Source
r/Archery•
techyb46

Tendinitis in Bow Shoulder

Compound

Tendinitis in Bow Arm

Hey all,

Brand new to archery. Never shot a bow before the 3rd of January.

Within a week of getting my new compound bow (PSE Ferocity) I've started getting really bad pain in my bow arm shoulder after the first couple shots of a session. I didn't push through the pain (well I did the first time for another 10 shots). Went to the doctor and got some anti-inflammatory meds and told not to pull a string back for 2 weeks. What a terrible start to a sport I've been wanting to get into for years!!!

I've been practicing by mysef from 20-30 yards for about 30-45 minutes a day for the first 5-6 days. So I'm relying on YouTube for form and posture help. I had no problems whatsoever at the beginning and started being able to group within a couple inches at 20 yards.

I'm pretty sure it's bad form and not weak/unused muscle related. I'm 35 and in decent shape. I can pull and shoot @ 70lbs decently, but have it dialed down to 55 lbs while I learn.

I can't take a video of my form for a couple weeks but I'd love to get some critiques once I do.

In the meantime, what would cause my bow arm shoulder to all of the sudden not want to pick up the bow anymore?

I've never had shoulder pain or issues before across many sports (cycling, football, basketball, marathons, golf softball, lifting). So it's not re-injuring an old injury or something.

Posted Jan 13, 2020, 4:58 AM UTC

311
B12KHX•

i think you already know that 70lbs is too much.... it is probably both form/alignment and the muscles required to keep the bow arm stable and support the draw will be weak... the motion of ripping a bow open we just don't do often enough let alone raise our arms above shoulder height on a regular basis

at the time of starting i was probably the best shape i've been in but struggled with holding down a 28lbs recurve

i've been through a shoulder injury and it has the potential to end your shooting career and impact your daily life... give it time to heal

7
dwhitneeEpik Recurve•

Dial it down more. Like to 30 or 40. You are overbowed and likely hunching your bow shoulder. You need to be relaxed to shoot well. Your career will be over soon if you don’t drop weight in a hurry. Most recurvers start under 25# for exactly this reason.

6
No11room3•

What does 25# mean, if I’m a beginner can I start at 40 lbs for a recurve?

1
dwhitneeEpik Recurve•

“# = pounds

40 is a lot. Most first timers do 25 at most. Can you shoot a 40# bow? Probably, but not for very long and your form will be horrible and if you keep it up you will likely injure yourself.

40 gets thrown out a lot because it’s often the minimum legal hunting weight. That doesn’t mean you should learn on 40.

1
No11room3•

Is it ok if 40 lbs feels natural? Or should I still start at 25

1
dwhitneeEpik Recurve•

It depends on your goals. How much do you want to shoot, do you want to get more accurate, do want to compete or hunt, or are you having fun just shooting

I can’t stop you :) but you are in a thread talking about overuse injuries so you’ll have to be the judge. No one will ever recommend you start there, but there are no shortage of people shooting those bows.

1
AzureboltBarebow Recurve | AUS•

You're "overbowed", and it's a good thing you stopped as early as you did, I've seen some pretty nasty injuries from beginners trying to use heavy compounds. 55# is extremely high, to emphasize how much - it's high enough to hunt any game in America, it's near the highest draw weight that experienced target archers use in competition, it's near the limit of what World Archery associated clubs allow on their premises (60# peak), and it's more than high enough to do serious or possibly even permanent damage to your shoulders if your form is off or you haven't conditioned the right muscles adequately.

For compound, the 30-40# range is better until you've learned proper form. Before you do there's no telling if you're out of alignment or using the wrong muscles, which puts a lot of additional strain on your body.

Once you've recovered, if you've got an archery club nearby I recommend popping in for some lessons, they'll make sure that you're proceeding safely.

6
WelshpantherExperienced Target Recurve•

What people often overlook as a beginner is that good form involves letting our skeleton do the work for us. Aligning the bones in our arms and shoulders to take most of the load helps tremendously. Particularly on the bow side, the muscles should only be used to lift the bow and maintain the bone on bone alignment.

The problem with this is that the shoulder is a weak joint (to allow the range of motion we use as humans) not designed to take the lateral loads archery requires. It can take it if correctly aligned. If incorrectly aligned, the muscles have to work extra hard and will cause you pain. As a recurve shooter with a heavy bow I know this all too well.

I personally find that the act of raising the bow actually encourages the shoulder out of the correct alignment, and I have to pull the shoulder down whilst extending the arm towards to target to get the shoulder down and in the correct location to take the strain.

My advice:

  • Listen to your doctor! Take some time to heal first.
  • Then start working with a elastic band to simulate your bow but low weight. To get the feeling of dropping the shoulder whilst pushing towards the target.
  • Gradually increase the tension you are pulling.
  • Maybe take your shirt off and practice in front of a mirror. Look at the relationship between the band and the shoulder.
  • Once you have confidence that the bow shoulder can take the strain, pick up your bow.

Good luck.

Edit: formatting on ipad sucks. fixed on PC

3
Tijler_Deerden•

Good advice. This is why I personally really like the Manchurian/Kyudo type of draw, where you start with the bow raised and a slight lean forwards before drawing down and out. The shoulder starts dropped and the bow arm is always pointed down into the shoulder socket, instead of up into the muscles/tendons on top of the shoulder. Still managed to pull a muscle with a 60# bow though... learned my lesson the painful way :)

1
BeerBreadAndBaccy•

As has already been said, you are seriously overbowed.

I have shot recurve on and off (sadly, mostly off) for nearly 30 years and while my form leaves a lot to be desired, I was taught how to draw and hold from the beginning. Add to that, that I am built like a brick shit house and very physically strong. Still, if I haven't shot a bow for, say, 12 months, I don't want to shoot my 40# limbs and instead I go for 30#.

Work on form and build strength from lower levels and then move up. Even when at my best I wouldn't want to shoot 50# or above: I'd rather shoot 180 arrows and still feel okay than strain to do 60 arrows.

NuSensei did a good video on SPT in which he said about holding, that if you can't hold your draw at full weight for 30 seconds without it being a heavy strain, you're probably overbowed. True, that's for recurve but I'd argue this: if you couldn't comfortably hold the weight you are drawing for, say 30 seconds, you probably shouldn't be drawing that weight even on a compound. Even just the stress you put on your joints in that moment of drawing is going to be hard on a frame not used to or trained to do so.

1