[Alan in GA]

I have thoroughly enjoyed shooting [sometimes MORE than once a day] in my back yard range. Dropped both bows to 61 lbs and liking it even more. Next bow [XT?] will probably be a 60 lb limb model.
ANYWAY,,when I read of posters here mentioning SHOULDER INJURY...I always wonder HOW they got injured....shooting their bow?..or some other cause?
Alan in GA.
hopefully healthy shoulders and r. cuffs forever..

 

[gmherps]

I shoot maybe once a week so I dont over do it. In the off season I'll shoot 2 times a month. My friends who shoot everyday always seem to be hurting themselves and "tweeking" their shoulder and or bow (tuning). Lay off for a while and let it heal bro. If I shoot too much my groups actually get worse.

 

[Alan in GA]

no problems,,,took steps to prevent them...

"Lay off for a while and let it heal bro."

that's just it,,I don't have any injury. I stepped down from 72 lbs after reading posts mentioning 'shoulder injury'. Set both bows to 66 lbs. Then, set both to 61 lbs after the Mathews tech said parallel limb bows don't change much with tune settings when backed down to the lower end of the TEN lb ajustment range. So, I set both back down to 61, chrono'd again and decided 14 fps was not enough of a velocity drop to worry about. BUT, the enjoyment of being able to shoot with 'minimal' concern of injury was GREAT.
I didn't think of this to begin with. The owner of an Archery Shop local to me [Mitch's in Canton, GA] said he dropped to 60 lb limbed bows since he enjoyed shooting a LOT, and the all popular 70 lb limbed bows would wear him out shooting every day. Got to thinking about that,,,and as I would read 'due to shoulder injury' here and there in archery/bow forums, I thought why risk injury and have to STOP shooting for any length of time!?
FYI,,,the '05 Switchback shot 274 fps with a 330 gr arrow/27" draw/26" arrow set at 65 lbs. Now at 61 lbs,,same arrow at 259-260 fps. If I keep the pace up I may set back up to 65-70 lbs next year. But at age 55 I'm wondering if I'm just trying to "hammer ram shot" lightening bolt arrows thru the woods by setting the bows to 70+ lbs? Rambo was a movie, I am not Sylvester Stalone! ha!
I enjoy shooting TOO MUCH to risk injury,,,,IF I can help it. Hope to shoot til I'm tired of it.
Alan in GA [55- been shooting since '5']. The bow at age 5 was wood, painted white, and had a red/white string. I think the arrows were tipped with rubber suction cups. Then, made my own out of sticks,,arrows out of dried milk weed stalks [all I know is the weed stalk was STRAIGHT, DRY, and heavier at one end- didn't need fletching!].

 

[BingoFlyer]

I have no idea how I got mt shoulder injury (a complete, small, tear of the Rotator Cuff but can tell you it hurt a lot and was getting worse.

Went to an orthopidic(sp) surgeon and he said he would not operate, instead he gave me excersizes to do using a Theraband and no shooting for two months. After the two months I was able to shoot a 50lb bow and by season start was shooting 60lb.

That was three years ago and I'm still doing the excersizes and shooting a 60lb bow, I had been shooting 70 before the tear and that may have been the cause (I was 64 years old at the time).

 

[AllenRead]

It's definitely smart to consider preventing injuries before they happen rather than wait.

The main thing that you can do is to warm up before shooting. There are even some elastic bands available at Lancaster for this purpose.

Second, there are rotator cuff exercises that you can do with the same elastic bands that will strengthen the muscles around the joint so that the joint will be more stable. You can find them on the internet. Do these 2 or 3 times a week

There are other exercises shown in the book by olympic archery coach Kisik Lee. The exercises that he puts his archers through are grueling, but it allows them to shoot 1,000 arrows a day with recurve bows. It takes years to build up to that point. They also have carefully researched form that prevents injuries.

As we age, we should all consider joint strengthening exercises. This is especially true for those of us with sedentary jobs. A day in front of the computer does not prepare us for shooting or any other active sport.

Good luck,
Allen

 

[CMR]

Mine happened in college.
I used to hit the gym everyday, and every other day there I lifted weights. Free weights, not those stupid machines.
Anyhow, one day the weight room was being occupied by the football team so everyone had to use the machines in the workout center. Stupid me, I used machines for my workout.
One particular machine was a sitting bench press. You sat on a seat, pushed down a bar with your feet at the base of the machine and that released two arm bars in which you benched in a sitting position. Well, when i used to bench, I always let the bar down to about 2 inches from my chest when i did free weights. Guess the machine I was on didn't like that.
I let the handle bars down to about 2inches from my chest, and i guess when those handle bars get to a certain point they snap back behind the machine in a "rest" position. Well, they snapped back when I got close to my chest. I released the one bar but not the other. And the one I didn't release was my right arm, and I'm right handed. My right arm/shoulder snapped backwards and I dislocated my shoulder. Not thinking, I slammed on the foot bar to get the bar in the bench position, and was still holding onto the handle bar. So, I un-dislocated my shoulder. Hurt like h-e-"double hockey sticks"!!! But it happened so fast, I wasn't thinking.
I can shoot a bow but nothing past 65#, hurts too much.

 

[mathews4life]

i hurt mine wakeboarding, i took a pretty good wipe last summer and the doc said that my shoulder had some stretched soft tissue but nothing too serious. (i also cracked 2 ribs) well last week i took another good wipe and put a fracture in the very top of my humorus (arm bone with bicep on it) and im going to an orthopedic specialist tomorrow to see what to do with my shoulder--no conclusions yet but suspected r. cuff damage...not good

 

[ChachiSnips]

mine was from high school football...slight seperation, ligament/tendon issues. can't bench or anything else that puts heavy force on my shoulder. lots of exercise with light weights and elastic bands to get in shape for shooting.

 

[Guest]

Mine is from years of playing baseball and pitching, Football, and Hockey. Plus I have a piss poor posture that I am working with a PT to try to undo 30 years of damage. Tendinitis is what I have due to shoulders rolled forward.

 

[Ausie]

In the majority of cases, shoulder injuries in archers can be avoided by 3 things; warm-up and stretching exercisers prior to drawing the bow, correct biomechanical alignment through the entire shot cycle, and do not pull a heavy poundage bow until you have built up to that poundage over a few weeks as many of the muscles used to draw a bow are not used in that combination for anything else.
Cheers
Peter

 

[Alan in GA]

my thoughts are....

....that just because one 'can' shoot a 70 or higher poundage bow,,doesn't mean one 'should' shoot one. If someone shoots on a regular basis,,,I would say it is safe to shoot 70+ or 70++ after you KNOW you have worked and excercised the muscles used in drawing. I guess most just shoot a high poundage and do fine,,but I sure am aware of those that after injuring something,,,HAVE to work back to where they can shoot at all,,then work up poundage from a low point.
I change my mind faster than the wind changes directions,,,but I think I would like to get into a regular routine of shooting with a 60 lb bow. Trying to find price of 60 lb limbs for my PSE Mach 12,,,,it is not giving very smooth shooting characteristics set at 61 lbs. Hybrid cams must like 'max' settings. The 70 lb '05 Switchback is doing great at 61. Feels like nothing,but still as I said,,spitting out 260 fps or so.

 

[MotherLode]

Just plain shooting to much and shooting to much wt. , couple that with age and WHAMO , I now shoot 47 lbs tops(target) and careful on what irritates it when working out , it is still there but much better.

 

[archerycharlie]

i hurt mine rollar skating. But had been already torn doc says and i just finnished it off. Never had bothered me at all till i finnally tore it. I used to shoot 70#s also but never again. Got a bow with 50# limbs and maxed out at 53 for hunting. Target bow is about 53 for indoor and bumped it up a couple of #s for outdoor mabe 55 0r 56. thats all i need for me. AC

 

[jkkfam89]

I blew out both rotator cuffs playing football, then years of weight lifting has pretty much done me in. I can't hold my kids for long or I lose feeling and so on.

 

[SPECIALIZED]

Hunting related Shoulder injury.

Several years ago in South Texas my now grown son and I was putting up a heavy wood 15 foot high box stand.we had staked one set of legs and was using a rope tied to the Int Scout to pull the box up into place. I was standing on the tailgate as the box neared upright ,the scout lurched forward, I looked up just in time to see a blur and place my hands up<BAD MOVE.the box landed on my head,out stritched arms and shoulder. The left shoulder was dislocated<OH THE PAIN> A local doctor? put the shoulder back in place.
after the healing , I have had a calcium deposit that from time to time presses on a nerve and really Hurts like%$^&%$#@.
Talked to several Doctors,they advised Surgery may make it worse, several cortisone shots ,no longer help. now shoot bow at about 55 Lbs,no complaints from Deer.