Many archers have shoulder issues due to a variety of different conditions: From plain old shoulder fatigue / dull pain, rotator cuff injuries / surgeries to a dislocated shoulder – there’s a lot of things that can cause pain in your shoulder when shooting. These problems will also greatly affect your accuracy, as the stability of holding your bow on target goes down dramatically with any shoulder injury.

NOTE: I am not a doctor or medical professional. I offer this information in the hope that it can help people out there, but I assume no liability for any injury to yourself or anyone else if you read or try any of the following. Always consult your doctor before attempting archery with any medical problem or condition.

One option that works for some archers is a shoulder brace used specifically for archery, but there are plenty of other options as well. We’ll take a look at all of them and see which one is best for you and your individual shoulder issue and get your shot back to normal as soon as possible. Ready, let’s dive in…

The first thing is that a lot of archers who develop a shoulder injury try to go about shooting the draw weight that they were shooting before they had their injury. You can’t just go back to your original draw weight like nothing at all happened.

Many archers shoot draw weights that are simply way to heavy for them after they’ve had an injury. Just because you had no problem shooting 60 pounds back then, you shouldn’t be shooting that weight now. Try half that weight for starters. If you shoot a take down recurve bow at least you’re in luck – you can just buy lighter limbs instead of a whole new bow.

A Shoulder Brace for Archery

Probably the most obvious option that most archers go to first is the idea of using a shoulder brace while they’re shooting. While this may work for some archers, it doesn’t work for everyone. Whether or not it will work for you depends upon the severity and type of your individual shoulder injury.

If you do decide to try one out, you’ll definitely want an athletic shoulder brace made for sports activities like this one. It has support not only for general shoulder injuries, but also specifically for rotator cuff injuries as well.

Just be sure to get one that’s durable, breathable and lightweight. If you do go with a shoulder brace, go easy at first, not shooting more than ten arrows in a day, maximum. To find out if the brace will work for you it’s important to only do a little bit at a time – and only if your doctor approves of it.

Try a Shooting Aid to Give Your Shoulder a Rest

One option is to use a shooting aid either instead of or in addition to a shoulder brace. There are many different types, sizes and styles of shooting aids on the market today. While most of them are aimed at the firearms market and designed for shooting a rifle, many can be easily adapted for use with a bow.

One is this shooting stick, which could be modified with a large section of heavy duty velcro that has a circle hole in it that can be put over the pole and wrapped around your arm while you’re resting it on the V part of the stick where a rifle would rest.

Remember to Take it Easy with Any Shoulder Injury

Again, possibly the most important thing with any shoulder injury is not to push it. Relax and give it time, I know you want to get out there shooting again but you’ve got plenty of time. Besides, if you push it and injure yourself again or worse, it’ll only take longer until you can shoot again. And in some worse cases, you could injure it so bad that you’ll never be able to shoot again.

So seriously, go easy. I know of people who injured their shoulder in the 90’s and it still interferes with their shooting. And if you don’t give your injury enough time to rest and heal up – it can affect your shot for years to come – even if it does eventually heal completely.

It doesn’t matter what draw weight you were shooting before your injury, after about six months from your injury you should still only be shooting no more than thirty pounds draw weight. After another six months you could start working back up to your original draw weight – only if you’re in physical therapy and both your doctor and physical therapist agree that it’s a good idea.

Pay Close Attention to Your Form – Even if You’re an Experienced Archer

After an injury, many archers’ form will suffer, even if they have years of experience under their belt. Due to the pain of shooting with an injury, stronger muscles will have to overcompensate for the weaker, injured muscles to accomplish the same feat as they did before.

Think about the last time that you pulled a muscle in your leg or in one of your arms. Do you remember how you had to walk funny, or lift heavier things differently while your injury was healing? It’s no different when shooting a bow after a shoulder injury.

It’s for this reason that your form may be off, while you thought you were shooting just as you used to. An easy way to figure out if, or by how much your form is off is to have an experienced archer watch you shoot five or ten arrows – just don’t overdo it and shoot to much.

You can also record yourself with a video camera or your cell phone and check it out later to see for yourself how your form looks. If you do this, it’s still not a bad idea to show it to another experienced archer and get their opinion on it as well.

Follow Through with Physical Therapy and Exercise Properly

One simple exercise that has helped a few archers get their shoulders back in proper shooting shape after an injury was the following:

If the shoulder that you injured is on your bow arm side (meaning the injured shoulder is attached to your arm that holds your bow) – try the simple ‘Turkish get ups’ exercise. It’s really effective and only requires a lightweight kettlebell or dumbell.

You can do it all the way from the floor to standing up if you want, but for the shoulder and related muscles you only really need to go from the floor to sitting upright and back again.

Another great option for shoulder rehab is an archery exerciser, not only are these great exercise on their own – but they’re designed specifically to exercise the muscles you use everyday in archery.

The one that I linked to even has a video screen to aim at moving targets, with modes for bowhunting, target shooting, bowfishing and more. The game aspect of it actually makes exercising fun, rather than it feeling tedious and boring.

It’s adjustable from 10 to 70 pounds of draw weight which makes it ideal for working your shoulder muscles back to their former strength. It’s great for starting slow and adding a bit of draw weight each time you feel that your muscles have recovered enough to handle another few pounds of draw weight.

Try Shooting a Bow That’s Easier on the Shoulder Muscles

Many archers are able to get back in the game a lot faster and painlessly by using a bow that’s designed to be easier to draw. There are several factors that make a difference, like smoother draw action, lighter draw weight, among others.

Shooting a bow that’s made this way makes it much easier on the shoulders. Also, these types of bows have rounder cams which are almost identical to each other which is another plus for shooting after a shoulder injury. Another thing to keep in mind is that the bigger brace height bows tend to draw a bit easier as well.

I recently polled a few hundred archers who had previously suffered shoulder injuries, asking them which bows were easier on their shoulders and allowed them to get back to shooting sooner, while avoiding any shoulder pain.

There was a clear winner, which came out on top of all the others by far. This is the number one recommended bow in that poll. Some close runner ups were the Elite Synergy and the Hoyt Defiant line of bows. You could also look into the later model PSE Supra bows as well.

You Could Switch to Shooting a Crossbow

Crossbows are often used by older archers who can’t shoot the draw weight that they used to. This allows them to continue hunting without the need to draw a heavier compound bow. They are also another option for archers who have had a shoulder injury.

Crossbows could be a great way for you to keep shooting, even if it’s only until your shoulder has healed completely. If you’re thinking about using a crossbow for hunting, check with your state’s fish and game department, you may be able to get a disabled hunting permit for hunting.