Sore bow shoulder after shooting my compound

bisblue

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Aug 22, 2016
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Cascade Idaho
Shot my compound for the first time recently and ended up with a super sore bow arm shoulder.
I've been shooting traditional only for a while and doing a lot of shoulder PT, stretching and strengthening at the same time. I'm also taking the Tom Clum course. I noticed having to bend my elbow shooting my compound. Wondering if I changed my form enough to have a longer draw?

Anyone else have issues shooting both?
 

Mudd Foot

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Sep 17, 2013
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SW PA
Just had Rotator Cuff repair on draw arm in late March. My bow arm bicep insertions at both ends are sore from the lay-off. Arrows are going where I want, but soreness nonetheless. More so than the repair side. IDK.


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Foggy Mountain

Lil-Rokslider
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Jun 19, 2021
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Pushing with shoulder, bet your T is broken. Thinking shoulder high. When you feel up to it post a pic of just as your shoot. Better yet a video
 

Foggy Mountain

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You def aren’t shooting off bone structure. . Make a T. Bend your hand in to your anchor. That’s about your stance . Your elbow never should be bent. Muscle shooting is harder than bone shooting. Can you post a video?
 

Foggy Mountain

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Couple pics from USA archery book. To understand what I’m saying by bone vs muscle. Make your life easy. Put your arm against a wall to support you. You’ll prob naturally use bone on bone contact for support. It’ll be easy. Now bend your elbow and support yourself. I bet you feel stress in your shoulder. It’ll be harder and more uncomfortable too. You’re using muscle at that point it gets sore. Without actually seeing you shoot a series of shots I’m only guessing mind you but I’m attempting to help
 

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Foggy Mountain

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You can see about what I’m saying. All bone support.
 

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OP
bisblue

bisblue

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Cascade Idaho
You def aren’t shooting off bone structure. . Make a T. Bend your hand in to your anchor. That’s about your stance . Your elbow never should be bent. Muscle shooting is harder than bone shooting. Can you post a video?
No videos as of today still sore! I hit up acupuncture and already feeling better.

Yeah I shoot much better with the traditional bow, wondering what changed in my shot the last few months having not tried my compound. I'm a long time climber and have been doing lots of stretching/PT, maybe I gained some flexibility somewhere in there, and better archery form for sure as evidenced by my shooting.
 

Mudd Foot

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Couple pics from USA archery book. To understand what I’m saying by bone vs muscle. Make your life easy. Put your arm against a wall to support you. You’ll prob naturally use bone on bone contact for support. It’ll be easy. Now bend your elbow and support yourself. I bet you feel stress in your shoulder. It’ll be harder and more uncomfortable too. You’re using muscle at that point it gets sore. Without actually seeing you shoot a series of shots I’m only guessing mind you but I’m attempting to help

This is exactly my issue. Thank you for the reminder!


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Foggy Mountain

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No videos as of today still sore! I hit up acupuncture and already feeling better.

Yeah I shoot much better with the traditional bow, wondering what changed in my shot the last few months having not tried my compound. I'm a long time climber and have been doing lots of stretching/PT, maybe I gained some flexibility somewhere in there, and better archery form for sure as evidenced by my shooting.
Hard to say without more info. You actually don’t need good form for accuracy. You need consistency. For instance if you did something wrong each time exactly the same you would shoot the same. Thus group arrows-accuracy is possible.
When you use muscle instead of bone however, muscle tires, it changes. Hard to be really consistent. Good form is the easiest way to attain accuracy. Not the only way and I don’t say that lightly. I’m a form guy
 

Marble

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I would like to see a video of him drawing his bow.

Secondarily, and more importantly, I would do shoulder exercises for the next 2 weeks with no shooting of the bow.

Upper back, chest, bicep, triceps and all angles of shoulders, light weight, timed workouts, stretching before and after.

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bisblue

bisblue

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Aug 22, 2016
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Cascade Idaho
Getting better fast, ice, heat, a little ibuprofen, acupuncture, stretching.

Drew back in front of a mirror, draw length is definitely too short.

I'm lucky enough to have a good friend he's another super serious rock climber and a PT doctor, And he's been helping me out for the last year with a bunch of stretching and exercises. That's actually one of the things I'm wondering if I didn't link in my draw length a little bit with some flexibility, since I hadn't shot my compound for a few months.
 
Last edited:

inyago

FNG
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Sep 1, 2019
Messages
59
You are holding the bow wrong.. Yes i said wrong.. your elbow should be pointing towards the hills, and we should not be able to see your bicep like that.. there is close to 2 inches of draw length in your bow arm going
to waste and the arrow appears to be too short to take advantage anyway
 
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