UPDATE!

Well, I just got back from shooting my bow for the first time in almost 3 weeks. I took some time off to let my shoulder rest and haven't had any pain in it for over two weeks straight. Ready to get back at it I went out to the local range where the club happened to be having a 3D shoot that I didn't really plan on shooting. I just wanted to shoot the KD range a few times. But I took the advice to heart about stretching and warming up first, and made sure my bow arm was limbered up and ready to shoot. Anyway, while I was there I got to chatting with some of the experienced archers there and asked them about my shoulder injury as well. One of them actually has delt with a similar injury himself and asked to watch me shoot. So I drew my bow back and shot, and the first thing he says to me is that my form while shooting the bow is pretty good, but my form while drawing the bow was bad, which was putting added strain on my left shoulder. I, like a lot of other people I watch btw, was raising my bow over the target and then lowering it as a draw. He told me to try holding the bow level and draw straight back without moving my bow arm at all. I did this, and while I noticed it required more effort to draw this way, I had no pain in my left shoulder at all. He also said that I should do the same thing if I ever have to let down. Before when I'd let down I'd drop my bow arm as I let down. I tried letting down once while keeping my left arm straight out in shooting form, and while it again took more effort to smoothly let down from my right arm, it didn't hurt my left shoulder at all.

At that point I decided to give the 3D course a go, figuring that if my shoulder started to show signs that i was pushing it too far I'd just not finish the course. Well, 40 shots and 314/400 points later I finished the course and my shoulder doesn't even ache at all! I feel like I haven't even shot the bow today! I can't overstate how great it is to shoot pain-free, and how much better I shoot when my shoulder doesn't hurt the whole time.

Once again, thanks for the help guys. I think that I really needed the time off from shooting to let my shouder heal, and between your suggestions and the hands-on help, I think I'll be able to shoot as much as I want without problems as long as I take care to do it right. This is a genuine sport, and I just had to have a little coaching to do it right.

Mike