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Advice needed on shoulder injury

JFin15

JFin15

Well-Known Member
SH Member
Joined
Nov 1, 2019
Messages
455
Location
Central AL
I just posted a thread in the 'crossbow' section, something I never (ever) thought I would do. Nonetheless, its day 2 of my AL opener and I'm laid up with my lonely, sad vxr, and a new shoulder injury.

For those who have fought the shoulder battle and survived, can you give some insight on what got you through and back to your compound?

I will get back to my compound bc I prefer the challenges that come with it. So, I guess I need info on any exercises that may have helped, how long did it take you, general advice, how low did you drop DW, etc

I'm a RN so the anatomy of these injuries and what it takes to heal and deal with em but despite that, I still feel lost. My plan now is to get my hands on a rifled arrow flinger and get in the woods but I want to do everything I can to get back to my stick and string asap.

I know that was very vague as I really don't know what to say or think about it right now...its a shock to the system when something happens like this, especially 2 days before season, so maybe someone can share their experiences with this situation. Thank you, goodluck, and God speed brothers and sisters

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Not sure to what extent your injury is, but I went through the same emotions about 12 years ago with my shoulder. Luckily for me all they could find was bursitis. But unfortunately I dont have good news for you when it comes to the bow. It took me 2 years of having to use crossbow before I was back to feeling good with shooting my bow again. 1st year was mostly just the injury 2nd was post scope. But I can honestly say it was a solid 9-12 months before I was back to 100%.
Truly wish you the best and a speedy recovery. Hope you have better luck than I did. As far as exercises go the 1 that helped me the most was wall stretches palm flat on wall elbow 90degrees and lean into stretch.
Good Luck!!
 
I have dislocated both my shoulders over the years and on the second dislocation it was really bad. Just take Physical Therapy serious and do everything they tell you and don't cut corners on it and you will be back to the compound in no time. I am currently shooting 50 lbs with no problems no soreness. The biggest thing for me was not letting the muscle atrophy. No pain no gain and that's the truth, for me at least. I wanted to kill my physical therapist in the beginning but in the end, I love him. He got me back to 50lbs. I can pull 60lb, but I start hearing funny noises coming from my shoulder, so I backed off.

Good luck brother and never give up.
Oh, and hang your bow on the wall where you can see it everyday. It will motivate you to not skip physical therapy.
 
My advice is to go to a physical therapist and follow the instructions you get. I have been dealing with a frozen shoulder for more than 2 years now. It took my physical therapist a while to find the best course of treatment but when she did things slowly got better. I build self bows and I could not build them or shoot them.

Last fall I thought I could shoot a compound good enough to hunt but I found myself struggling to shoot well in the cold with hunting clothes on. I had several bucks close and found I couldn't get drawn on them. I can now shoot a compound very comfortably (well mostly) but I still struggle with my self bows.

Without a good physical therapist I don't think I would be where I am now which is still not great.

Good luck. Shoulder problems suck.
 
I'd like to echo the advice of finding a good PT, especially one versed in archery. The other thing that helped me get through a shoulder injury was weight training when I was finally able to. Think compound movements like squats. In my amateur opinion, I think the compound movements signal your whole body to clear out any issues in order to get strong.

Take your time and don't rush back. Take more time than you think you need.

I dunno what poundage you normally shoot, but let's keep in mind that it is possible to take deer at 40#
 
A lot depends on your injury too. I hurt my shoulder letting down my bow after sitting in the cold for hours few years back. Didn't feel bad that night,but the next morning my shoulder hurt. By lunchtime i couldn't lift my arm. The pain was rough,and i saw a doctor which helped in the sense that she thought i didn't tear anything. I think it was bursitis. I couldn't move the arm for almost a week and was loosing muscle fast until a PT friend gave me exercises and stretches to do. They hurt bd at first but it woke my muscles back up. A week or two later i was completely back to my abnormal self. Never had issues since then.
 
X2 go to a physical therapist if you want to regain the most out of your shoulder following the injury. It will still be some painful hard work ahead of you but that’s what it takes. A physical therapist will help you get there.
 
Brother man, I get it. We are not wired to just sit and watch when the rest of the brotherhood is afield. This may not be true for all, for me bow hunting and being afield defines a part of who I am. Part of our evolutionary biology that runs deep in our DNA. Similar to your situation, last year a week before the Indiana season we had to euthanize the best dog we have ever owned, and I accidently ran a chainsaw into my left knee and upper thigh. Left the ER with 40 staples and sutures. That was the longest month of my life and it was a mental torture not being able to hit the woods. What I got out of it was perspective, patience and the realization that not everything goes my way all the time. Oh.... and my wife got me a pair of chainsaw chaps for xmas. Be patient and kind to yourself.
 
When you go back to your bow take a good look at what you are shooting.Silky smooth draw cycles and high letoffs will be your friend.I know it is not the in thing to do but put your hands on an Oneida bow.Nothing draws as smooth as an Oneida and they handle heavy arrows very well.Not as quiet as others but they can be hushed enough to kill deer.That i can tell you from experience.Good Luck
 
Buckhole75 said:
When you go back to your bow take a good look at what you are shooting.Silky smooth draw cycles and high letoffs will be your friend.I know it is not the in thing to do but put your hands on an Oneida bow.Nothing draws as smooth as an Oneida and they handle heavy arrows very well.Not as quiet as others but they can be hushed enough to kill deer.That i can tell you from experience.Good Luck
Click to expand...
I used to shoot oneidas bow fishing alot. Wish I wouldve kept the 2 I had.

But yea I've been shooting bows for 22yrs now. As per my usual, I got my bi-annual new bow last spring(vxr) which is 65# 85%. I changed the strings about a month ago and was doing some last minute tweaking when I hurt my shoulder. I dont believe anything is torn, which leaves tendonitis, or bursitis which is a symptom of tendonitis really. Could be either but my guess is a mild to moderate case of tendonitis. Either way, as a result of the pain and weird noises, I wont be trying to test it for atleast a week, probably more.

Now that I think about it, I had some pain in the same shoulder last fall but didnt connect the 2. I usually shoot year round (nothing heavy, few sessions a month in the summer) but for some reason, I didnt this year. I believe that led to some atrophy in my tendons, rotator cuff, and muscles. 2nd, I normally drop my DW down early in the fall and work up to my hunting weight, again I skipped that step. All of this led to me diving into the deep end with a blind fold in and no floaties. Now my physical, emotional, and financial health are suffering bc of it. I say financial bc I've already missed 2 days and cant stand a 3rd so I went up to the local sporting goods store and dropped a grand to get back in the game. Minding, this is after putting the usual 2k in my compound. At any rate, it has been an eye opener to say the least. I've learned, no longer am I a spring chicken who can abuse my body and expect it to meet my demands each winter. I'll be starting a training regimen including directed stretching and resistance in addition to the regular workouts I've skipped in recent months.

In the end, i believe my pride has absorbed most of the blow (wallet not included!) and I am truly grateful to now know what I must invest in my body if I want it to stand the rigors of my 5 month season. Its easy to forget, archery is a sport. A physically demanding sport that requires preparation and dedication...nothing I havent heard yet alot I didnt understand. I have a friend in PT I'll be consulting with regularly.

60# mods in the mail today which I can probably tune down into the 40s if need be. I'm totally fine shootin low weights as I've always subscribed to kinetic energy and accuracy over speed and range. Maybe I'll get to draw down on one this year, maybe I wont. Either way, I'll be much more prepared in the future.

Thank you all for the encouragement and advice. It all has and will continue to help me. Now I gotta go see if I can get this xbow cocked without doing more damage.

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I think it really depends on the injury. In my case the primary care doctor referred me to physical therapy. Neither one could really narrow down what was wrong with my shoulder, as all the normal tests to diagnose the problem did not pinpoint anything. They just ended up throwing a bunch of physical therapy at me. None of which helped. I ended up getting a new primary care doctor a year later. This one had worked in orthopedics prior to his new assignment in primary care. He looked at my x-ray, called orthopedics and asked me what day I wanted my surgery. There was no physical therapy that was going to help. I had to have a clavicle dissection. After my surgery I went to physical therapy 2x a week and on the first day I grabbed a band of every resistance they offered. I was adamant to get back to normal, so I was using bands and doing pulley work every day outside of physical therapy. After 2 months they said there was no reason to go back to physical therapy. At 3 months I was shooting a 60lbs bow.

Your injury and mine are likely different, but I would get some low resistant bands from physical therapy, ask them what exercises would be best and get to work.
 
Just keep your head up man. I have 4 surgical anchors in my labrum of my right shoulder with capsular plication. I had a partially torn rotator cuff as well. My recovery was supposed to be a year according to the surgeon but I was done with PT in 3 months. I pull a 60 pound draw fairly easily now and I will be going up to 70 next year because why not? If you its not anything that requires surgery you should be good after a couple months tops. I'd say as long as you have full ROM you should be okay and your an RN so you would know if you did something really bad to it. I guess what I'm am trying to say is don't worry too much about it and just let it heal.
 
Fighting that right now. Did something to my shoulder in the gym and had to drop my poundage to #49(lowest my bow can go) still some pain shooting but I only gotta pull once.
Ironically no pain when shooting from my saddle.
 
Had my 3rd shoulder surgery in March and still no where near where my strength use to be. Currently shooting 52lb same as last year before surgery but can say 52lb is plenty on a deer. I go to PT twice a week, most of what I do is work with big rubber bands
 
I can only share my experience and have no idea if my issues match yours. I had shoulder pain late winter/early spring and began doing the exercise routines in the link below. Since I was working from home, it was easy to go down to the basement at lunch to do the shoulder exercises and spend time on the total gym. My string hand shoulder had sharp pain on the top of the joint and was much worse when shooting compounds, as compared to shooting my 50-60# longbows or recurves. Anyway, this routine got me back to shooting pain-free. YMMV.

Good luck. Be patient and consistent. Don't rush back to pulling too much weight.
Sean

orthoinfo.aaos.org

Rotator Cuff and Shoulder Rehabilitation Exercises - OrthoInfo - AAOS

This shoulder rehabilitation program focuses on strengthening the muscles that support your shoulder to help keep your shoulder joint stable, relieve pain and prevent further injury.
orthoinfo.aaos.org orthoinfo.aaos.org
 
If you can park your pride at the door I'd suggest checking out Dr. Andreo Spina. The movements are awkward and a little on the fruity side but the results are incredibly.

I've been working out like this for years, even before hearing about this guy, and it's been a real game changer. I've rehabed mine and my buddies shoulder like this, both my ankles and I'm working on my back now.

If you're serious about this send me a message and I can walk you through some stuff to help.
 
If I were you, once I was ready to pick a vertical bow up again (after PT, etc), I'd start with a very low poundage bow and maybe even hunt with lower poundage for a while. Bows are so powerful now that you only need 40 lbs. to blast through a broadside deer. That's my plan as I age or get more beat up....just drop the poundage if I need to and limit my range if necessary.
 
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