New injury

[MrsRobbo]

Just been searching for any references to "injuries" and haven't found many so thought I'd post here to see if anyone else has experienced my current affliction and any suggestions about what I can do to help it go away (other than to stop shooting!)!!!
Started about 3 weeks ago - when at full draw my forearm began "clicking" just below the elbow.
I'll try to point you to the location on the arm where this begun. I'm right handed and this is occuring in my right arm - so keep your right arm down and put your left arm across your chest and put your fingers on the nobbly bit of your right elbow and move your finger forwards slightly until you find the bumpy bone bit that tingles when you hit your "funny bone" - kind of in the little depression between the bones.
OK, move towards your hand a cm or so and then move your right hand forward and back (without twisting) and you should feel the muscle and tendon move under the skin.
OK, you have the place.
So, when I was at full draw all was fine and then there would be a "click" (quite loud!) and the elbow/forearm would twist just slightly - this affected my release each time but I couldn't seem to stop the arm from doing it. It didn't hurt so much... it just kind of ached ever so slightly afterwards but eased off quite quickly. I then had a week off, got my new bow and began shooting with it and the clicking seemed to pretty much stop.
Thought it was all ok even though every now and then it clicked again but nothing major.
Now, over the last week or two the ache is constant. Just in that little depression to about half way down the forearm.
Again, it doesn't actually hurt so much but it's just the dull ache is beginning to get on my nerves and I think that shooting is probably not helping (has probably caused it).
Any ideas? I know that resting it will probably help it and I haven't shot for amost a week and have had a support tubi-grip on it for the last day or so to see if it helps but so far nothing.
I have a horrid feeling it's something like tennis-elbow (do you get archers'-elbow??) and that only total rest and no shooting is the answer... but if anyone else has experienced this and got any tips it would be much appreciated!

[Adam]

Archers do get tennis-elbow. It's really tendinitis, but as more tennis is played than arrows are shot...

I don't think that's what you've got. In my experience, if you had it you'd know for sure because it can be very painful indeed, especially after a day's shooting. Mine got so bad that at the end of the day I couldn't grip the steering wheel for the drive home.

Having said that, I can't really offer any advice as to what exactly you do have. I suspect - and I'm no doctor, so I'm prepared to be shot down in flames here - that this is a ligament problem, not muscle or tendon. I have a knee that does the same - a loud click and a vague twanging feel when I walk, especially uphill.

What you do about it, or what caused it, I have no idea. A change of equipment - even something as seemingly inconsequential as a new tab - may have caused a very slight change in your form and provoked the problem.

Adam

[JohnK]

Apparently the tendon trouble archers get is usually more like golfer's elbow.

I've had tendon trouble in my bow arm (left arm), but not my right. What you have to do now is bite the bullet and find a recommended sports physiotherapist in your area, private or NHS (if you can find one). It may cost you (shooting) time and money, but the sooner you get a proper diagnosis from a professional the better.

Fingers crossed for you.

[simon m]

I'm interested in stuff like this as my other half has carpul tunnel mildely from her days operating a CCTV console. Will the archery effect this?.

I'd hate to think we get her through the beginners course etc and she'd have to stop shooting....

[Max]

Originally Posted by simon m

I'm interested in stuff like this as my other half has carpul tunnel mildely from her days operating a CCTV console. Will the archery effect this?.

I'd hate to think we get her through the beginners course etc and she'd have to stop shooting....

I'm no medical expert either, but I believe I had the beginnings of carpul tunnel (family history of it) and shooting recurve virtually cured the problem, especially my draw hand. I can only assume that constantly drawing the bow with a relaxed hand actually stretched the nerve sheath. I used to have a lot of pain at night in my wrist and hand, plus pins and needles in my thumb and index finger - that has now gone completely. Archery might be the pefect cure for her too!

[Deadeye Doc]

Originally Posted by MrsRobbo

....until you find the bumpy bone bit that tingles when you hit your "funny bone" - kind of in the little depression between the bones.
OK, move towards your hand a cm or so and then move your right hand forward and back (without twisting) and you should feel the muscle and tendon move under the skin.
OK, you have the place.
So, when I was at full draw all was fine and then there would be a "click" (quite loud!) and the elbow/forearm would twist just slightly - this affected my release each time but I couldn't seem to stop the arm from doing it. It didn't hurt so much... it just kind of ached ever so slightly afterwards but eased off quite quickly. I then had a week off, got my new bow and began shooting with it and the clicking seemed to pretty much stop.
Thought it was all ok even though every now and then it clicked again but nothing major.
Now, over the last week or two the ache is constant. Just in that little depression to about half way down the forearm.
Again, it doesn't actually hurt so much but it's just the dull ache is beginning to get on my nerves and I think that shooting is probably not helping (has probably caused it).
Any ideas? I know that resting it will probably help it and I haven't shot for amost a week and have had a support tubi-grip on it for the last day or so to see if it helps but so far nothing.

See http://www.besttreatments.co.uk/btuk...ons/36802.html


I have a horrid feeling it's something like tennis-elbow (do you get archers'-elbow??) and that only total rest and no shooting is the answer... but if anyone else has experienced this and got any tips it would be much appreciated!

Tennis elbow - relates to a bone in the forearm called the Radius. What you seem to be describing is the feeling you get, when you rotate the wrist, of the head of the Radius moving at the elbow. Classically this is caused by a repetitive rotational movement and used to be an affliction of carpenters using screwdrivers. The tennis players who get this are those who put loads of topspin on their forehand ground strokes and by doing so put pressure on the "swivel" joint at the elbow. Bjorn Borg used to do this but he had built his forearm up to something like a treetrunk!

I wonder if this has something to do with your release, or the way you are drawing. You may be rotating the forearm? Ray Axford's book is helpful on the biomechanics. Sadly it may require a visit to your local doc. Sometimes you can get away with NSAIDs (Ibuprofen) either in tablet form or as an application, but it may need 1) a steroid injection, which can initially be quite painful, and 2) a visit to your coach to see what you are doing.

[Adam]

I know there'd be a real Doc around here somewhere!

Sounds like good advice to me.

Adam

[MrsRobbo]

Thank you all for these replies - very helpful... I think it is my draw and release - a slight twisting action does seem to occur so I must work on that - but I may just take a trip to docs for a quick check to be safe.
And thanks for the web link - v. useful.
all around!!
Glad I asked.
Just shot for an hour or so and no clicking at all - kept my tubi-grip on it and will see how it feels. Just aches the same as before right now... fingers crossed it doesn't get worse.
For Simon M (who's interested in injuries!) I also had a torn rota cuff (dodgy shoulder) several years ago due to archery but that was because we didn't used to warm up before shooting... now I always do the stretching and warm up exercises and my shoulder has not given me any problems at all since taking up the sport again (restarted June 2005).
Thanks again to all.

[MrsRobbo]

Just a quick update on my clicky-arm-ache thing-a-me-jig.
As Deadeye Doc said ... I think it must have been my hand position when I was drawing because I've tried various positions and today found one that doesn't produce a click at all. Well, it did once, but I wasn't paying attention and didn't think of hand/finger position before drawing.
It seems that I was trying to get my hand too flat and this was causing too much of a twist in my elbow/forearm and thus causing the click. Today I have "opened" my hand so that the back of my hand is facing slightly up instead of straight out to the side. It means that I'm drawing with my first two fingers more than using all three but this feels much easier on the arm and doesn't cause a click. I'll still probaby get it checked if it keeps aching. But thanks to all of you for your comments. They helped.

[Purple Hugs]

Glad you are managing to sort it. : Fingers x'd the pain passes.