OK so everything has been going smoothly so far this year, I got my new limbs and have been building up to longer rounds with the extra weight and my scores are coming back, to where they were at the end of last season, and then..... medial epicondylitis or golfers elbow.....really? an archer who has never swung a club suffering from golfers elbow.
Well it would seem to be a fairly common affliction for archers, it is basically a tear/damage to the point at which the muscle group the works your fingers is anchored on the inside edge of your elbow (right about where the string hits if you fluff a release but on the drawing arm not the bow arm. In this case it is a result of the strain from holding the string on your fingers. So I'll have to get to the quack and get it checked out ( self diagnosis so far which is never a good idea) and see what is to be done, it can be a 6-9 month recovery, but hopefully it will not be that bad. Then just to hammer the nail in I can off my bike (push not motor) a fortnight again and managed to land on my left elbow so I am completely crippled at the moment. I am not going to try shooting anymore until I have had my right elbow looked at, just in case I aggravate it. But I am going to have to wait ten days to get an appointment, by which time my bashed elbow will most likely be better and hopefully it will be good new and I can maybe wear a splint and keep shooting because I really do not want to take the whole of this season off.
I seem to remember someone else having this awhile ago???? (lateral)
ReplyDeleteThe advice, as you condoned was to lay off archery completely to facilitate the repair of something poorly vasculated, and will therefore take a long time to mend.
As a medic, I ignored it...it can bloody well hurt too...but cut down on the archery, but not out entirely. I was still able to swim train, albeit gently, and it took months to heal. I also wore a compression splint during the day.
Epicondylitis WILL heal of its own volition...eventually if given a chance. Interim treatments, apart from rest, include sometimes surgery, which guarantees nothing, and the idea of someone going into my joints unless ABSOLUTELY necessary is not one I'm keen on....... you know what you should do too. YOU TOLD ME!! (lol)
Try a pressure/compression splint...I bought mine on line??
Ah yes, that does ring a bell and I seem to remember saying that I thought 44lbs was quite heavy and that some of us managed perfectly well on 34lbs, yeah well you know who now holds 42lbs on his fingers.....which could be something to do with the elbow issue. I am just going to wait till I see the quack to make sure it is nothing more serious and then go from there, but I will one hundred percent definitely not follow my own advise ( I mean really who would?).
DeleteHows it going? How was the quack meeting?
DeleteToday, I had some fun and shot a compound bow; always thought that anything with a wheel at each end was better as a motorbike...but wow, amazing.
I was also able to put the bow through timing lights, and the results were 180 + feet /sec. I am pulling 45lb or thereabouts and shooting ACC arrows. Apparently tabs and technique can vary this by an easy 10 feet/sec. A Uuhka riser with their new super duper VX 1000 pulling 35lbs, arrows unknown went through only 10 feet/sec faster, shot by an expert.
My limbs are SF Carbon/wood....
My longbow shot at 139 feet/sec......
Later on I shot both at 80 x outdoors, great fun!!!
Managed to hit the target with the longbow!! and with the recurve, latterly was getting 50% in the gold......Had to raise my sight marks considerably, which I think is a good thing as it suggests the arrow is now being loosed much faster...........?
Still quiet, seeing quack on Wednesday.
DeleteBusy day, which bow did you shoot through the dyno?
If it was your recuurve then all I can say is WOW!
That Uuhka setup was giving away over 20% force on that arrow and even if you had a really bad release (which I don't think you do), to get 5% more speed from 20% less force is just...well like I say WOW!
If you had the same weight limbs on that setup you would be putting sharfts through the dyano at 220+ with the same weight on the fingers, mind you you would also be £1,300.00 poorer.
Sounds like good shooting at 80 yards, what has changed for you to have better sight marks, or is it just improving your form and release ( just he says). Either way onwards and upwards, I will post an update after I talk to the Doc' got our first league match next month so I hope it it not bad news.
Hope quack thing goes ok.....
DeleteI wonder if you misunderstood my post: story of my life!
My Spigarelli with SF carbon wood composite limbs, at 45lbs on my fingers, shooting ACC carbon/alloy arrows, 181-3 feet/sec
Uuhka riser with Uuhka VX1000 limbs at 35lbs.....191feet/sec.
Although I still struggle big time with a clicker, I'm sure it has had much to do with a faster loose? And therefore the raising of my sight marks???
Today, been helping with a beginners course, always good fun!!
One off longbow, 50lbs, wood self nock arrows, 139 feet/sec
Arrows......am currently shooting with 620 spine ACC's, and all fine. In the search for speed, what's the consensus on 620 spine ACE's (thinner shaft, lighter weight...faster flight.....?)
ReplyDeleteArrows, hmm lighter is faster but more prone to being effected by cross winds, heavier will lose a little height but not get blown off course as easily, and thinner will get blown off course less as well. I think you want to shoot the heaviest shaft that you can get a decent sight mark with. I am shooting ACG shafts atm and they seem really good., you can always try ordering 2 of each of a few and seeing the difference in sight marks. I have some Skyart Sapphires that I used to shoot all the time they weigh about 20% less/inch than the ACGs similar thickness, piles and fetching and they hit about 9 niches higher at 80 yards, but they suffer a lot more from drift.
ReplyDeleteSo how's the epicondylitis?
DeleteRe the arrow thing...the concensus from my "local", which is Perris Archery, is that the spine rating is a straight match, weight can be increased a little depending on point used, which in turn will weaken the spine a little. This in turn can be adjusted a little by cutting length from the nock end......?
ACG and Skyart Sapphire are unknowns to me, but I could buy the latter on name alone!!
On shooting outdoors at 80x today...my 6th attempt......my last doz scored 75...with the longbow I could hardly hit the target!! lol!!
Went to see Doc' yesterday and she confirmed it's golfers elbow (or thingy whatsit), three weeks of super-duper anti-inflammatory tablets and if no better an inter-joint cortisol injection. So i might be able to shoot in our first league match on the 11th but I am totally out of it until it is sorted.
DeleteAre you talking about putting heavier points on your exsiting arrows, if so try just one or two first as on paper adding weight and shortening the shafts will give a heavier arrow with the same spine, but it will also change how for forward of centre the centre of mass is (FOC) this can have a big impact on the flight of the arrow as the tip will pitch down faster of slower if the FOC is moved forwards or back and that will effect the trajectory of the whole flight. I hope that makes some sense, but basically don't go chopping all your arrows up at once try it out with one or two and see how it works out. For an extreme change you could order a few Lightspeeds (all carbon arrows from Easton) and see what difference they make to your distance, I say just get a few as you cannot use them on all fields as they can be almost impossible to find if they are lost.
I don't think the Skyarts are sold in the UK at the moment but Merlin might still have some, the ACGs are on the Easton site.
Er no...not changing ACCs.....
ReplyDeletePossibility...no more of heavier points on ACCs to bring overall weight closer to, but not the same as, current ACCs, to try and reduce deviation by cross winds. However this will weaken the spine, and so to redress this, we may chop length off from the nock end to stiffen them up again.
This is all conjecture at the moment, until I try a few, bare shaft......
All seems a tight timescale on the elbow.............hmmmm
Hi,
ReplyDeleteHows the elbow?
The ACCs are all but ready with 120 grain points as opposed to 80 grain in my ACEs What we've tried to do is stiffen them a little by chopping at the back, whilst recognising that the heavier point would weaken the spine a little. On a quick bare arrow comparison with my ACEs, all were in a vertical plane, suggesting comparable stiffness?
The elbow is much better almost no pain at the moment, so just have to give it a few weeks and then I should be good to go.
ReplyDeleteSounds good with the ACCs let me know how you get on when they are ready for shooting.
God am I constantly mixing up the arrows here ? Im so sorry...anyway the more expensive (ho ho!) and thinner ones have been shot today at 80x and I smashed my previous PB for 36 arrows....probably says more about my poor shooting than anything else!
ReplyDeleteBut it does seem that spine and point choices have worked well and the sights marks have come up a bit........ hows your elbow coming on?
Having consistently managed to confuse the names of the two arrows, rest assured it is ACEs that have superseded ACCs in he above threads.The 620 spine with a ml or so off at the nock end, a 120 grain point, opposed to 80 on the ACCs has worked perfectly.
ReplyDeleteOn a chronometer today, the ACEs are consistently 10 to 12 fps faster off the bow, and sight marks at 80x is up about 3/4 cm..............
Anyone out there shooting Win and Win Inno CXT Prime limbs on the Revolution...?
Hope the elbow continues to improve?
Right...
ReplyDeleteSpeeds: Uuhka combo (VX 1000 limbs) at about 35lb = 191 fps (arrows unknown)
One off longbow at 50lbs, self knock arrows = 139 fps
Spig Rev, SF Carbon/Wood limbs 42lbs ish, ACC620 arrows, 80 grain point = 183 fps
Spig Rev, SF Carbon/Wood limbs 42lbs ish, ACE620 arrows 120 grain point= 193+ fps
The heavier points are faster ?
ReplyDeleteHow does that effect you groups on the target? I expect that the faster arrows will hit a little bit higher.
You are right,the heavier point would slow them down, weight for weight. It was done to try and help directional stability as they are lighter overall. They are still faster, being smaller in diameter, as the above results show. However, the heavier point then weakens the spine, which is why they were shortened a couple of ml. from the nock to bring back the "lost" stiffness....if that makes sense. At 80x the sight is about 1/2cm higher than the ACCs spec'd earlier. Groupings....until today were improving. However, today, I might as well have lobbed pebbles down the range!!! Will be shooting on a different outdoor range tomorrow eve at 30 or 40x......we'll see...?
ReplyDelete50x........better.
ReplyDeleteStill struggling to come through the damnable clicker!!!
Laurie, check out this blog maybe you need to take it off again and just spend some time re-establishing your draw and anchor point.
Deletehttp://archerycoach.wordpress.com/tag/clickers/
Very true! Also sage advice has been had from "geoffretired" on AI and a couple at my clubs.
ReplyDeleteWhere would we be if there was no struggle......?
(Oh yes, more relaxed?????)