Wife Has A Purple Arm Again.....

[Full Curl]

We went out tonight to shoot a bit and on about her 5th shot she smacked her arm HARD with the string. I don't quite see how she's managing to do it so badly, but she'll be flinchy now for a bit.
When she holds her bow arm out, her elbow joint bends in almost like a double-jointed scenario. She can't seem to hold her arm out to shoot without "locking" it like this.
What can/ should I be getting her to do differently? The string contacts her arm at the joint so an armguard isn't going to help.
Thanks.

[Lefty-Canuck]

Get her to try and tuck her pinky and ring finger in against the handle while her middle and index finger rest on the front of the riser/handle....it helps move your elbow to the outside and out of harms way....make sure she doesn't have a death grip on her handle, that will turn the elbow in....the elbow should have a slight bend.

LC

[spurly]

The draw length on the bow, is too long for her, if its adjustable, drop it by an inch. The draw length should be short enough, that her elbow does not lock.

[Douglas N]

She may need to open her stance up (turn her body towards the target more).

[FishHound]

get her to slightly twist her elbow out, most shooters start out with there elbows turned in. I did this years ago, had to teach the wife same thing last month.

[graymatter]

if your wife has to hyper extend her elbow to come to full draw or have the strength to hold the bow at full draw, then it is too much bow for her.
relax, relax, relax, dont grip the riser, let it sit in your hand against the pressure of you holding the bow while its drawn, let you fingers hang, the wrist strap will do it job so she wont drop the bow upon release, drop the shoulder and turn the elbow out and it should point 90 degrees and be almost parallel to the ground.

good luck

Gray

[Full Curl]

Thanks guys!
I am going to definitely drop the poundage and start again.
Draw length is good. She has a relaxed grip. Stance looks good to me but I believe she is "locking" her elbow because of the draw weight.
Might be a few days before we can play again, but I'll keep all of these suggestions in mind.
Thanks again.

[Dog hunter]

My friend was shooting the same way dropped his draw length 1-1/2" no problem now

[jetlynk]

Did this to myself a few days ago messing around with changing the way I anchor. I found turning my wrist the way people with back tension release shoot and it got rid of my target panic. How ever I got so excited I forgot to check the way my bow arm was positioned and then WHAM I got myself. After making sure my elbow was turned out no more problems.

[CNP]

Originally Posted by Full Curl

Thanks guys!
I am going to definitely drop the poundage and start again.
Draw length is good. She has a relaxed grip. Stance looks good to me but I believe she is "locking" her elbow because of the draw weight.
Might be a few days before we can play again, but I'll keep all of these suggestions in mind.
Thanks again.

Not to offend any AO mbrs but the elbow bending back is usually a girl thing. You're saying DL is good. I say it is too long. If she can straighten and then cause her elbow to bend back at full draw.........then the DL is too long.

[spurly]

Too long, by an inch or so, measure her wingspan, and divide by 2.5, that should tell you her draw length. Or at least take her to a bowshop to shoot shorter bow, you will notice,that she will no longer hyper extend, with shorter draw length.

[Mike_W]

Originally Posted by Full Curl

Thanks guys!
I am going to definitely drop the poundage and start again.
Draw length is good. She has a relaxed grip. Stance looks good to me but I believe she is "locking" her elbow because of the draw weight.
Might be a few days before we can play again, but I'll keep all of these suggestions in mind.
Thanks again.

It's the draw length as mentioned if she can fully extend her arm to the point that her elbow hyper extends and she still has proper stance and anchor points it is too long, excessive draw weight won't help but her arm should have a slight bend at the elbow outward not inward.

[swift1]

Sounds like it could be one of two things or both.

Draw length a bit too long? Good that you'll turn the poundage down a bit, you don't want to do the heave/ho when drawing a bow.

How she grips the bow? Try holding the bow by placing her index and middle finger on the front of the riser where her pinky and third finger don't touch the riser, they're extended away from it. Have her draw back making sure that the riser is pressing against her "meaty" portion below her thumb. She should not grip the bow and the riser should not press against the "fingers side" of her life line in her palm or whatever line they call it, only the meaty portion under the thumb.

I had my own battles with string slap and torque until I figured out how to shoot properly and now everything is good.

Just my 2 cents worth of info....good luck.

[RoscoeP]

Originally Posted by Douglas N

She may need to open her stance up (turn her body towards the target more).

Just get her to open her stance about 10 degrees, so move her left foot about 6" backwards if she is right handed. Cheers

[Doodle30]

Originally Posted by swift1

Sounds like it could be one of two things or both.

Draw length a bit too long? Good that you'll turn the poundage down a bit, you don't want to do the heave/ho when drawing a bow.

How she grips the bow? Try holding the bow by placing her index and middle finger on the front of the riser where her pinky and third finger don't touch the riser, they're extended away from it. Have her draw back making sure that the riser is pressing against her "meaty" portion below her thumb. She should not grip the bow and the riser should not press against the "fingers side" of her life line in her palm or whatever line they call it, only the meaty portion under the thumb.

I had my own battles with string slap and torque until I figured out how to shoot properly and now everything is good.

Just my 2 cents worth of info....good luck.

Have her knuckles on the bow hand run away from the riser at at 45 degree angle.

I would sting my arm from time to time as well. Doesn't happen anymore with this grip.

[ULTRAlite]

Originally Posted by Lefty-Canuck

Get her to try and tuck her pinky and ring finger in against the handle while her middle and index finger rest on the front of the riser/handle

Started years ago with this trick as it worked for me... still use it to this day

[Full Curl]

Thanks for all the input from eveyone!

I think we'll be looking to have a pro help us figure this one out.

I could try to narrow it down on my own, but if she gets slapped that hard again I don't want to be the cause!

If we get it sorted out, I'll post the solution.

Thanks eveybody.

[pottymouth]

Originally Posted by spurly

The draw length on the bow, is too long for her, if its adjustable, drop it by an inch. The draw length should be short enough, that her elbow does not lock.

Originally Posted by Douglas N

She may need to open her stance up (turn her body towards the target more).

theres the answers.

[58thecat]

Yep give all the ideas a whirl, what works for some is not the remedy for others, a lot of factors play in but there is a solution hopefully not too painfull! if you watch me shoot a bow you would hold your breath but thats for another thread...good luck!

[L.O.S.T.Arrow]

Originally Posted by pottymouth

theres the answers.

D: X3...With draw lentgh being the biggest culprit...

Neil

[TRG]

Originally Posted by Full Curl

We went out tonight to shoot a bit and on about her 5th shot she smacked her arm HARD with the string. I don't quite see how she's managing to do it so badly, but she'll be flinchy now for a bit.
When she holds her bow arm out, her elbow joint bends in almost like a double-jointed scenario. She can't seem to hold her arm out to shoot without "locking" it like this.
What can/ should I be getting her to do differently? The string contacts her arm at the joint so an armguard isn't going to help.
Thanks.

My Daughter has been doing the same thing with my bow and we received great advice on changing her grip to eliminate the problem. Ever since she changed her grip, she has not hit her arm again. We turn our three bottom fingers in and touch our palm then we grip the bow and touch the tip of our remaining fingers together (index and thumb). This automatically turns our arms and ensures a nice easy grip. I found that although strange at first my accuracy in shooting got better once I got used to it and I have not hit my arm once.