Anyone else find themselves shooting through the pain?

Have had shoulder issues beginning late in the fall and if I do any shooting I have to shoot through the pain to do it. Makes it hard to follow through when the bow arm shoulder screams with each release.

No. Soreness sometimes yes. But if you are shooting through pain you are likely causing damage.

Frank, I don't want to hear that, LOL, even though I feel you may be right.

I had my right shoulder rebuilt 20 years ago, and don't want to go through it again if I can avoid it.

What Frank said.

JusPassin, if you shoot a bow that is physically heavier does it help, or does holding up the extra weight hurt your shoulder as well?

Took a little break for that reason. Hopefully it calms down.

Yes, and if I wasn't shooting I'd notice something else aching. So the shooting is a good thing;)

Go see a physical therapist. Take your bow with you so they can properly diagnose the issue.

Don't shoot with the pain. I have had the SAME experience on my bow arm last year. Believe it or not, the cause is the weight of the bow as your arm is extended. You've injured a muscle, from the way it sounds. Lay off shooting for awhile and instead do some exercise and stretches that do not cause pain. I would say I gave it at least a month, before shooting lighter and lower poundage bows. I'm fine now, but if I hadn't taken the time to heal, I'm sure I would have had to have surgery, and then that is the starting point for a two/three month recovery.

One in particular that helped me, is to stand close enough to a wall to lean into it with your head. Then with a weight in each hand let your arms hang down in front of you. Relax the shoulders and then swing the arms up, away from your sides and return. When you feel the working of your shoulders tiring, don't overdo it. More reps do not make a faster recovery.

I got my first Bear TD this year, and though its nice and I really like it, it weighs as much as 4 or 5 of my Kodiak Hunters. Ive worked through both of my shoulders messed up with no surgery over the last 8 years. It took alot of time, but I`m glad to be shooting again.

Yep besides the shoulders, I had a fractured elbow and hernia surgery last year.

Has no one ever heard of an Orthopedist?

I remember reading a Fred Bear book long ago where he talked about “shooting through pain” as you built up archery muscles. That’s not a quote but it was something like that, to me. I bought a new bow, a 58# recurve, a Quilian I think that was my first bow with a low stretch string. Wow, that bow was fast and fun to shoot! I started shooting 100+ shots every day I could I started getting draw arm elbow pain, but I just kept shooting to “shoot through it”. It got worse and worse and by summer, where I also played golf, it got so bad I couldn’t even turn a door knob. Off to the doctor I went where I of course found I had a severe case of elbow tendinitis. I ended up in a hard plastic brace with restrictions on about everything for nearly a year: no more archery, no more golf, wore that brace even to play guitar. No fun and I’ve had intermittent flare ups ever since.

I was coming from shooting a 60# Kodiak TD so it wasn’t so much the poundage as the overdoing it, for me. I now realize that Fred was probably talking about the type of muscle soreness one gets from exercise, not the sharp stabbing pain I was getting in my elbow. So I’ve pretty careful to avoid “shooting through” the wrong kinda pain ever since.

Had a torn rotator tendon, full thickness tear . While I was waiting to see a specialist my shoulder somehow stabilized and got better to a point.I didnt have surgery. I started out with 15# then 20# and now am back shooting 52# but not all the time.My regular weight to draw now is around 43#. I still have pain but nothing like it was. Going down in weight will help us old geezers.Good luck bud.

My bows are usually light mass weight in the high 40's, but I get the most pain from a heavier 44# ILF rig.

What sort of pain? Is it in the joint or around it?

Don't shoot through pain ...

I got Shingles in my left arm and hand in Nov.. Lost feeling in part of my hand and always in pain from my upper arm and down to my fingers. Tried Codeine and some other drugs, no help. Been using a exercise ball and a band to get some strength back. I can barely pull a 30# bow back. Got to get better for a Javelina hunt in March.

Border has been a wonderful for me. I'm still off to see the orthopedic surgeon this month.

Bowmania

Yup, shoulder joint and bicep.

Maybe you should see an orthopedic surgeon?

Have had severe shoulder pain for the last year or so. It mostly only happens when I try to lift my arm above shoulder height. I can still shoot without too much discomfort. I fear the day may come when it does get to that point though. That is the primary reason I had my most recent bow tillered 42# @ my draw length. Just hoping to reduce stress on the shoulder for now. Getting old is not for sissies! LOL.

I had what's known as an impingement on the nerve. It took a visit to an orthopedic surgeon and 12 weeks of PT to fix it. But it's fixed and 3 years later still good, no pain.

sounds like an old guy thread! lol yes and i can relate after heart surgery and some wonderful doctors ,nurses, and therapists i am back to shooting my 50 lb. pull tomahawk longbow! at 78 things are looking better ! i am very thankful!

We older folk live with pain. Arms,shoulders, elbows,knees ankles, neck, lower back,fingers etc,etc,etc. Even my hair, and scalp hurt at times. I am good at 35lbsof bow. I can shoot as much as I want. It is when I am testing 45and 50 lb self bows that I feel pain. See a doctor first,and when you get back to shooting reduce your bow weight by as much as you need to.

Yes, for me it comes with my aging joints. Still shooting my self bows, will quit hunting the archery season when I can no longer draw the string by hand.

Back off Bruce. It ain't worth it. Get it fixed and go lighter poundage. Seriously I've been through it I'm eighty. Take a break and take it easy Don't shoot too much. I know it's hard I've been through it. It's not what we want. But it's what has to be. JF

It's realy not a good idea to shoot when experiencing pain ... what do you think pain is?

No pain while shooting but will have pain for a week or two ( at night) if I shoot too much. Already dropped down to 45 it helped and if I don’t shoot too much it’s not a problem. I put sights on a couple of my bows so I can hopefully keep my accuracy without shooting too much. But shooting is one of the joys of traditional Archery. Love spending a few hours shooting,but it takes a lot of the joy out of it when I know I’ll have shoulder pain later.

MRI

Hide your bow 8 weeks

Shot through pain all my life both emotional and physical. It all sucks and the pain meds always screwed up my timing.

I been thinking ok I am getting close to be able to start shooting again. But now my chest is killing me where they sawed on me to open me up to put in the valve in 2017. I'm so discussed and hadn't had any issues past several years now whys this causing pain. Takes my breath away and i have to whimper. Angry about this.

I have stopped taking the tramadol so not sure if that's an issue or what yet. I got some CBD roll on for my hands. Helps a tad but don't take it away.

Gabapentin and Lyrical causing sideways issues then Tyrol and tramadol all together.

I'm going to get me some wild Lettice when grow season starts supposed to be like morpheme.

I'll have pain till the day I die. When I was yonder I caused pain and now pain causes me!!! Ironic isn't it how this works.

I'm not eighty, what the heck was that. Voice text. LMAO. JF

If I’ve laid off for awhile I’ll always start back up with my lite bow and work back up to my heavier hunting bow. I’ve dealt with pain for years caused by old injuries from heavy weight lifting and bucking horses. There’s a difference between being sore from using muscles for a particular activity that you haven’t done for awhile versus an underlying problem with a joint or muscle. I would advice trying a much lighter bow and if the problem persists go have a good reputable chiropractor check you out. A good chiropractor would advise if you need to see an orthopedic surgeon if necessary. Letting them cut on you should be a last resort. Other issue is if your trying to push through pain you will begin to develop bad habits and we all know how that is to deal with. Best to you Juspassin, hope it works out. Dana

Get it looked at before you cause more problems

I got where I'd come home from work and shoot 3 arrows a day. Only 3. yeah get it looked at if you can. I let life keep me from the doc. It finally snapped. Week ago i had a completely detached top rotator and bicep tendon re attached. I just started passive movement with a CPM machine today. And got my first shower in a week. It was an exciting day.

Pain is part of life.

Unless your doctor/physical therapist says its ok - you probably shouldnt be "shooting through pain."

When I was younger I had a wrestling coach that used to tell us that "Pain is just weakness leaving your body". Now that I'm a little older and wiser I realize that pain is my body trying to tell me something and I don't ignore it.

Highschool coaches were a fountain of advice on how to wreck your body.

Dartwick, sad but true.

Pain is a message to your brain. Listen to the message. Go see an orthopedist and get an evaluation. Machines wear down and the body is a machine. Proper evaluation and management may give you more years of shooting but if you keep it up, you will be packing it all in sooner than later. Doesn't make any sense to me.

Pain is a message to your brain. Listen to the message. Go see an orthopedist and get an evaluation. Machines wear down and the body is a machine. Proper evaluation and management may give you more years of shooting but if you keep it up, you will be packing it all in sooner than later. Doesn't make any sense to me.

There is a big difference between having some pain and having an injury. Shooting with an injury is only going to make worse, you're not going to shoot through one.

Pain is normal as one ages, and is not a reason to quit bow and arrow hunting to become a crossbow hunter. Croosbow hunters are not bowhunters.

Just throwing this in the mix.. Surgeons will always be happy to operate on you, they actually will get bonuses for doing a lot of them.. This is a quote from a prominent surgeon here in Mich. at U of M hospital.. So far, I have avoided one major surgery on my back and a shoulder by simply learning rehab,strengthening and stretching, relaxing those areas.. I realize everyone is suffering for different reasons, it's up to you to find the correct methods. The shoulder turned out being impinged. Simple slow isolated stretches put it back to normal..

Good to know Stan. Got an apt. with a DO next week. See what he thinks.

"See what he thinks."

Of course that is from his medical experience, but an opinion, nevertheless. Even doctors can differ.

I'll pray you find recovery, however that may come.

I have degenerative disc disease of the neck, and suffer every time I shoot. I have my chiropractor on speed dial, and think I will be seeing a surgeon if I cannot control the pain. But at 77 I don't know how much of this I want to go thru, just to shoot a stickbow. I gave it up once before, but it pulled me back, so I guess the surgeon is next. Good luck to all with a love for archery and a need to shoot trad with pain.

I agree with you Stan. Surgeons know surgery, but I don't always trust them to know, and act, only when it actually needs done. When I had Lyme but didn't know it yet, a surgeon insisted he operate on my knee because a synovial sack was bulging out the back of it and he said it should be drained and then a patch put in because it would no longer just stay in there by itself. He wanted me to schedule the surgery. I told him no. Most doctors don't like it when you do that :^) I told him my entire body was inflamed and I wanted to get that figured out, then later if the knee was still an issue, I'd be back. And of course when my inflammation went away, the knee resolved itself and hasn't been an issue since.

That was just one of many. After what I learned dealing with some of them, I'll never fully trust ANY of them again.

Chronic neck and nerve pain from a broken neck as a kid 52 years ago now the vertebrae below that have taken the extra wear on the couple that weren’t fused. This is causing nerve pain down the back of my shoulder and numbness and pain in my bow arm. Weakness in my hand. I can still hold the bow and draw thank goodness. But I’ve reduced all my bows to under:40 pounds. Happier shooting than not.

I am recovering from torn rotator cuff, my orthopedist who once did surgically repair a torn meniscus for me apparently doesn't subscribe to the "surgeons will always be happy to operate on you" concept and has from the outset advised physical therapy and exercise to avoid surgery. Maybe he's not getting a big enough bonus?

I figured my post might rub some folks the wrong way, For the record, I have nothing but respect for the medical field and people involved, especially the burdens they are carrying currently.. I had x rays done and an mri on the shoulder, and was being set up for surgery.. No mention of impingement..

If you shoot too much with weight you're not used to your muscles will get sore as they rebuild. Next time you shoot they'll be sore but after a few shots the pain goes away. Thats shooting thru pain. But if its joint pain or severe muscle pain that gets worse instead of better trying to shoot thru it is silly, not shooting thru pain. Some of us older guys have chronic pain that will never go away. If it's not just sore muscle let a doc tell you if it chronic but safe or if its damom age happening.

Lest we put foot in mouth, let us be cautious of smearing doctors because a diagnosis was missed or someone made a self serving grandstanding statement. No profession is perfect, but let us be honest that hundreds of thousands of peoples' lives have been helped by orthopedic evaluation, and surgery when useful. Most people do not go on to surgery and many are served well by proper diagnosis and appropriate treatment. For some there just is no effective answer and that is of course unfortunate. Think back 100 years. Take advantage of the good and discard the rest. I don't think that I really need to make the point that so much "amateur' knowledge is available BECAUSE of the hard work of scientists and medical professionals that have developed the body of information and work that we now have. Things have come a long way since our Grandfathers' time

Stan, thanks for the clarification.

See an orthopedic Dr. I suffered for 8 years and finally got rotator cuff surgery. I can sleep pain free now. A physical therapist can change your life.

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