Finger pain???

[BrianC]

I've been shooting about 15-30 arrows every other day at the least for the last month or so and am having some finger pain.

I'm left handed and shooting split finger.

I'm getting some pain/hard callous on the bottom edge of my index fingernail.

I'm also getting some pain along the first joints in my three fingers where the string lines up.

I"m shooting what I consider to be a thin glove.

I've tried a finger tab and didn't shoot as well as I do w/ the glove.

I'm shooting a Bob Lee Natural 62"  51# @ 30" with a serving string knock point.

Any suggestions on a way to alleviate these issues?

Brian

[Pete McMiller]

Two things come to mind.  First is, make sure your string arm elbow isn't high.  Pain from a high string hand elbow usually manifests itself in third finger issues but it may be part of your problem.  Ideally your string forearm should be horizontal.  Secondly, is your string hand flat?  When I get tired I tend to cup my string hand and that causes all kinds of issues, not the least of it is shooting right (right handed), but also a 'clicking' at the shot and increased cramping in my hand.

[Joe2Crow]

I was experiencing the same thing not long ago.  If I shot a lot, my index finger got torn up.  I was using a soft glove as well.  When I switched to my American Leathers glove it helped but I couldn't feel the string as well.  I don't know if it was from normal finger pinch of the string (I was shooting a 60" bow and pulling it to 28") or bad form and torquing the crap out of the string (or maybe both).  At the Baltimore shoot, I had my finger so sore I had trouble making it to my anchor because of the pain.  I came home and switched to 3-under (which I had always resisted doing).  Now, my finger is healed, I can hold the bow at full draw longer and pull more weight and I'm shooting better than ever.  Now, shooting split finger feels weird.  Good luck with the finger pain.

Years back when I was always trying to use my longest possible draw, I found that I was torquing my draw hand palm down at the end of my draw which in turn turns the index finger tip down across the arrow. The two bones in the forearm twist on axis from the elbow. You can check this, you will see that your range of motion left when at anchor for turning your palm up is very limited, but you will have a lot of range of motion that can turn the palm down and away from the face. Certainly the draw arm must be flat to the arrow, but even in that position the draw forearm is near its limit.

[goingoldskool]

Like Pete said, make sure your draw elbow isn't high.... it could cause more downward pressure on the arrow from your index finger. Try to keep your draw hand relaxed and if you cant  the bow, make sure your hand AND head cant  as well.

When I started shooting a lot of arrows/day, my ring finger gave me fits! After posting on here and reading quite a bit, along with watching moebow's videos on youtube, my problems melted away.

Good luck to you, brother....

God bless,

Rodd

[Zradix]

AS SAID...keep your elbow down.

Also, When I bought a Whip from Dan Toelke he gave me some pointers that changed things  for me..

I was getting the exact type of under the nail pain you're talking about..seems so whimpy..but darnit it really does hurt..lol

Dan told me to get a good hook on the string..right into the 1st joint.

and here's the game changer....pull with your middle finger 70% or so. Pull with your ring finger the rest..and just let your index more or less "go along for the ride"..don't pull with it.
Just let your index finger fill in the area above the arrow nock and keep the string from pinching the nock.

Cured that annoying pain..and my shooting improved.

[bucknut]

I have a similar issue. My middle finger pinched a nerve or something in march and has stayed numb since.  I took a few weeks off to heal but no help. The kicker with me is I have a stub index finger, so it doesn't do much in the draw sequence. I have went from using a Superglove to a thicker calf hair tab and a deeper hook. It helps with the pain, but I shoot about half as good. I am interested too in all the input that may help.

[Gehrke145]

I've had nothing but problem with this for 2 years now.  I still have to pick up the 'other' bow once in a while.

That said, I recently added serving to the string.  This really solved my problems overnight.  I've shot a ton, multiple rounds of 3d, stumping and nothing.  Prior to this I would get a sharp tingle in my had every time I grabbed the string and put pressure on.

I set my bow up to my liking hitting where needed ext.  Then I serve (thick serving) from the tied in nocking point up about 1.5 inches.  Then on the bottom of the arrow, I serve down about three inches.  Since I've done this I've had no pain or any issues with flight or effect on tuning.  The only downer is I lost about 2-4 feet per second on speed.