# How to prevent archery injuries?



## jim p (Oct 29, 2003)

I am always seeing post about injuries and soreness and resting to let things heal. It would be better to avoid all these problems and just slowly progress.

I have become a fan of doing some gentle warm ups before attempting anything that requires strength and full range of motion.

What are some of your methods to try to reduce injury?


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## aread (Dec 25, 2009)

Warm up my shoulders with the stuff I learned in high school phys ed 50 years ago.

Lower draw weight so that it's easy to shoot lots of arrows without fatigue, but once I'm warmed up, I shoot my hunting bow for a couple of ends to maintain strength. Shoot light recurves occasionally. It's surprising how much more muscle you need for a recurve over a compound. While the bulk of my shooting is with a light bow, I think it's important to maintain strength. Lots of repetitions with a light bow and it seems my muscles build endurance, but lose strength. I like to be able to shoot a bow that's about 20 lbs heavier than my target bow. I don't have any reference or data, but I think that muscle strength helps prevent injury. 

Allen


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## dmacey (Mar 27, 2015)

far and away being overbowed is going to be the main culprit in most of these injuries. Starting out with a 60+ lb chest-crusher seems to be the norm, probably because most bow shops only stock 60/70lb models of most bows. 

But I've found I can injure myself even on a light bow without using good form and doing strengthening exercises. I think that's been a factor in my right shoulder, where the rotator cuffs were just too darn weak from non-use to shoot any bow regularly. So now I do a full round of rotator cuff exercises and do a warmup before shooting. 

But the injuries with a too-heavy bow are really severe, so that's where I start. I custom ordered my compounds in the lightest weights available (30-40lbs) and took the financial hit of doing so, and they've been good investments in that regard.

DM


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## LMacD (Mar 16, 2015)

This is timely. I always warm up my shoulders thoroughly; however, I hadn't been doing anything for my arms. About 10 days ago, I was staring a practice session and on the third or fourth draw, I felt something unpleasant in my right elbow. I'm not making the mistake of shooting before it's healed, so I'm going crazy not being able to shoot. I see others commenting on some very long down times and I sure as heck don't want any of that, so from now on, I'm doing a very thorough series of stretches before shooting.


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## jim p (Oct 29, 2003)

I agree with all you guys about how to stretch and use light pound bows. About 5 years ago I had frozen shoulders and could not shoot for 3 years. I am happy to be shooting again.

I think that you can hurt yourself by over stretching without warming up. It seems to me that gently stretching and moving the shoulders and other joints to almost their full range of motion just loosens up everything and helps to prevent injury.

Pulling a bow with cold and stiff muscles is always a gamble. I don't know how to avoid this when hunting but maybe the movement of walking and climbing will loosen things up enough.


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## dmacey (Mar 27, 2015)

Well based on what I see with the local bowhunters, virtually all of them that are cringing and grimacing and cracking their shoulders etc. on the line, are guys built kind of like myself with 70lb super aggressive hunting bows. I don't think I've met a single one so far that is shooting any less than 65lbs and all of them are little old guys like me. And they're all in some kind of severe pain when they're out at the range sighting in or tuning their bows. 

I think just going down to a sane draw weight alone would help a lot. Those bows are powerful enough to pass through 2 elk, much less just one. I think if I were a good enough shot, my PSE maxed out at 40lbs would be plenty to hunt whitetail at least.... In fact, one of our locals harvested the largest buck ever retrieved on the property she hunted on in Sept., with a 40lb Hoyt hunting bow. And the arrow was a complete pass-through....

DM


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## Padgett (Feb 5, 2010)

All of my issues have been after a layoff where I was injured and couldn't shoot, then when I was ok to shoot I went in and did a two or three hour session and then for the next 6 months I had to deal with soreness.

Now I take it easy when coming back from a injury and I do one or two arrow groups and no more than a hour of shooting per day until I start to get into shooter shape, once I am in shooter shape I can shoot all day long and be fine but if I screw up and push it before getting into shooter shape I am screwed.


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## SonnyThomas (Sep 10, 2006)

Well, I had some pretty good guys around me and was told not to over do it. I was 50 years old when I took up archery again, after a 32 year lay off. Yep, tried 70 pounds for a few months until I got hooked up with some guys at the local archery club. Dropped to 62 pounds overnight. I shot all bows at 62 pounds until 2011. I then dropped to 55 pounds when the bow I was given would hit 281 fps, speed limit for ASA at the time. Never did I warm up and never did I get sore. Tired maybe after 200 or more arrows. A layoff from my hand rebuilt amounted to close to 20 weeks. Other than getting my hand back in shape with low poundage bows I got back in the swing of things at 62 pounds. This past February changed things with a accident that separated and tore my rotor cuff badly, detaching both the bicep and scapula. Surgery, 16 weeks after I was drawing 55 pounds. It was tough and I built on the 2 shots I first got off. Now, a 100 to 150 shots today and still I don't warm up. I have seen a difference with my hunting bow, still at 62 pounds. It's tough to get to full draw, but if I was to practice on a daily basis I believe it wouldn't feel any heavier than before my accident. Still, I'm 66 and aging and I know this.

Now, I have just recently started using a hinge full time. I've had to learn things I didn't before. My overhauled shoulder is fine until after a shooting session, but more to the "work" of getting use to a hinge full time. Gripping the hinge is different, holding at full draw is different, executing the shot is different. And it's "work" and then breaking habits of using a thumb release. Age may well be a factor. I doubt warming up would help.

Maybe I'm different, but if there is a need to warm up perhaps draw is too heavy. 

Injuries outside of being over bowed would fall under not drawing properly, poor posture/form or possibly over extending draw length.


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## erdman41 (May 6, 2009)

Age and occupation is going to go a long ways in determining what you need to do.

For some people's jobs shooting their bow would be their warm up for what they have to do at work.

"Does a lion warm up before he chases down a gazelle?" 
Woody Harrelson-Zombieland


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## abbykristine (Jul 26, 2013)

I definitely do warms up and lots of stretching to avoid most of my injuries from happening again. One big problem and one of the causes of injury that I've seen happen is when you start too high on poundage. I always tell people to find a bow that is easy for them and then get a couple pounds over that, just because it helps the process of getting stronger and improves form greatly.


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## xavier102772 (Sep 2, 2010)

I must be strange cause I can't shoot for hours on end, never mind all day. I can usually shoot for an hour or less every other day. Much more than that and I start having bow arm elbow issues and bow arm shoulder crunchiness. But if I stick to an hour or less every other day, I'm good. I set my bow to the low 50s as well. 

To stave off injury, I have a set warm-up routine prior to taking a single shot. I always do arm circles, forearm stretches and tricep stretches, followed by about 10-20 string bow shots. The tricep stretches I'll do every 15 shots or so as well. I think that triceps build a lot of tension while shooting. It seems to induce tightness around the elbow joint which causes the pain most of us have felt at one time of another from shooting. My session usually lasts only 30-40 shots or less. I start of shooting about 10 single shots, then shoot the rest in 3 shot groups as per normal. This helps me keep injury free and able to stay in the game. Sometimes, if I feel extra tight or any soreness in the elbow or shoulder, I'll do some trigger point therapy on my shoulder, forearm and triceps right after my shooting session. That pretty much takes all the tightness out.

Prior to doing what I am doing now, I did injury my bow arm and bow shoulder by over shooting. And it didn't take a whole lot to injure them. Just a few days of 2-3 hours shooting sessions and my elbow and shoulder were screwed. Took months to recover. Now, I follow the warm-up, stretching and string bow routine I outlined above and can shoot pain and injury free. Haven't had any issues since, and that was over two years ago. Personally, I'm not sure how a person can shoot every day for hours on end and not get injured shooting a bow. Maybe I just have weak joints. Who knows. However, based on the amount of posts I see about bow arm and bow shoulder injuries in other forum sections, I believe I'm part of the majority.


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## jim p (Oct 29, 2003)

Tell me more about how you do trigger point therapy.


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## Chris1ny (Oct 23, 2006)

I do a form or two of Tai Chi before archery. To warm up and lubricate all the joints.

After, Acupuncture if needed.


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## SonnyThomas (Sep 10, 2006)

xavier102772 said:


> I must be strange cause I can't shoot for hours on end, never mind all day. I can usually shoot for an hour or less every other day. Much more than that and I start having bow arm elbow issues and bow arm shoulder crunchiness. But if I stick to an hour or less every other day, I'm good. I set my bow to the low 50s as well.
> 
> To stave off injury, I have a set warm-up routine prior to taking a single shot. I always do arm circles, forearm stretches and tricep stretches, followed by about 10-20 string bow shots. The tricep stretches I'll do every 15 shots or so as well. I think that triceps build a lot of tension while shooting. It seems to induce tightness around the elbow joint which causes the pain most of us have felt at one time of another from shooting. My session usually lasts only 30-40 shots or less. I start of shooting about 10 single shots, then shoot the rest in 3 shot groups as per normal. This helps me keep injury free and able to stay in the game. Sometimes, if I feel extra tight or any soreness in the elbow or shoulder, I'll do some trigger point therapy on my shoulder, forearm and triceps right after my shooting session. That pretty much takes all the tightness out.
> 
> Prior to doing what I am doing now, I did injury my bow arm and bow shoulder by over shooting. And it didn't take a whole lot to injure them. Just a few days of 2-3 hours shooting sessions and my elbow and shoulder were screwed. Took months to recover. Now, I follow the warm-up, stretching and string bow routine I outlined above and can shoot pain and injury free. Haven't had any issues since, and that was over two years ago. Personally, I'm not sure how a person can shoot every day for hours on end and not get injured shooting a bow. Maybe I just have weak joints. Who knows. However, based on the amount of posts I see about bow arm and bow shoulder injuries in other forum sections, I believe I'm part of the majority.


Normal everyday life and whatever work can lead to problems, not because you don't warm up. Most develop with age. I know a couple that had surgery to clean up their shoulders and elbows (tiniest of bone chips). Microscopic cleaning I believe they called it. Felt better than they had in years. Not unusual are partial tears of the rotor cuff that most can live with, but limit the person. Most don't even know they have a partial tear. Microscopic cleaning and partial tears is more a matter of just healing from the surgery, maybe 3 weeks or less. 
My neighbor had surgery for partial tears of his rotor cuff and a month later we were deer hunting.


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## GrahamJ (Apr 24, 2014)

I am hardly qualified to comment on this forum, but here I am. I have my bows at 57 (Pro Comp Elite XL), and 60 (Nitrum Turbo), and I don't plan on increasing the weight any time soon. I am a carpenter by trade, so I constantly work my shoulders and upper body, and I could probably pull more, but why? I agree that too much weight, either in the draw or on the bow itself (in an attempt to shoot like Rio Wilde) is probably the cause of many of the injuries that we hear of.


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## Cbfastcar (May 19, 2015)

warm up with some arm circles and such then when your done do a few light stretches it should help prevent any injuries


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## BobG88 (Mar 12, 2015)

I'm very wary of shoulder issues (quit shooting for 12 years due to injuries/pain), and I do similar warm-up exercises to those mentioned above. 

However, I also go to the "next step" by using a 'Bow-Trainer' prior to shooting. It allows warm-up motion nearly identical to pulling a bow, but with a weight range of 10 to 70 lbs. [I admit to felling a little goofy when I pull it out at the range, but it sure has helped to ward off injury...]

Bob Gash
Lebanon, TN


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## TNMAN (Oct 6, 2009)

Shoot a million shots, eat 40-50 birthday cakes, and your shoulder doc's wife orders a new BMW. Don't fight this. It's just God's plan.


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## sharkred7 (Jul 19, 2005)

erdman41 said:


> Age and occupation is going to go a long ways in determining what you need to do.
> 
> For some people's jobs shooting their bow would be their warm up for what they have to do at work.
> 
> ...


Well....the first thing a lion does when he gets up is stretch:wink:


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## HuntingGirl-NH (Sep 24, 2015)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=piFvGEL-md0

Here's a good video I found to help with strength training. I have not been shooting for very long, started in March. I'd have to say just don't overdo it. I started out drawing 38lbs, and have worked up to 42.5 so far. I think I'll be happy to reach 50. I usually practice 15-20 ends 3 or 4 times a week (more if I have the time). I have recently increased to 20-25 ends, and definitely felt it the next day; not because of injury, just tiredness and building strength.

Deb


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## montigre (Oct 13, 2008)

Even though you're a newb, this is a very well-found video with quality muscle-specific exercises. Caution to anyone doing the bouncing the ball against the wall segment; make sure you do not allow your forearm to come back behind your ear--that's how rotator cuff injuries can occur. 

Thanks for sharing the link, Deb.


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## HuntingGirl-NH (Sep 24, 2015)

Glad this newb could help. :smile:


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