Sore ring finger and trouble setting nock height

[Okie man]

Last week I was shooting very well.  I had no trouble putting all my arrows in the vitals on my 3D deer target at 25 yds.  I felt really good about my form and consistency in hitting the target.  This week I was practicing and was having problems with wild shots.  I checked my brace and nock and grabbed a bare shaft and it hit nock high each shot except once.  I moved the nock point down a little at a time and it still hit nock high even with the nock point really low or really high.  Also, my draw hand ring finger is sore.  I use a HH deluxe glove.  What form problems could cause these symptoms? I was shocked when my accuracy plummeted to iffy even at 15yds. And, recently I've noticed that my bow arm shoulder is sore.  It seems that I am suddenly falling apart.  I don't shoot heavy bows, 65# is the heaviest I own and I hunt mostly with a 57# Hill style longbow.  Any help would be appreciated.

[Wapiti Bowman]

OM,

If you were shooting good groups at your comfort level distance and feeling good about your shot executions, and nothing changed on your set up, i.e., your nock point didn't slide up, and your brace ht didn't changed (sometimes signaling a bowstring starting to go) then it has to be a change in your form.

I'm just going to guess that if you were experiencing exceptional success and enjoying your shooting, that you may have shot longer than normally, and/or, shot more arrows, either of which could have caused your ring finger to become sore.  So, the next time you go out to shoot, you start to favor that sore finger which causes you to put different tension on the string with your other fingers.

Any change in tension on the string with any given finger can cause a difference in arrow flight; particularly common is the "nock high" flight you started experiencing.

I'd set your equipment back to where you started, and either give your finger some rest time, or, as I have done numerous times, tape up the 'offending' finger, and see if that relieves the discomfort.

A problem with continuing to shoot as you are, is that new, undesirable habits can develop that become hard to break once you're back to normal.

Good Luck, and Have Fun!

[cbCrow]

Okie, I agree with Wapiti. I don't think its your equipment either. I have experienced the same problems you state and found that 9 out 10 times it was because of form. About 3 months ago I went from a once a day shooting session of 25-40 arrows to 2 a day of same amount thus doubling my arrows. After a few days I started to have those problems. I found that because I was shooting too much my form went out the door. I found that as I drew, because those muscles were tired, I had changed and was now compensated by holding my elbow a little higher than normal. I took 3 days off and shot only 25 arrows of quality at each of my sessions and things went back to the way they were.  

[PEARL DRUMS]

My ring finger used to hurt me as well, I lowered my draw elbow and the pain went away, and I my accuracy improved. I found my elbow was pointing up and wasnt leveled off.

[Okie man]

Thanks for your responses. After work I went to the range and did some blind bale work and for a long time could not figure out what I was doing wrong.  I got frustrated and sat down and thought about every facet of my shot sequence. And then it hit me.  While feeling the back tension at full draw I had not been conscious of proper alignment of my elbow like in the shot clock example.  I shot probably 150-200 shots total and at the end felt like I was on the right track. The session when I first had the problem was after a stressful day at work and I was distracted by issues from there and tired.  When you practice, do you try to give your form total concentration or do you find that you can let your mind wander?

[jhansen]

Any time I start a session and can't focus completely on my shot, I just plain quit for the day.  There's a mental state that I have to be in where the only things that exist are me, the bow, arrow, and target.  If I'm not there my shooting is poor and this in turn affects my confidence which makes my shooting even worse.

Shooting too many arrows too quickly is another recipe for problems.  I don't know if you are doing it but I used to be bad about the the empty-the-quiver-quickly syndrome.  That shot wasn't good?  Doesn't matter.  Let's shoot again!  It didn't work well.  I would get tired, my shooting would get worse and I wasn't accomplishing anything in my practice.  The finger pain, and especially the shoulder pain, is your body telling you that you are overdoing it.  I learned that one the hard way, too.  I ended up having to stop shooting completely for several months while my shoulder healed.  What I finally got through my thick skull is that it's better by far to shoot one arrow with all the concentration I can muster.  Then walk down and pull it, walk back to wherever I'm shooting from, and shoot that one arrow again.  I'll stop and play with the dog for a minute at intervals.  Standing in one spot and shooting arrow after arrow is bad.

Just my 2-cents.
John

[Okie man]

Thanks for your insight John.  I am guilty of shooting a lot of arrows in a session. A few weeks ago I spent an entire day at the range.  I shot hundreds of arrows that day with no distractions and had a great time.  Even though I am 53, I am like a kid when I have a longbow in my hand. Next time I shoot I will take your advice and slow down and see how that works for me.  I appreciate your input.

[jhansen]

Happy to try to help.  Shooting arrows is fun.  That's why we do it.  The tendency to do so a lot is normal.  One other thing I'll point out is that the lower the poundage of the bow you shoot, the more you can shoot in a session without your body complaining.  I'm closing in on 60, am developing arthritis, and have finally accepted that I'm a lot better off with a lighter bow.  I've dropped from the mid to high 50#'s to 46# and plan to stay there.  The result of the poundage  drop is that I'm shooting better than I have in a long time and having more fun doing it.

John

[fedora]

I have been having the same problem to include feeling like my bow weight was getting to be too much.  I tried the lowering my elbow contiously and am amazed that I felt the tension in my back again and it took pressure off my ring finger.  I wonder why my form drifts?  I will shoot great for awhile and then slowly drift out of form.

[Tav]

My ring finger is numb probably for the rest of my life because of a high elbow.  The high elbow puts too much pressure on your ring finger.  It's not a very easy habit to break.  I bet that is your problem.  Another anecdote.....I was shooting 3D last night and Randy noticed my string elbow was high and my arrow was actually bent like a suspension bridge when I was at full draw. My arrow flew slower and missed really low.  He said it was because of too much pressure on the nock from the bad elbow position which makes the arrow rebound up and down.  I imagine that would translate to a high-nock arrow in the target.