Correlation between stabilizer weight and shoulder pain with archers by Dr Hans Pfeffer
Within the last few years, I have treated more and more archers due to pain in the shoulder of the shooting arm. The pain seems to stem from the pause phase that comes directly after release. The discomfort seems not to be related to the stress on the arm resulting from high draw weight, which could arguably result in shoulder pain.
I think it can be expected that a heavy draw weight or an improper string length (or a combination thereof) would result in pain in the forearm rather than in the shoulder.
Still, it is important not only to treat the injury but rather to get to the root of the problem, which lies in the choice of equipment.
After checking with my patients, it has been determined that without exception, they all use heavy stabilizer systems. Systems such as mono-stabilizers without V-BAR with side stabilizer on compound bows, as well as complete systems with Mono-stabilizewrs, V-BAR and Extender are being used. The lengths are generally between 37 and 40 inches. The mono-stabilizers were equipped with either 2, 3, or 4 tuners.
From personal experience, I know what such systems weigh because I used these heavy systems myself. At that time, I also experienced pain in my bow shoulder. I was then shooting between 900-1000 shots per week.
Fortunately I was able to find at least a part solution: I used only one tuner on my stabilizer in order to reduce the weight and the amount of strength needed to hold the bow.
The results were not really surprising. with a reduction in stabilizer weight, the shoulder pain also decreased.
By reducing the amount of tuners however, the bow vibration also increased and this is naturally not the hoped-for result.
At this time, I had the opportunity to test several of the extremely light "The Better One" stabilizer systems from OK-Archery. This had the advantage that I could let other archers test these systems also.
I could determine that the strength needed to hold the bow was indeed reduced. In the meantime, many of my patients have switched to the "The Better One" from OK-Archery and since that time, shoulder pain has been eliminated.
To sum it all up, I am of the opinion that a light stabilizer system can reduce the pain in the bow shoulder or even completely eliminate it.
A small weight on the end of the stabilizer ensures a clean follow-through of the bow after the shot without dramatically increasing the total weight of the system.
Hans Pfeffer
Hans is a compound archer, German National Champion 2002, and specializes in chiropractic and sports medicine.
|
