Shoulder pain, should I go back?

[Jagstang]

Having just moved up from an older pair of 34# limbs to a new pair of Inno limbs at 36# I was surprised to find out that the weight on my fingers had risen from 39.5# to 44.5#.

I thought I'd give the limbs a go anyway and actually love shooting them, the only problem is that I've started getting some bow arm shoulder pain in the joint. Having read many times that there's no real need to go silly with poundage, would I be wise to drop back to 34# Inno limbs which would leave me around the 40 - 41# mark or should I stick it out and see if my shoulder strengthens? btw, I don't struggle at all with my draw arm, it's just this bow arm pain that's worrying me.

Thanks for any advice

Paul.

[Blue Fire]

Careful there, Paul. I also increased my poundage from 28 to 32 and had the same problem with just my bow arm. The pain didn't go away for almost a month so I decided to see a Doc. Apparently, I didn't do enough stretching exercises to compensate for the added stress so I was advised to give it a rest for a couple of weeks while I go to some therapy sessions. Hopefully, after 2 weeks it should be okay but I was also advised to lower the poundage again for a few weeks if things go well.

[Erika]

5lbs is too high a jump to do without working up to it. You should put a theraband on the bow with your old limbs and do some work for a few weeks at an in between weight.

There is NO reason why 45lbs should give you shoulder pain unless your technique is bad or you have a pre-existing injury.

Make sure that you are not trying to set your shoulder under load. ie don't move it after drawing the initial few inches. Also check that your shoulder is in correct line. ie when you are aimed at the target your shoulder line should be aimed to the right (assuming you are right handed).

[Jagstang]

Originally Posted by Erika

Also check that your shoulder is in correct line. ie when you are aimed at the target your shoulder line should be aimed to the right (assuming you are right handed).

Not sure I understand this one, if my shoulder alignment was pointing to the right of the target then my arm would have to be pushed back behind that alignment to put the sight on the gold, I'm certainly not doing that at the moment. I currently stand with shoulders in line with the target, 90deg to the shooting line so everything is straight. I think bow arm does stick forward of that alignment a little. I try really hard not to push or move my bow arm once the draw has started, as I have found that doing so can cause this pain in the past. I'd eradicated the pain by locking my arm before the draw, but with the additional poundage it doesn't seem to be working.

Thanks for the advice guys.

[JohnK]

Don't over do it.

And if I were you, I'd have words with the supplier you bought the limbs from about the incorrect weight being marked on the limb.

[NoobArcher]

what is it with archers? They all seem to need to seek advice about things hurting....there is a very simple answer here. If you change something...and it hurts...STOP DOING IT! They'll be a very good reason for it hurting, and its not just going to go away if you 'stick it out!' Like Erika has said, maybe its too big a jump, maybe there is a problem in your alignment....lots of maybe's and lots of analysis to be done as to why the hurt is happening, but please, for my own sanity, PLEASE...don't just 'push through it and hope it goes away!' Thats how you end up being off for whole seasons with nasty ligamental and muscle injuries!

[Jagstang]

I'm going to ask the supplier if I can swap them out for a pair of 34's. I see no reason to risk hurting myself for an extra few pounds that I really don't need.

I wasn't that worried about increasing power when I decided to change limbs, but thought it was probably with going up a small step anyway while I'm doing it. It seems it's hard to go up a small step with a 31.75" draw length though!

I'll let you know how it goes.

Thanks for all the tips

Paul.

[jules]

Originally Posted by Jagstang

It seems it's hard to go up a small step with a 31.75" draw length though!

Paul.

Why is it hard to go up a small step with a long draw length? Is you bow wound up to it's highest setting?

[Jagstang]

Originally Posted by jules

Why is it hard to go up a small step with a long draw length? Is you bow wound up to it's highest setting?

No, the limbs are wound right out. The way I understand it is that a certain percentage of additional poundage is applied for each inch of overdraw. As these limbs are measured at 28", I'm pulling almost another 4" on top of the measured figure.

My 34# limbs measured around 40# at my draw length, that's around 17% additional poundage over the marked figure for 28". The new 36# limbs measure 44.5 which is 25% over. These extra weights are added in that last 3.75" of pull (assuming the marked weights at 28" are correct).

I would assume that each type of limb will apply over draw poundage differently depending on construction, maybe if you stick to the same limb type you could get a smaller increment but it certainly seems harder to get a 2lb heaver limb when such large draw lengths are happening. I'm sure an archer with a 28" draw length would find it easier to get controlled increments as this is a commonly measured length.

Probably the only way to be sure would be to have multiple sets of limbs weighed at my draw length until I find a set which reaches the desired weight.

What would be really useful would be a graph showing how the poundage stack as limbs are drawn, if I can get hold of some bow scales this week I'll try and put some together for my limbs by recording weight at each inch. I'd imagine it's not going to be a linear result though, I expect the increase in weigth to curve up dramatically as you pass 28" and stacking begins.

Hope this makes sense

[jules]

Thats really interesting. I'd never really thought about it before. I suppose there is always a +/- % on the actual marked limb weights as well, so even limbs marked the same weight could be quite different. Makes me think that I really want to try out my next limbs before I buy.