Elbow pain

[Cloud nine]

I started getting a little pain in my bow arm elbow,just before this past hunting season.That's right,I could not hunt with my longbow,for the first time in 20 years,so I had to hunt with the other weapon,SLUG-GUN.I did manage to harvest the biggest 8 point in my hunting career,but it sure would have been nice to have gotten it with my bow.My back doctor has been working on it for a couple of weeks now and it did begin to feel better.So I shot my bow yesterday,one time the pain was very intense.Now I'm worried,anyone had any elbow pain,and did you get better? And how?

[JRY309]

Did you have your doctor look at it for you,I've had the same pain before.My doctor said I had a slight case of tennis elbow and suggested the wear an elbow brace.I was able to shoot without pain with the brace on.I did exercises for tennis elbow that I got off the net.I just typed in tennis elbow and went down to a site that was for physical therapy.I did those exercises and now I don't wear an elbow brace.But last summer I hit my elbow on a hard surface and developed alittle bursitis in elbow,nothing helped the pain but to ice it and give it rest.I stopped shooting for 1&1/2 months to give it some rest and ice it to let it heal natural.I'm fine now,I didn't want to get a cortizone shot.It took alittle time to heal the bursitis.I still do those exercises and more careful too not hit my elbow.You might get your doctor to write you a prescription for some physical therapy for your elbow.I went to my doctor first and just worked on it myself.It was tuff holding back on shooting cause it was in early spring,but I didn't want to keep it inflamed trying to shoot through the pain.There are a few different pains in the elbow there is tennis elbow,golfers elbow and bursitis.

[killinstuff]

Last spring I bought a couple of very light and short bows that pulled 65#'s. After shooting those two for a few weeks my bow elbow was just a mess, couldn't even lift a cup of coffee with my left arm. 65 is the pull of all my other bows but they weigh a good bit more. I rested the arm for a few weeks, sold the short bows and haven't had a problem since. Those short bows stacked pretty good and had a lot of hand shock and guess that's what screwed me up..

[JBiorn]

Tendonitis is easily overcome with plenty of rest(unfortunately that means quit shooting the bow a while), ice, and proper nutrition. My doctor in the Navy put me on a regimen like this after I ruptured a tendon arm-wresting and I was good as new in about 6 weeks. No more arm-wrestling for me though. My bow has never bothered me.

 PM me and I'll hook you up with a dive doctor online that will have some very good insight.

 Jeff

[Otto]

Cloud nine

I posted a thread on tendonitis about 4-6 weeks ago on here.  Mine developed slowly at the end of summer and through hunting season.  I did a bout of steroids that eliminated the intense pain I had.  I haven't shot a bow in about a month now and it sucks.  I still have days when the pain is intense but those are farther apart now.  Most days it's a dull ache.  I figure it'll be about the end of February before I can shoot again.  No use in agravating it this time of year.  I'll just let it heal on it's own.  I tried a bit of PT last week but it just aggravated it so right now I resting it totally.  

Except I do eat left handed.

[Keuka]

If its a sharp pain on the inside of the elbow, I may have had the same problem. I put up the bow for about 6 weeks and the pain went away.

I started shooting a little 35 pound bow for very short and limited periods; after the six week rest. After a few weeks with the light bow and no pain, I tried my 55 pounder and SLOWLY increased the duration of my shooting. Today I'm fine and shooting strong. Good Luck.

I hope you have the same luck I had.

[Gene Roberts]

I have had no problems yet.

[Cloud nine]

Thanks everyone for the info,I guess it will just take some time for it to heal.The pain is on the outside of my elbow and travels down to my hand and fingers.The DR. said it was like golfers elbow because the pain being on the outside instead of the inside.Thanks again

[Bjorn]

Lots and lots of ice, several times a day. I keep a styrofoam cup of ice in the freezer at the office. An elbow bandage or brace helps, as does dropping down a few pounds.

[draco]

Cloud Nine; Your problem is in your form. Your shoulder is too high and your bow arm is too straight. I`ve had the same problem years ago,along with some shoulder pain. I had to quit shooting for a couple of months. Before I started back I studied pictures of Howard Hill shooting,from every angle I could find. I knew he had shot heavy bows until his death and never had any kind of joint pain ever. He shot with a very low shoulder and a bent elbow. After 30 years of shooting bows,I changed my form to look like his as much as I could. For the last 18 years I`ve had no more problems and still shoot heavy bows. If you get past this period of pain and don`t change anything, I believe it will come back again as the cause is  still there in the bad form. Good luck on getting well.   Bob

[Jeff Strubberg]

Told Otto the same thing a couple weeks ago.  The fastest way to screw up a bow arm elbow is to lock that elbow while shooting.  You force the elbow to soak up all the recoil and you will hurt yourself quick.

Keep ti bent, drop a few pounds of bow weight and don't overdo the number of arrows you shoot.  Wish I had a miracle cure for ya, but it took me close to seven months to rehab mine after I hosed it up.

[Otto]

Jeff

When I do start shooting again I am going to try and take your advice.

[Cloud nine]

Thanks again,but I've never shot with my bow arm straight.I turn my elbow to the outside and have never hit my arm with the string,and have shot this way for 15 years or more very accurately.Thank you all again for all the information,and I'll keep you informed on how it turns out.

[Biggie Hoffman]

hey Wes you're not gonna want to hear this but we're getting older :-(
I experienced the same thing this past year and the only relief I found was dropping bow weight. I'm down to 55#'s and have had no problems since. Did the cortisone injections and everything, just too much weight for my sedentary lifestyle. (translation; desk job)

[Cloud nine]

Hey Biggie,you could be on to something with the age thing,I turned 57 on the 4th of this month.My knees,ankles,and back have bothered me for some years now,oh well the thing to remember is I'm still getting old.Good luck

[Morning Star]

If my elbow starts hurting while shooting, I quit for the day.  If it's still sore after quiting, I usually give it a couple days rest. If no luck with that, I then take 800mg Ibuprofen every 8 hours for a few days.  Getting rid of the inflamation usually takes care of it for me.  Overall, rest is best.  I had one episode that took a good month of no shooting to get over it.  Go easy and listen to your body.  You keep having problems, check in with your doc.

Also, I've found dropping just 1lb in draw weight made a huge difference in my elbow problems.  Don't sound like much, but it sure made a difference for me.

Mike

[Larry247]

I started shooting a 54" recurve that was 54#@28". I loved that bow but found that i couldn't shoot it do to the little bit of shock it produced in my hand that i could feel all the way to my elbow. It got so bad that i couldn't pick up the news paper. I now shoot bows with no hand shock or at least it feels like a sponge hitting my palm instead of being struck by a ruler after the shoot.

[Mr.Magoo]

I have golfers and tennis elbow in the same elbow.  Ignored it and it got to the point I couldn't lift a coffee cup or "shake out" a match.  Doc told me to rest it, take advil/aspirin etc, and try not to move my wrist.  He said most folks forget all those tendons are attached to the wrist and wrist movement aggravates the condition more than moving your elbow.  Two months later it's slowly getting better.

[BRITTMAN]

I have had it both elbows (tennis and golfers) and wrists at the same time . Heck they checked me for lymes to arthirites . Wound up spending alot of money just to find out that I had a bad case of tendionides . The only thing that will really help is to rest as much as possible which means laying off the bow for about 2 to 3 months . When it gets better , be aware of the symptoms so when they spring up lay off shooting for a few days so you dont get them inflamed like I did .

Mike