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Archery after arm injury

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  • 05-01-2013 10:28am
    #1
    pwurple
    Closed Accounts Posts: 12,449 ✭✭✭✭


    This is a long shot.. I was just wondering if anyone has had experience of archery after an elbow or arm injury? I had signed up to a beginner course in february, i have done the same course about ten years ago and decided to get back to it, as I really enjoyed it, but have forgotten most of what I had been taught.

    The thing is, I had an elbow injury over christmas, and while it was immobilised i have lost a lot of the power in my right arm (i am right handed). I am finished treatment and have physio exercises to regain the lost strength. Half of me is thinking the archery will be good arm training, the other half of me thinks I am wasting my time on the course if I might not be able to participate fully. My eyes are good, and I can line up a target and aim pretty well (I shoot too). It is just the strength part that I am thinking about now.

    Any thoughts/opinions?


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    #2
    Brendan moyna
    Registered Users Posts: 8 ✭Brendan moyna


    ask your doctor or physio they will be able to tell you right of, you can use a lighter poundage bow also, I can't see it effecting your injury any, but ask your medical advisor before hand or maybe someone at the club will know.


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    #3
    fenris
    Registered Users Posts: 3,078 ✭✭✭fenris


    Purely going on our club beginner course.

    Draw weights on beginner course bows vary from 16lb to approx. 24lb. with the majority at approx 20lb and are dished out according to the size/strength of the student with priority for small/low poundage bows given to juniors.

    In the early stages of a beginner course you will probably draw the bow approx. 20 times raising to approx. 50 times towards the end of the course as you would have 30 arrow competitions in the last couple of weeks. There are also warm up exercises.

    It may not seem a lot but most people who are not carrying an injury will start feeling the strain in their muscles and shooting will start getting ropey about 2/3 of the way through the night. Archery is a physical skill and muscle development/recruitment is a definite part of the process, with the little lesser used muscles getting a particular hit with regard to the stability of your shooting. This is why students are given a stretchy band and exercises to do at home and when coaching you can usually spot the people who haven't done their practice by their wobbly arms, rising shoulders and increasingly big groups about an hour into a class.

    Form is very important particular in the early habit forming stages of learning to be an archer. If your injury doesn't allow you to shoot with correct form and for the duration of the class then you are at nothing and will end up frustrated and probably pick up bad habits that will restrict you future progress if you don't just drop out of the course halfway through.

    If your course is in Feb then there should be no problem postponing to a later course if things are not right.

    I have tried to shoot through a shoulder injury from mountain biking and found it very frustrating on ordinary club nights as archery seems to find the weakness in muscles that feel okay and your arrows tell the story even before you feel the strain properly!

    The bottom line is that you should probably take some of the info above to your next physio appointment and let them make the call as they know what your personal situation is, whereas we are just some lads on 'dinternet!


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    #4
    pwurple
    Closed Accounts Posts: 12,449 ✭✭✭✭pwurple


    Thanks fenris, that is very helpful. My gp had said, see how you get on with it... But I know at the moment i cannot fully extend my elbow joint in either direction, so the form would be affected I am guessing. I was hoping it might help me with recovery, but it sounds like probably not.

    I am a bit on the competitive side, so that is a good point about the frustration of not being able to do it properly. I'll skip this one and go for the next course instead.


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    #5
    greysides
    Moderators, Society & Culture Moderators, Sports Moderators Posts: 8,971 Mod ✭✭✭✭greysides


    Done properly very few arm muscles are used to draw a bow. The ones that are are upper arm muscles. Holding the weight after transfer is the job of back muscles.

    The best person to ask about all this your physio.

    It seems to me that exercising using a drawing motion might be included in your daily ritual. You'd be able to monitor your progress that way.

    The aim of argument, or of discussion, should not be victory, but progress. Joseph Joubert

    The ultimate purpose of debate is not to produce consensus. It's to promote critical thinking.

    Adam Grant



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    #6
    bjpower
    Registered Users Posts: 36 ✭bjpower


    I broke my elbow several years ago.
    depends on the injury, the way my elbow broke i was not able to compress the joint luckily it was not my bow arm i broke so i could still pull the bow. It very much depends on the injury.


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    #7
    brianzilla
    Registered Users Posts: 29 ✭brianzilla


    Hi pwurple,

    As people have suggested it is best to consult with your Doctor/Physio.

    I have my own story regarding an arm injury so I thought I would share it:
    11 years ago I broke my left forearm in a mountain biking accident. It has 2 plates and 12 screws holding it together. The years following I noticed that I could not lift heavy objects with my left arm but thought nothing of it. About 4 years ago I decided to take up archery, my arm was ok at first but as I increased the poundage I found that I was causing a lot of tension in my left arm. I should add that I am right handed and right eye dominant so I hold the bow in my left hand. After shooting for about a year I stopped as I had started a new job where I traveled a good deal, I was shooting recurve drawing approximately 40lb on my fingers at the time. When I tried to return to the sport after about a year of no shooting I had great difficulty with my form and the tension in my arm began to give me a lot of trouble, I thought that I would have to give up the sport for good. I bit the bullet and went to a physio, and boy did it help, within weeks I was already feeling better. I'm still shooting now.

    So the moral of the story is that if you work with your physio you should be able to do the sport sometime in the future.

    Hope this helps


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