What a pain!
 

Nothing new to y'all; that pre-season shoulder pain, right?
I put my guitars down and took up a compound my nephew gave me. The wife said music wasn't putting anything on the table...
Well, my left shoulder, after a few shots today got so sore I couldn't lift my can of favorite brew. I immediately Googled up bowhunting shoulder pain and here I am! I learned that I haven't done irreparable damage and now I'd like to learn a few exercise techniques to build up my holding shoulder. My nephew set it down for me after the first couple days b/c my left elbow was taking a beating. Not sure but it's prob'ly only 50#. It's not hard to draw, but man, that shoulder pain! I'm a thin guy who's done "trades" work most of my life so I'm not weak; my joints on the other hand, have taken the brunt of my lack of bulk. And today's session was only fourteen arrows before I got so wobbly that I thought I may shoot the neighbor's dog or something if I missed my target! (JK)

Sorry, I don't feel your pain and never have. Have always tried to stay in shape so I could always do what I wanted.

Thanks, Nodog. You're very fortunate. I'm not in bad shape, either; just not conditioned, obviously, for this type of body mechanics. Any helpful advise? Say, an exercize routine that'll properly build my shoulders for this particular activity? I'd imagined good old-fashioned push-ups should help seeing that the mechanics aren't dissimilar. When I've healed a couple days, I'll try that. In the meantime...

Goodness the animosity in this thread is surprising... Why are you guys attacking him like that when he has honest questions?

There are definitely exercises you can perform in order to help your shoulder, I do these mostly during the offseason but they are good to perform at anytime.. It's good to see that you were smart enough to lower the poundage of the bow, that's the first step.

I'm not sure what the rules are in this forum for posting links to other sites, so I am going to send you a PM with a list of Archery Exercise related items in it.

Well try shooting a little less weight and shoot year round. That will take care of it.

I'm not at all in a state of unrest... Keep in mind that text has no emotion behind it, so what you type is quite often taken literally by the other party... Hence why we have emoticons in forums, to present emotion. Anyway back on topic...

Field - did you find my PM helpful?

So true,So true. Peace@Love!

Hatchet Jack

Short answer: don't take chances, see a sports medicine doctor/physical therapist for help specific to your condition.

Long answer: I shoot year around, and have been working out in the gym regularly for 30+ yrs - still in Aug 2010, I suffered a left shoulder impingement from -? (probably old age, lol). It didn't affect my archery at first, so I kept on shooting. In Nov 2010 - a slight discomfort grew into pain so bad that I was looking at the end of my vertical bow career, and hello crossbow. I cut archery practice to 1 arrow a week, and restricted shots at deer to 15 yds. When I wasn't getting better, I went to a sports medicine orthopedist in January, declined his initial offer of a cortisone shot, and started physical therapy. I followed the exercise regime the PT recommended, along with the warm ups/stretching. She pointed out that I needed to improve my posture (no slouching) and develop all the muscles that support the rotator cuff. Today, I can shoot my bow without any discomfort and I've recovered 90% of my mobility. I throw rose petals in the path of my PT, she knew her stuff...

-fsh

had the same prob
 

i had the same prob after a motor cycle wreck, bought a 40# recurve to start with and just built my muscles and strength back , took dang near 6 months , but , im shootin 70# now with no problems, try also hitting the net and looking for how to use yer back to hold yer bow at draw , i cant remember what site i saw it at, but im sure some one hear can point u in the right direction, last but not least check at the doc to make sure u dont have some form of joint prob , i kind of did , but a slow start werked fer me GOOD LUC!:party0005:

[quote=Jmp51483;3843560]Goodness the animosity in this thread is surprising... Why are you guys attacking him like that when he has honest questions?

[quote]

One post and it's filled with animosity? Truthfully I think at the time the beer was talking, sue me. I think I had a point but I can't remember what it was.

I remember now, oh I forgot, it's past 5:00 Friday. :)