Ozbow

hi all,
i have picked up my bow again after a year or so and i am wondering if the draw weight is to heavy. its a Wes Wallace Mentor 58# @ 28" 62" . i hurt my shoulder few months back and im getting a bit of pain after only a hour or so . wondering if i should get my hands on say a 28-35# till my strength build up again? i guess my main concern is im going to develop poor form . my draw length is 28" so i think the bow is suited to me . to be honest it was a bit of an impulse buy ! i saw it second hand and fell in love with it !

thoughts?
Dean

From what you've written, I think you realise what you need to do. If your bow is causing you pain, chances are, it's too heavy for you. Many people shoot bows that are too heavy for them, IMO. Unless you have a specific need for such a heavy bow, such has hunting medium sized game or larger, then it's added weight will probably retard your ability to work on building good form and accuracy, more so if you're experiencing pain. My advice is to keep your heavy bow for hunting (if you do hunt) and to use on those days when you feel you might need some practice with it, but for your general practice and everyday bow, I would highly recommend that you buy yourself a relatively light draw weight bow of between 30 and 40#. Not only will the light bow allow you to shoot without pain, it will allow you the freedom to work on your form without having to worry about muscle strain and endurance issues.

Once you've built up a good technique and good form, good accuracy should follow. The good accuracy should also stay with you when you occasionally shoot your heavier bow. It's impossible to shoot well if you are experiencing pain. I've been down that road myself.

Agreed with Mick.

As to shoulder issues - it is one of the major reason people give up archery, that and over-bowing.

Shoulder issues can be rectified using bio-drawing techinques. I came across this link, and think it is valid, and could be adapted to field shooting: https://archeryaustralia.app.box.com/s/ ... ma81lws6ev

It worked for me.

thankyou! this truly is a fantastic forum.

so anyone have a old LH bow lying around?

Dean,

From my previous medical background as a Registered Nurse, my advice is to first concentrate on making sure that your shoulder is COMPLETELY healed before you even think of taking up shooting again. If it hurts, damage is still present and healing is not completed. Just stick to your physio until it has, then restart.

You are not overbowed, you are injured and any shooting will only exacerbate your problem. Take advice from your physio or surgeon about this issue. Unless either of these professionals can advise you that the bio-mechanics of drawing a bow are beneficial to the kind of injury you have sustained, you should leave it alone until healing is completed.

I can genuinely understand your wanting to get into shooting again, believe me. But the risk of exacerbation is too great in the short term to compromise a possibly long future in archery. Have a think about it and don't be in a hurry.

Good point Dennis, and shoulders tend to take a long time to heal. A phsyio may be able to get your muscles back in balance too with specific strengthening exercises.

Out of interest, I found another link on bio-mechanics which indicates A slightly different drawing method. This one tends to indicate drawing lower:

http://www.kslinternationalarchery.com/ ... glish.html