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One Hand Pulls, One Hand Pushes. Your Pain Will Tell You Which One Is Overloaded.
Archery pain almost always belongs to one hand or the other. Drawing hand: sore or numb string fingers, and inner elbow pain (golfer’s elbow). Bow hand: pain or numbness at the heel of the palm from gripping the bow, and outer elbow pain.
Sore string fingers usually settle in 1 to 2 weeks with a better tab and less volume. Numbness from string pressure can take a few weeks. Elbow tendon pain is the slow one, usually 3 to 6 months.
Most archers keep shooting through all of it, with the draw weight and arrow count adjusted.
The trap is pushing on. A tendon that’s irritated in week 2 of a competition block is a tendon that’s still sore at the next season opener. And numbness in the string fingers that keeps getting fresh pressure every session is a nerve that doesn’t get the chance to recover.
Why archery hurts the hands
Archery loads the two hands in opposite directions, and almost every injury in the sport belongs clearly to one or the other.
- The drawing hand takes tension through three fingers.
- The bow hand takes compression through the heel of the palm.
Neither is a grip in the ordinary sense. And both happen dozens to hundreds of times per session, at the same draw weight, in exactly the same spot.
(Hawkeye never has to shoot a 72-arrow ranking round and then go back for the eliminations. You do.)
Why do my fingers hurt or go numb from archery?
That’s the drawing hand. Here’s what it takes.
- Finger pressure from the string, concentrated at the first joint of the index, middle and ring fingers. A tab or glove spreads it; a badly fitted one does not.
- Repeated tension through the flexor tendons at draw weight, dozens to hundreds of times per session.
- Thumb loading in thumb-draw styles, which puts sustained high force through a single joint, the knuckle at the base of the thumb.
What turns up: aching at the base of the fingers, joint soreness at the string fingers, and sometimes numbness along the sides of those fingers from repeated pressure on the small digital nerves. A ring that pinches under the tab makes that worse.
A finger that starts to catch or click as it straightens is a trigger finger, and that one rarely shoots its way better.
Why does my bow hand or wrist hurt?
- Compression through the heel of the palm, repeatedly, in exactly the spot where the ulnar nerve crosses the wrist. See Guyon’s canal syndrome if the ring and little fingers go numb.
- Gripping the bow instead of letting it sit is the commonest technical fault and the commonest source of wrist pain. The bow hand should be relaxed with the pressure through the base of the thumb, not clamped.
- Wrist position. A high, low or straight wrist changes where the load lands; whichever you use, it should be consistent and not at end range.
If you are gripping the bow, you are also torquing it. Bad for the shot and bad for the wrist, which is a rare case of the coaching and the medical advice being identical.
Archery elbow pain and the rest
- Inner elbow pain in the drawing arm: golfer’s elbow, from repeated loaded finger flexion. It wants loading rather than rest.
- Outer elbow pain in the bow arm: tennis elbow, from holding the bow out.
- Ring and little finger numbness that’s worse with the elbow bent: the ulnar nerve at the elbow, cubital tunnel syndrome, rather than the wrist. The fingers are the same; the spot is different.
- Forearm aching in long sessions: overuse, usually a volume jump.
- String slap bruising on the inner forearm is a technique and armguard issue, not an injury as such.
- Shoulder pain: real and common in archers, and outside what I write about. See a physio or sports doctor for that one.
How a hand therapist sorts out which one it is
- Where it’s tender: the string-finger joints, the heel of the palm, the inner or outer elbow.
- Sensation mapped finger by finger: one side of one finger points to a digital nerve under the string; ring and little fingers point to the ulnar nerve, then the tests decide whether it’s the wrist or the elbow.
- Resisted wrist bending and finger gripping: pain at the inner elbow points to golfer’s elbow.
- Tapping over the nerve at the wrist and at the elbow, and holding the elbow bent, to see which reproduces the tingling.
- Grip and pinch strength, both sides, plus a look at the small muscles between the thumb and index finger, which thin out when the ulnar nerve has been irritated for a while.
- Imaging rarely first. Nerve conduction studies if numbness is constant or there’s weakness.
What to change in your shooting
- Drop the draw weight if you are shooting high volume or your form breaks down late in a session. Volume at a manageable weight beats a heavy bow you can only handle fresh.
- Get the tab or glove fitted properly, and replace it when the leather compresses.
- Take the ring off the string hand, or move it, if it sits under the tab.
- Use a sling so the bow hand can stay genuinely relaxed.
- Build arrow counts gradually, especially before a competition block. Most archery injuries follow a jump in volume, not a single bad shot.
- Break every twenty to thirty minutes in long practice.
- Ask your coach to check the grip and the release, cos a clamped bow hand and a plucked release are both load problems dressed up as form problems.
Exercises for archery hand and elbow pain
Mild discomfort during these is fine. Pain that’s worse the next morning means drop the reps or the weight.
- Wrist flexor isometric hold (drawing arm, inner elbow pain). Forearm on a table, palm up. Press the palm up into your other hand without moving. Hold 30 to 45 seconds, 5 times, once or twice a day.
- Slow wrist lowering, palm up. 1 to 2 pounds (0.5 to 1 kg). Lift with the other hand’s help, lower over 3 to 4 seconds. 3 sets of 15, daily or every second day, for 6 to 12 weeks.
- The same two exercises palm down for outer elbow pain in the bow arm. See tennis elbow exercises.
- Finger extension against a rubber band. Band around all five fingertips, open the hand wide. 3 sets of 15, daily. Balances all that pulling.
- Tendon glides. Straight hand, hook fist, full fist, flat fist, straight fist. 10 of each position, 3 times a day while things are sore.
- Warm-up before full draw. 10 to 15 draws with a stretch band or a light bow before you pick up competition weight.
Numbness is the exception. A squeezed nerve wants less pressure, not more exercise. Fix the tab, the ring and the bow grip first.
How long does archery hand pain take to settle?
In Closing Window terms, most archery hand pain runs on an OPEN window: take the pressure or the volume off and it settles. Numbness is the one with a clock on it. A nerve that keeps getting squeezed every session has a closing window, and constant numbness or thinning hand muscles mean it’s narrowing.
- Days to 2 weeks (open window): sore string-finger joints and forearm aching settle once the tab, draw weight and arrow count are sorted.
- 2 to 6 weeks (open window): string-finger numbness from digital nerve pressure usually eases once the pressure comes off. If it’s still there at 6 weeks, get it looked at.
- 6 to 12 weeks (open window): bow-hand pain from gripping, and early Guyon’s canal symptoms, usually settled with a relaxed grip, a sling and padding.
- 3 to 6 months (open window, slow): golfer’s or tennis elbow with a steady loading program. Some take up to a year.
- Numbness that’s constant, or hand muscles thinning (closing window): don’t wait this out. Get assessed now.
- Catching finger: usually a splint for about 6 weeks or an injection.
Can I keep shooting with finger or elbow pain?
Usually yes, if the session stays inside these lines.
- Pain during shooting stays around 3 out of 10 or less.
- It’s back to baseline by the next morning. Worse the next day means the session was too much.
- Lower draw weight first, arrow count second. Keep your form honest at the lighter weight.
- No new numbness during a session. If the fingers go numb partway through, that’s the session over.
- Coming back from a layoff: start at a lower weight and roughly half your usual arrows, then build over 2 to 4 weeks.
Get it checked today if
- A sudden pop at the elbow or in the forearm with bruising and weakness.
- A finger that suddenly won’t bend or won’t straighten.
- A hot, red, swollen finger, especially after a cut or blister on a string finger.
Get it checked if
- Numbness in any fingers that persists after shooting.
- A finger joint that stays swollen between sessions.
- Elbow pain present before you start.
- A finger that catches or will not fully straighten.
- Weakness pinching, or the muscle between the thumb and index finger looking thinner than the other side.
- Six weeks of lower draw weight and reduced volume with no change.
The draw is tension, the bow hand is pressure. Almost everything in this sport sorts itself once you know which one you are feeling.
Written by Nigel Chua, hand occupational therapist in practice since 2005. Thousands of hands, wrists and elbows assessed and treated. My credentials are here. This article explains; it doesn’t examine. String fingers that stay numb between sessions deserve an assessment before the next competition block.
Part of: Hand, wrist and elbow pain by job, sport and hobby
Every article on this site is written using the Closing Window Method: name the window your condition runs on, find where you are in it, and act while it’s still open.