Pain when shooting?

[Apex Predator]

All right folks, this is a new one on me.  I was shooting my 52@27 Hill about 2 weeks ago and felt something give in my shooting hand.  It feels like I strained a tendon or something.    The pain wasn't too bad, but enough to let me know I had over done it.  I was forced to cut my shooting way back from my daily pleasure.  I  have been shooting just a few arrows on most days now.  The pain persists in my hand and goes up through my wrist into my forearm, but is slowly getting better if I don't shoot much.  I am forced to take a deeper hook on the string and keep a little curl in the back of my hand to be able to shoot at all.  Anyone have this kind of injury?  What was your experience?  I realize most of you folks aren't doctors, and am not looking for medical advice.  Thanks!

[Pat B.]

Yep, I have it. Mine also radiates forward into my two middle fingers.. It's plagued me for the several months. I suppose if I quit shooting entirely it might resolve itself. My guess is CTS but I haven't had it diagnosed yet..

[NDTerminator]

I had this bad and thought it was just age setting in.  In addition to the pain that made a guy's hair stand on end, my finger added the quirk of locking when it was curled, as in drawing a bow! Made for interesting shooting, not knowing if that finger would relax upon release!!!

Between that problem and some Tendonitis in my drawing elbow, I thought I was done shooting bow for good.

Turned out it was inflammation of the tendons the Doc called "Trigger Finger" and a shot of Cortisone  fixed it right up.  Got the shot about a year ago and haven't had any pain or locking up issues since.

I put up with this for better than a year, when I could have had it cured with a 20 minute visit to the Doc. Talk about dumb!!!!

The moral is don't wait, just go consult with your doctor ASAP and get on the path to painless shooting....

[Quill Flinger]

Tendentious. No real fast fix except maybe steriods, cortizone or whatever it is they use now can speed healing considerably.

Otherwise it's a long slow no-shooting recovery time. Let's see, I tried 3 years of not shooting a single arra, after switching hands first, & I still get sharp pain all the way to my elbow.

Years ago in various high school athletic programs, I got pumped with all kinds of things including cortizone & since then I've been very reluctant to use 'em again.

Course I'm 56 years old now & on my 3rd attempt at rebuilding a severely abused body. Long story.

Good luck!

[wislnwings]

I've been getting the pain pretty severely in the  middle finger of my right hand (I'm s right handed shooter).  It started a year ago, just before a SD turkey trip.  Some days its worse than others.  There are days when I can't bend the finger much at all.  I have arthritis in my hands so I just assumed it was related to that.  I think its about time I go have it checked out though.

[BRITTMAN]

Oh yes I have had alot of problems and still have it on and off . Doctors checked me for everything from artirites to lymes disease and found out that I had a bad case of tendionides . At its worst it was in both wrist , both elbows , both forarms , and in my drawing hand fingers first joints . I have given up on archery a couple of times because of it and it is very frustrating but its hard to leave something you love so much. The best thing you can do is to lay off shooting (none at all) for about 2 weeks and take ibproferen 2 to 3 times a day for the inflamation . If you keep shooting with the tendions inflamed it will keep getting worse and your shooting will go down hill fast .


Mike

[Apex Predator]

Wow!  Not what I wanted to hear.  Maybe I can buy a lefty bow and become a switch-shooter.  When one hand is bothering me I'll just switch for a while.  

[SpankyNeal]

Have Craig build you a dual shelf Wesley then you can switch at a moments notice! Best to give it a rest and not overdo it cause it will just get worse!

[pseman]

I am not a doctor but I am a pharmacist(for what thats worth) but it sounds like a tendon/ligament strain. This is similar to pulling or straining a hamstring, only in your hand. If you have ever had a strained or pulled tendon or ligament, then you know it takes a while to heal and the only way to speed recovery is to lay off using that particular tendon/ligament.

I would suggest laying off shooting altogether for 1 week and then carefully try drawing your bow. If the pain is still there, I would lay off another week and so on. You don't want to overdo it or re-injure it. Often times, re-injury takes longer to heal than the initial injury.

Also, stretching the tendon(lightly) will help keep it loose and increase bloodflow which will in turn speed healing. DO NOT forcefully stretch it though, stretch slowly and only to the point of the slightest pain.

[Pat B.]

Hey Mark, even though I didn't start the thread I'll say thanks for your comments..  In my case there was never any doubt that I need to quit shooting entirely until this thing heals.. However, not being very bright, I just keep shooting albeit only a few arrows at a time and probably only a dozen a day.. Still -------, need to completely lay off for a while. I guess better now than during hunting season, eh?