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  #1  
Old 11-03-2008, 12:20 PM
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Default pain in the shoulder

ive been shooting for a month now, at first i thought it was just a muscle pain like after a night of working out. i went to lethbridge this weekend and had help with getting my bow tuned. she set my bow lower and told me that after i start to get comfortable and it seems too easy to turn it up a full turn and repeat. i did some practice in my back yard today and i can only get 4 or 5 shots it and my shoulder starts to really hurt. i stretch out before i practice. i dont know what im doing wrong. its the side that i hold the bow with not my drawing arm. i was told to use my back muscles and thats what ive been doing. has anyone had this happen to them? what am i doing wrong?
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Old 11-03-2008, 07:17 PM
Renslip Renslip is offline
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I used to get a sore shoulder when I started. Seems that when my shoulders became stronger and the bow arm became stronger, the groups became tighter. Hang in there, you will be a pro in no time!!
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  #3  
Old 11-03-2008, 07:51 PM
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Default possibly strained a muscle

You say you have been practising for a month and that you just had the bow's draw weight set lower. Now have you been practising every day? Or shoot til your arm gets tired and then take a break for a couple or three days then shoot again. Its possible that if you haven't taken any breaks, but shot every day that you have strained a muscle. Give it three days break to give your shoulder time to heal, then try it. If the same thing happens go see a dr. as you have probably have a strained/inflamed muscle or shoulder joint. Pray its not an inflamed rotator. Thats a long time healing and you will be out of action for the rest of this year.
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Old 11-03-2008, 08:35 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by lilsundance View Post
You say you have been practising for a month and that you just had the bow's draw weight set lower. Now have you been practising every day? Or shoot til your arm gets tired and then take a break for a couple or three days then shoot again. Its possible that if you haven't taken any breaks, but shot every day that you have strained a muscle. Give it three days break to give your shoulder time to heal, then try it. If the same thing happens go see a dr. as you have probably have a strained/inflamed muscle or shoulder joint. Pray its not an inflamed rotator. Thats a long time healing and you will be out of action for the rest of this year.
thats what im thinking of doing, i do practice everyday, but lately i can only shoot 4 or 5 times and its starts to kill. the other day at the pro shop i drew and let off without dry firing and just that one thing killed me. it goes away after an hour and i think im ok then i pick up the bow again and the same thing. so i think im gonna lay off for a few days and try again. i hope its nothing serious either, the ladie at the pro shop told me it can cause some type of arthritis, and im 21 so i hope that doesnt happen. the thing is i enjoy it too much to take a break. i could do it all day if it didnt hurt. i was hoping to go rabbit hunting soon i hope ill be alright. and i hate going to doctors.
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  #5  
Old 11-03-2008, 08:44 PM
Eyeswideshut
 
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I have 2 torn rotator cuff, left and right shoulders, my archery hobby is toast. I have been like this for 2yrs right shoulder, 1 year left shoulder.

See a doctor, he'll do a couple tests for shoulder movement, and if needed you will get an arthrogram which SUCKS!!!

Good luck,.. hope you only just have tired, stressed muscles.
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Old 11-04-2008, 10:56 AM
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classiccanadianblizzard classiccanadianblizzard is offline
 
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kinda hard to describe what I'm saying but... maybe try relaxing/rotating down the shoulder of your bow hand. I find when doing practice if i don't do that my shoulder will get soar too
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  #7  
Old 11-04-2008, 07:41 PM
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I had shoulder problems at first too, some shoulder. I have an old rotator cuff injury there so I was worried. After a month of practice it went away. I think I was drawing wrong and not strong enough. What helps me is keep your left arm (if you shoot right) fully extended and pull back with your right arm. Make sure you don't point up or down and come into the bow. Just draw straight back, nice and smooth.

Hope that helps...I pushed through the pain but this may not be sage advice. Take time off when you need to.
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Old 11-04-2008, 07:45 PM
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Originally Posted by tth_12032 View Post
I had shoulder problems at first too, some shoulder. I have an old rotator cuff injury there so I was worried. After a month of practice it went away. I think I was drawing wrong and not strong enough. What helps me is keep your left arm (if you shoot right) fully extended and pull back with your right arm. Make sure you don't point up or down and come into the bow. Just draw straight back, nice and smooth.

Hope that helps...I pushed through the pain but this may not be sage advice. Take time off when you need to.
that brings up some much needed advise. i usually draw back pointing to either the ground or the sky because it seems easier. should i draw back in the position i should be aiming? i wasnt sure when it comes to that, i try and keep good posture. just doing what seems easier on my body, i want to be able to bow hunt for a long time yet.
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  #9  
Old 11-04-2008, 08:37 PM
Eyeswideshut
 
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I was told that usually if you draw back from an up or down position with your holding arm, its because you are using it as leverage to draw back and aren't stronger enough to pull straight. I used to practice pulling straight and twisting my right shoulder/side to help in drawing back.
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Old 11-04-2008, 08:53 PM
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Yes, if you are not drawing straight you might be pulling too much weight and you are grinding your shoulder. Take er down some and then work your way up...slowly. Its better to be accurate and healthy than pulling 70 lbs, any expert will tell you that.
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  #11  
Old 11-04-2008, 09:48 PM
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plain and simple there should be no pain when you draw. If there is you need to go see a doctor and get it checked out. instead of pulling straight back you should be pulling up and over with your release hand and you shouldbe useing your rombodes(spelling) not your biceps and triceps. it will hurt between your shoulder blades as these are the muscles you do not use very much. if you cannot sit with your feet off the ground and pull your bow back comfortably you are pulling to much weight period. Remember when you have to draw on the big buck that is coming in you have to make as little movement as you can or you will be seen.if you have to reaf the bow up in the air or push it down to draw the animal is going to detect and you are busted and going to prob lose chance at getting a good shot.. Like TTH12032 said start out slow with poundage. most guys shoot 70lbs to be maucho but you do not need it. I used to shoot 80lbs but did so on advice of "local Pro" after awhile i realized you do not need it. there is lots of animals killed with a 40-50lb bow out there than most people realize. Start slow and work up , if you can pull 70lbs comfortably good for you but you really do not need it I put my arrow throught my elk last year at 56 yards with a 60lb bow. All the best of luck to you and hope your arm is not going to cause you probs. A friend had inflamed muscles around the rotar cup and he ended up missing mostof the 3d season last year. he held off and it paid off he took a pope and young antelope and a mule buck this year after waiting for it to heal properly.
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Old 11-05-2008, 12:14 AM
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thanks guys, your a lot of help. im gonna sit it out for a week and try and practice some, and if it hurts ill take myself to a doctor, i already had my bow turned down to 50, i just thought it was cus i was out of shape that i couldnt pull 60. its hard already like a bad habbit, i didnt practice all day so i really want to pick up a bow right now i guess it just comes down to learning by mistakes.
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Old 11-05-2008, 01:11 AM
Ishpah Ishpah is offline
 
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Default pain in the shoulder

Maybe you have bursitis. When I shot longbow 35 years ago, I suffered from the same symptoms that you describe. Had to stop shooting. Compounds were in their infancy at the time and were very noisy contraptions with 15% let-off. When they hit 65% letoff, I took it up again. Back shooting again, my bow has been idle for a while, but I'm sure that I can shoot again. Course, I'm at 60# instead of 70# and I have been to a chiropractor over the years and that helps. Had some bone spurs in the neck from a whiplash injury and once the bone specialist fixed that was good to go.
http://www.healthscout.com/ency/68/111/main.html
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  #14  
Old 11-05-2008, 12:43 PM
Renslip Renslip is offline
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Try and draw at the target. Great habit to get into, much less movement in tight situations. Just a good habit to get into, especially if something happens and the bow goes off. At least the bow will be pointed in somewhat of the right direction. Since your in the Hat shoot me a pm and I can show you some pointers if you want.
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Old 11-05-2008, 03:05 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Trav View Post
A friend had inflamed muscles around the rotar cup and he ended up missing mostof the 3d season last year. he held off and it paid off he took a pope and young antelope and a mule buck this year after waiting for it to heal properly.

Gosh I think I may know who you're talking about . Anyway, don't fool around with this. Get to a doctor, check into getting physio that's what I had to do.
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  #16  
Old 11-06-2008, 11:34 PM
muzzy muzzy is offline
 
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I had that felt like a screw driver getting shoved into shoulder ball joint Couldn't even pull back at all I laid off shooting for over a month and started back at first using a bow flex and only 5 pounds a side and added 5 pounds a week Sounds wimpy but it worked slow but sure and worked back up and can now pull my bow at 60 pounds no problem I would see a doc though he may prescribe some anti inflamatories or muscle relaxants which may help as they helped me


Gord
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  #17  
Old 11-07-2008, 06:54 AM
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A month? You're lucky Gord, I'm still healing and I injured myself the end of November last year. The biggest problem that I had was that it's a strain type injury and I thought it would heal up "soon" like every other time. It still bothers me, I'm just lucky that it's my bow arm & not my drawing arm. I did injure my right rotator cuff back in about 1998-2000 or so when I was suffering from heroitis with my hunting bow. That time I knew what I had done right away and layed off shooting for a couple of months (luckily @ hunting season when I don't shoot much anyway).

Basically, now you all know why I preach about lowering poundage. Sure you think you can handle 70 or 80 lbs when you're pulling it, but one day you'll hear this ugly popping noise and you're kaput.
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Old 11-07-2008, 10:30 AM
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Default yup

if your shooting more than 40 yards draw the bow above the target, that way out at that range you have time to find the animal or target, you will find your accuracy will get alot bettter by doing this, anything under 40 yards you obviously just put it on em and shoot,

If you try to bring the bow up to the animal you will find that you can tire your arms out faster trying to find your spot, bringign it down is much easier.
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  #19  
Old 11-08-2008, 12:13 AM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by flatblack View Post
that brings up some much needed advise. i usually draw back pointing to either the ground or the sky because it seems easier. should i draw back in the position i should be aiming? i wasnt sure when it comes to that, i try and keep good posture. just doing what seems easier on my body, i want to be able to bow hunt for a long time yet.
If your going to be hunting id try to draw my bow any way possible you never know what -position youll have to shoot from.
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Old 11-08-2008, 08:36 PM
russ russ is offline
 
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Quote:
Originally Posted by gunslinger View Post
if your shooting more than 40 yards draw the bow above the target, that way out at that range you have time to find the animal or target, you will find your accuracy will get alot bettter by doing this, anything under 40 yards you obviously just put it on em and shoot,

If you try to bring the bow up to the animal you will find that you can tire your arms out faster trying to find your spot, bringign it down is much easier.
Actually gunslinger the accepted method by a lot of the top archers on the world stage is to put the pin where you want to hit and draw. No easing into the gold or the kill zone. The reasoning, if you're wondering is that moving the pin to where you want to hit will eventually lead to target panic.
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  #21  
Old 11-09-2008, 05:01 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by russ View Post
Actually gunslinger the accepted method by a lot of the top archers on the world stage is to put the pin where you want to hit and draw. No easing into the gold or the kill zone. The reasoning, if you're wondering is that moving the pin to where you want to hit will eventually lead to target panic.

that makes perfect sense, i am gonna try to practice this, for me it seems hard to draw without moving the pins at that range, thanks for the info, gonna start practicing this.
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