Rotator cuff pain

[Bo Ingram]

Hi all....I am a newbie and am having rotator cuff shoulder pain in my leaft shoulder.

I am right handed, 60-years old, strong and in good health.

Shooting a 45# PSE Mustang and learning Fred Asbills Instintive Shooting method.

Any comments or observations on my shoiulder irritatio.

Thanks,

Bo

[Winterhawk1960]

YES........get yourself to a doctor. I don't think any of us here 'cept for David Bartholomew would even try to diagnose your shoulder pain. He (David) specializes in the treatment of such "pains" and was a Godsend when I was having problems.

None-the-less......go see a doctor, it might require more than rehabilitation at this point.

Winterhawk1960

[AllenR]

Bo, I just hit the 60 year mark myself and for the last few years have really been disappointed at how easy it is to get injured and how long it takes these old bodies to heal.

First, assess how sore your shoulders are.  You can probably feel if it's to the point of injury or just a little lactic acid buildup from working muscles in a new way.  

If its just a little exercise soreness and not injury, ice and advil will take care of it.  Strengthen the muscles with the various rotator cuff exercises.  They are easy to find on the internet.

From the little I know of G.Fred's methods, the posture he teaches may be a little more condusive to shoulder stress.  Straighten up and get your bow shoulder down & back.  Relax your shoulder & neck muscles during the shot and rely as much on bone-to-bone support as possible.  At full draw, you should be holding the weight with only your back muscles.  Relax your shoulder tops, neck and biceps.

Since you haven't been shooting long, it would probably be a good idea to drop to about a lighter draw weight bow, in the 30 pound range. You should be working on your form at this stage of your shooting and a lighter bow is better for that.

Even though it's too much fun to quit after just a few arrows, you should gradually build up to a high volume of arrows.  There really is no other activity that prepares our muscles for shooting a bow, so only shooting will build up the necessary muscles.  As with any strength building exercise, you have to allow time for the muscles to rest before exercising them again.  Unfortunately, this just takes longer than it did a few decades ago.  

However, if there is the slightest doubt that it's anything more than exercise soreness, go see a doctor that specializes in shoulders.  This is important because damage now could result in years of pain.

Good luck,
Allen

[Bobaru]

There's some good advise on this thread.  I would only add that you should be much more careful with Rotator Cuff muscles than other muscles.

With many muscle groups you can "work through the pain" or some such.  Rotator cuff muscles are much more tricky and can be permanently injured more easily than other muscles.

Plus, "building" rotator cuff muscles isn't quite the same as "adding more weight" at the gym.  Note that rotator cuff exercises involve 2 pound and 3 pound weights, not 50 pounds.  There are reasons for that.  So, be very careful and avoid permanent injury.

[mambashooter]

 I know how you feel buddy. Going through what is called a Frozen shoulder. Had it two months. Was shooting a 55 lb recurve 2 months ago...now I can only pull it back maybe 2 inches. Doc told me it may take months.

[eagle24]

Bo,  I went through this last year.  I was shooting 3-4 hrs a day every day for several weeks.  All the sudden I started having shoulder pain and couldn't bring my bow arm up to parrallel with the ground.  Thought it was a rotator cuff tear.  I made an appointment with an orthopedic surgeon.  After an x-ray and exam he felt like I might have a partial tear, but said he could only be sure by doing an MRI and the only fix would be surgery if it were a rotator tear.  I had a KS hunt about 3 weeks out and opted for a cordizone shot in the shoulder.  2 weeks of rest and the shot made it much better, but not completely well.  I was able to hunt KS and shoot a little.  I rested my shoulder all off season and now it is fine.  Mine must have been some type of inflammation as a result of shooting too much.  I'm limiting my shooting and being more carefull not to over do it this year.  So far so good.  I would definitely consider having a Dr look at it just in case.

[sstewa]

Bone spurs were causing my problem,  Started concentrating on using more of my back muscles until I can have the spurs cleaned off.

[GroundHunter]

I've been through a lot of this as I have shot a lot and woekd up to an 85#bow with a 73# my regular bow. I'm 58 years old, 5'8" and 165#.

So, My first shoulder strain was trying to work up to a heavier bow too fast. Took months for that strain (no tear) to cool off by laying off. We archers HATE laying off.

Then, I strained it a couple more times not warming up on warmup exercises and not shooting a lighter bow first as a warmup.
I cured it with a consistent workout routine to build upper body and shoulders - body-building, really, and always warm up for practice. And, if you hunt in the cold like we all do, you need to stay warmed up by pulling the bow a lot, and if that will spook game, don't hunt your heaviest bow or you will pull that shoulder when you pop a cold draw in the moment of truth.

My warmup is pushups or bench press, and dumbell military press, or warm up on a lighter bow. The dumbell military press is better than a single barbell because it forces each arm/shoulkder to control the weights with the little ancillary shoulder muscles. Build up slowly.

My workout that finally built the shoulders to stand the heavy bows was bench press and bumbell military press. Worked up to 200-225# bench and 50-65# bumbell millitasry press,and rowing excecises - lots of reps and sets. After a couple years working up to this (age 56-58)and warming up for practice, I no longer strain my shoulder on 73# and 85# bows. And I do not shoot 100+ arrows at max draw weight. That's just begging for a strain that will put you out for weeks. If you plan to shoot more than 20-30 arrows you need a lighter draw weight than your max by 30-40%. If I want to shoot all day I shoot 55-60#. For heavy bow work I shoot 73#-85# maybe 30 arrows.

I love the heavy bows but 55# will shoot clean through a Texas whitetail or big feral hog.

If you get shoulder strain at 45# check the Dr. and if all is well, hit the gym and build up slowly with the weights.