What might be causing bow-side elbow pain?

[Geezer]

Recently I've begun having some severe pain in my left elbow; the one that holds my bow as I draw.  Would anyone like to comment on this?  Have others experienced it and what was the root cause?

Thanks for any thoughts.

Geez..

[moebow]

Geezer,  Really hard to tell just from the description.  Can you post a video with focus on the bow arm?  Does the pain happen just during the draw or during the actual shot (release)?

Pain should be addressed to a Doctor along with a description of the activity that caused it.

We can help with form, but your (any decent) form should NOT cause pain!!  Please address the medical side first to eliminate/identify that area then we can see what is happening.

Arne

[reddogge]

With me it was a bone spur in the left elbow. Corrected when I tore my left tricep tendon in an accident and had surgery and they removed spur. Nothing helped, not even PT.

[McDave]

"Tennis elbow" is a very common pain on the bow side elbow. It is caused by microtears in the connective tissue due to the repetitive shocks of many bow shots.   It will get worse if you keep doing what you're doing, whatever that may be.  Depending on how far along  it is, you can:

--Lay off for a week and maybe it will go away

--Take ibuprofen, which will mask the problem so you can keep shooting for a while until it gets so bad you can't shoot anymore.

--Look on the Internet for exercises you can do to strengthen the affected area.

--Get a bow that doesn't have as much hand shock, which would be a lower poundage bow and/or a bow that is designed to have less hand shock, such as a recurve with more mass.

--Learn to shoot left-handed, and shoot that way for a while.

--Shoot fewer shots every day.

Once you get it, it may never completely go away, but your choices are either to manage it and keep shooting, or ignore it until you can't shoot anymore.

[buckeye_hunter]

I had to change bow grips. From longbow to recurve. I also shoot fewer arrows and the pain is gone. At minimum, you need to start by resting and icing it. This was per the advice that my physical therapist wife gave me. Then you will need to shoot fewer arrows as well during practice. Might even have to reduce bow weight, but I didn't have to do that.

[Bowwild]

I had a longbow for a while. That particular bow had a lot of hand-shock and it hurt my bow arm elbow like the dickens!  Sometimes I get this with some of my recurves. It usually goes away after a couple of shots.   I should pay more attention to properly warming up my muscles and joints before I shoot.

[Geezer]

Thanks! - I really appreciate all the comments and suggestions.  I have noticed that I have a deathgrip on my bow and I'm going to try relaxing and not hold it so tight...and some of the other suggestions as well.

[Ferris Bugler]

Watch out with the Ibuprofen if it's tendonitis.  Recent studies have shown it is not good for tendons in the long run.

[LarryP243]

in my case it is caused by arthritis, and a little tendinitis,  only thing that stops it is Alieve x 2 a day and rubbing Aspercreme on it a few times a day
the Aspercreme only takes about 20 minutes to start to work

[akbowbender]

There was a time that I shot with a high wrist and my arm straight, but I started having problems with my elbow, so I gave it up. I'm now shooting low wrist with my arm slightly bent, and I don't have any problems. I also gave up shooting radical R/D bows because of the pistol grip they tend to have, and because they are loaded up so much.

Might just be my age, though if I extend my arm out straight and move my wrist from a low position to a high position, I can feel the tendon at the back of my elbow tighten up. Might not be my age after all.....

[nineworlds9]

geezer-
you might want to try laying off for more than just a week.  it will be hard since shooting is so fun, but you might want to lay off for closer to a month, i know it would suck, but maybe worth it for your body to heal.  also, work on stretching really good in all directions of movement in that arm.  heat/cold therapy is great.  get plenty of sleep.  stretch bands are good cause they load the joint and muscles in the area in a different way than most exercises...sounds like tendonitis/ and/or swelling causing nerve irritation.  all the prior advice is great.  definitely relax the grip.  also, along with tennis elbow that localizes on upper outside of elbow there is also golfers elbow which localizes on inner lower part.  just be mindful, my brother had to have surgery because of problems like this...sure enough that combined with several months of rest cured it, but hey it was surgery and he paid the price of having to lay off his favorite activities for so long.  good luck