A recent thread concerning draw length got me thinking more about this. I posted about a month back that my physical condition of "frozen shoulder" meant that at least for now, I can no longer draw the bow.
I always thought my true draw length to be 31 ½ inches, even when I was shooting trad. So when I bought a new compound about five years back, that is the draw length I asked the bow shop manager to set me up for. I'd never used a D-loop before, and failed to take it into consideration for the draw length. Big mistake . . . compounded by my original mistaken draw length.
After having shot this new bow for a couple of years, I started having shoulder pain, especially at night (left shoulder; my bow shoulder). A different bow shop owner looked at my form and suggested opening my stance a little and changing my wrist angle, which in turn should shorten my draw length. It did, by 1 ½ inches. The $80 cost for a new cam proved well worth it - no more shoulder pain!
Unfortunately, years and years of overdrawing bows had already done its damage; I just wan't aware of it at the time. That took a few more years.
As time went on, shooting practically every day, I noticed that it was getting harder to pull through the break-over set at 62#. Holding only 12-15# was never a problem; just getting there was.
Eventually I was relegated to placing bow hand pressure in the heel of the hand as opposed to the V between thumb and forefinger, just to get past break-over. Then it got to where I could only pull through by lowering the bow to about a 45 degree angle to the ground, pulling through, then raising it back up to the target. Not what you want to do when hunting - too much movement involved, to say nothing of bad form.
So now I'm looking at arthroscopic surgery just to be able to shoot again (hopefully).
Don't do as I did! Confirm your draw length with a knowledgeable instructor or shop owner, see if you can't shorten it up with a more open stance, and try different wrist angles which can change draw length by as much as an inch.
I always thought my true draw length to be 31 ½ inches, even when I was shooting trad. So when I bought a new compound about five years back, that is the draw length I asked the bow shop manager to set me up for. I'd never used a D-loop before, and failed to take it into consideration for the draw length. Big mistake . . . compounded by my original mistaken draw length.
After having shot this new bow for a couple of years, I started having shoulder pain, especially at night (left shoulder; my bow shoulder). A different bow shop owner looked at my form and suggested opening my stance a little and changing my wrist angle, which in turn should shorten my draw length. It did, by 1 ½ inches. The $80 cost for a new cam proved well worth it - no more shoulder pain!
Unfortunately, years and years of overdrawing bows had already done its damage; I just wan't aware of it at the time. That took a few more years.
As time went on, shooting practically every day, I noticed that it was getting harder to pull through the break-over set at 62#. Holding only 12-15# was never a problem; just getting there was.
Eventually I was relegated to placing bow hand pressure in the heel of the hand as opposed to the V between thumb and forefinger, just to get past break-over. Then it got to where I could only pull through by lowering the bow to about a 45 degree angle to the ground, pulling through, then raising it back up to the target. Not what you want to do when hunting - too much movement involved, to say nothing of bad form.
So now I'm looking at arthroscopic surgery just to be able to shoot again (hopefully).
Don't do as I did! Confirm your draw length with a knowledgeable instructor or shop owner, see if you can't shorten it up with a more open stance, and try different wrist angles which can change draw length by as much as an inch.
Comment