Stiff Hand

[Mushroom]

I seem to have developed a stiffness in my right hand.  The tendons in my right hand behind my two middle knuckles feel tight.  Is this normal for a person just starting out?  I shoot a 45# @ 28", but I have a 26 1/2" draw so I'm probaly down to about 40-41#.  It doesn't hurt or affect the dexterity of my hand and fingers, but I did not have this problem shooting my compound.  Any ideas?

[Terry Green]

Could be from tension in your drawing hand....cause your hand is curved backed instead of flat back.

You hand is shaped like this... ) instead of this ]

[Diamond Paul]

Could be just from holding lots more weight at full draw than you did on a compound.  My hand is always stiff, but I suffered a severe break years ago and it's very hard for me to relax my hand anymore.  See if it doesn't get better as you get used to shooting more.  I hope I interpreted your post correctly, and you are just getting into shooting trad bows?  Paul.

[Mushroom]

Yep just started shooting trad about 4 months ago and loving it.  Thanks for the input, I'll keep going and try to keep that hand a little more relaxed.

[cvarcher]

Might try stretching back the fingers and hand  too.You know like stretching the achilles tendons in the foot.

[stmpthmpr]

Could have something to do with the depth of your grip on the string. Where is the string positioned on your fingers? A friend of mine used to shoot with the string as close to the end of the fingertips as possible because he was sure that if he took a deep grip it would adversely effect his release. But he also had to tense his hand significantly in order to handle the weight out on the ends of his fingers, and experienced soreness and a tightness like you describe. I got him to take a deeper grip and he shot just as well and hand no hand fatigue.

[Mushroom]

I was gripping the string closer to the finger tips.  I'll try out the deeper grip and stretch my hand before and after shooting.  Thanks guys.

[stmpthmpr]

I lay the string in the grove of the last joint of my middle finger, and it ends up running across the middle of the tip segment of my pointer finger. A glove with reinforced finger tips helps to form a smooth crease so to maintain a good release. A good quality shooting glove is one of those items that I protect with my life once it is broke in.