Double jointed release fingers

[Bronoulli]

Anyone out there have double jointed release fingers? I have been noticing pain in my middle finger joint which is especially double jointed and I am wondering if any other double jointed release finger shooters notice the same. Due to the pain I am limiting myself to under 24 arrows a week day and the joint pain persist. I am even considering thumb release to improve the situation.

[McDave]

Do you know if the pain originates from drawing/holding the bow, or from releasing the bow?  Sometimes I get a pain in my fingers while I am drawing the bow, and it mainly serves as a reminder to me that I should relax my fingers.  Any muscle tension in the fingers, other than that necessary to form the hook, will result in inaccuracies and can also hurt.

OTOH, if the shock of releasing the string is causing the pain, it might not be as easy to fix, other than exploring different options, like a thumb ring.

[Bronoulli]

Hey Dave,

The pain is upon release. I have no pain while holding back. The pain is not inhibitive just annoying. Apparently 10-25% of the population have double jointed fingers. Are you double jointed as well? Maybe the issue is not being double jointed but instead ligament strength related.

Any other double jointed release fingers out there?

[McDave]

No, I am not double jointed, and I haven’t run across this problem before.  I occasionally get finger pain if I don’t relax my fingers sufficiently when I draw the bow, but it’s evidently not your issue.  In teaching, occasionally I run across someone who hyper-extends her (always a her) elbow, which makes it difficult to avoid hitting the bow arm with the string, and even can result in the string hitting the back of the arm guard (ouch!).

[Bronoulli]

Thanks!  I am going to shoot my left hand bow for a while until the joint pain dissipates. After about a month or two I should be able to focus on finger tension (or rather relaxation) with my righty again.   

[Petrichor]

With as long as we’ve been shooting together this topic only came up very recently. I think the infamous bow caused your fingers some mighty pinch and possible damage as you continued shooting it. With that out of the way, did you always feel pain in release or is that just in the last couple month? Whatever the reason the lefty switch up and giving your body actual time to heal is a great idea. I would give it a solid 3 months with no righty shooting buddy. Who knows maybe you’ll make the switch permanently or just be able to switch back and forth. It’s a great skill to have.

[Pine]

Hopefully you could just stop shooting for a few weeks and let the inflammation heal up.

[Bronoulli]

Thanks guys I will check back up in a month or 3.