbow is a 65 lb. Howard Hill Big Five. The injury was probably caused by me lifting weights before shooting the 65 lb. longbow


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## aread (Dec 25, 2009)

I've never had that particular archery related pain, but I've had a few others. A good rule when there is an unexpected pain is to quit doing the activity that caused it. If it doesn't clear up in a few days, go see a doctor that specializes in this sort of injury. 

In the meantime, you can probably find plenty of information and exercises for this through google. 

Years ago, I tried to keep shooting with elbow pain. It was one of the dumbest things I ever did. Don't repeat my mistake.

Good luck,
Allen


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## archer4224 (Nov 3, 2013)

if you have a tendon injury don't do the move that causes the pain for 2months or you will re-injure it. sounds like a common novice rock climber injury.


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