There...I said it.
So my hands are getting worse. Especially the joints where my thumbs connect to my hand. Right at the base of the "V" that is formed to hold my recurve bow. At full draw it is starting to feel like my thumb is being dislocated.
So I am wondering if a longbow would cause me less pain. Would the straight grip be easier on the old joints?
Has anyone switched from recurve to longbow because of arthritis? Did it help?
I have never shot a longbow but I think maybe I should give it a try if it might make a difference.
Any thoughts or suggestions are appreciated! :thumbsup:
Thanks,
Joe
I have friend who due to an old injury developed arthritis in his bow hand and wrist making it painful to turn his wrist and grip his bow. He now puts the bow between his index and middle fingers and is shooting as good as ever.
Joe, I feel your pain. I have it in the same place and shoot my longbows fine. I have always heeled my bows rather than shoot a high wrist and I think that helps. Haven't shot a recurve since I was a kid - I'll be 65 in a couple of months.
All my longbows have straight grips.
Yup me too. Basil joint at the very base of my thumbs. Positioning my hand on the bow grip in more of a heel down position and that is pretty comfortable. Gotta go in for a physical in a couple of weeks and I'm gonna ask my doc about cortizone shots.
No guarantee but look up a product called a wrist widget. They run $40-50. One of the most minimalist braces you will ever find. The thumb and your wrist are connected and sometimes supporting the wrist helps the thumb. It has helped a lot of my patients.
If that doesn't help go see a hand therapist (occupational therapist). If all else fails they have a surgery that is a pseudo thumb joint replacement similar to a total knee replacement.
Lots of simple arthritis medications will help so get to your doctor have some x rays done and start trying some of the options.
Good luck.
CK
The thumb has three joints just like your other fingers, the first joint is at the wrist. Sometimes the base thumb joint gets pushed back. One thing I do when this happens. Slightly moisten the wrist above the joint. Then, with the other hand, gently grip the top of the forearm with your finger tips line up the heel of the hand a bit above the joint on the wrist area. Then, abruptly, with some force snap your hand into the base thumb joint. If it is out of place, it will jump forward.
If you are having trouble with the middle joint, you have to get the preasure of the bow off of the thumb to some degree. If you go to a straight gripped longbow and place the bow so that the thumb takes most of the load, it will make your condition worse. I make certain that I get the bow deep into my hand. With some recurve grips, I have the same problem that you have, which one of the reasons why I prefer longbows.
Might try 3 under. Dave
Besides a number of wacky things that I do to keep my hands good, I also use a product called Vital3. It is not a drug and I believe it has helped me.
Buddy i have it in every bone of my body and i shoot a horse bow no problem the bow is 50# @27" and has a slight curved grip i all so shot longbows with no problem. i rub lavender oil on my hands and man that stuff is the bomb kills the pain for sure and then there is good old moonshine that kills everything :laughing:
I too have arthritis psoriatic arthritis. It sucks for sure. Are you on any meds. They can do wonders I took embrel for about 3-4 yrs then my insurance quit covering it . Then my work dropped my insurance. So I went with out meds other than over the counter NSAIDs . My hand got so bad I went back to my wheelies. For a few seasons. I got insurance again and started taking methotrexate along with lodine which has been working well and I was able to retain full function in my hands again and I'm back shooting trad. Full time. I Even sold my tricked out compound . And bought a new big Jim longbow which I love.
Now weather a longbow grip will cause less pain than your recurve? Of course it will ;) I like you angle using your arthritis to justify buying a new bow :thumbsup: :thumbsup: :thumbsup:
Got it in my index finger fist knuckle, or whatever you call it. Might try that lavender oil...or moonshine.
Anybody got any other solutions. Mine is getting pretty bad too.
Take this for what its worth. From what I have heard, arthritis is basically caused by calcium deposits because the calcium is not going into the bone. The solution is to take 3mg of boron twice a day until its under control then 3mgs a day there after. I don't know if this actually works, but it might be worth a shot.
I had the same problem in both of my hands and finally.had surgery on both of them. They took the bottom half of the joint out and replaced it with a tendon (or ligament?) from my arm. It has been 5 years on the left and 2 1/2 years on the right and I have had no problems with them since they healed.
Most of you can probably get rid of the arthritis, but you will have to change your diet slightly, PM me if your interested, I'll give anyone who is interested the info.
Good luck
Knees, knuckles, wrists and elbows.
I couldn't do the Hill style longbow because the low grip bothered my wrist even 20 years ago. I find high grip recurves much more forgiving . . . and I have toned down my draw weight considerably from what I was shooting 20 years ago as well.
Now I finesse deer to death. ;-)
My hands were shattered and put back together, so yeah, I have severe arthritis now. I can handle the bow end, but I have to shoot either pinch or thumb style-I cannot use my fingers to shoot mediterranian or three-under. I found the thumb ring to be the most useful.
I'm not sure if going to a straight grip and heeling down more would be the right way to go about it or not. I have the same thing going on after years of abuse in construction work. I've found that finding just the right wrist rotation with a medium wrist angle to be the best for me.
You don't really have to switch from recurve to long bow to get some relief bro... If you can have a bowyer work with you to shape a custom grip. that would be the answer. The shape of the limbs doen't dictate the grip shape at all.....
I have helped a lot of guys get a perfectly shaped grip to help their accuracy and make shooting more comfortable. I would be more than happy to help ease the pressure on those aching joints. Please feel free to contact me. If you are not in the market for a new bow, i may be able to alter your grip shape on the one you have and get you shooting more with less pain...
Here is a good example of a lower wrist grip on a take down bow that can take either long bow limbs or recurve limbs.
(http://i171.photobucket.com/albums/u301/kirkll/Bows%202013/Tonys%20Sas%20lb/SANY0028.jpg) (http://s171.photobucket.com/user/kirkll/media/Bows%202013/Tonys%20Sas%20lb/SANY0028.jpg.html)
(http://i171.photobucket.com/albums/u301/kirkll/Bows%202013/Tonys%20Sas%20lb/SANY0032.jpg) (http://s171.photobucket.com/user/kirkll/media/Bows%202013/Tonys%20Sas%20lb/SANY0032.jpg.html)
Thanks for all the great replies. Much appreciated.
njloco - A pm will be comming your way. I have experimented with diet changes and would like to compare notes.
Mr. Fingers - I guess you outed me on the new bow angle. Hope my wife doesn't read this ;) .
halfseminole - I know how those cold damp winters in Alabama can seep into your bones. I was born and raised in Cullman. Hope you got bread and milk before this last snow!
Kirk - Thanks for the info. I will try to find a longbow to shoot and see if a straight(er) grip helps. Also need to see if a longbow is for me. Otherwise, I may be in touch to take advantage of your expertise...either new bow or modifying my existing.
Thanks again everyone!
that's some stove lighter kirk!!lol
--must get r done!!
QuoteOriginally posted by bamboo:
that's some stove lighter kirk!!lol
--must get r done!!
You've heard of "Liquid boy scout" i'm sure...
I call that set up "Boy Scout Millennium" 2 minutes max and you got heat.
by all means try the longbows they put an entirely different set of pressures on the hand.. It just might extend your bow hunting life.
my motherinlaw gets a lot of relief from a salve made with an extract of cannabis oil.she has rheumatoid arthritis and my left shoulder don't hurt nomore.no one gets high when they use the salve and it takes the pain away.ok im ready for the flames.
My upper body is mostly ok, but my knees become very painful by the end of the day.
This may sound crazy but I know of a few people that had this problem. They got off ALL wheat products, including pasta, bread, tortilla's, gravy - anything that had wheat in it. In a few weeks they had MUCH improvements. You really need to check labels on products as wheat is in many things.
My wife and I are also off of wheat products and have dropped a lot of weight as well.
Give it a try, maybe it will work for you.
There is a good book called "Wheat Belly" worth reading.
Acolobowhunter is absolutely correct, but it's not the weat, its the gluten that is the problem, they have found out that gluten ravage's the body from the inside, so your totally unaware of what's going on, until it surfaces.
There are many, many human ailments that can be Cured totally, just by diet alone !, but it's a lifestyle change, and one has to be willing to go the extra mile !
Remember, for those that can, the food pyramid is wrong !
I could not agree more. However, wheat as we know it today is not the wheat of thousands of years ago.
There are many aliments that could be cured by eliminating wheat in our diets. I know people that cut our wheat and dropped over a hundred pounds, but takes will power. I actually went thru withdrawal symptoms getting off of wheat and pasta.
Anyway I hope this helps our bowhunting friends to continue a lifetime of shooting and good health.
I was told by a homeopathic chiropractor that if you get heart burn after eating spaghetti, it is nine times out of ten, not the sauce but the noodles and you have an intolerance to gluten. Going totally organic, other than wild game which is not organic in Iowa, and replacing the noodles with spaghetti squash, I can eat all of the spaghetti I want.
Check these out,
www.grainstorm.com (http://www.grainstorm.com)
www.paleohacks.com/questoins/22780/how-has-wheat-changed-in-the-last-60-ye.html (http://www.paleohacks.com/questoins/22780/how-has-wheat-changed-in-the-last-60-ye.html)
Just posted this up and checked the links, they don't really take you where I wanted it too, but if you check the links on the pages they will show you the information.
Very informative about wheat, apparently there was only two or three types of wheat, and was not unhealthy to eat, but due to the constant manipulation of wheat there are now around 10,000 types of wheat ??????????. Amazing how we can screw things up in the pursuit to try and play G-D.
From what I gathered from all of this is, I will probably stop eating all wheat related products weather they are gluten free or not !, due to the fact that even the Gluten free stuff has been changed so much that it's just not natural anymore. That kind of sucks because I'm a heart patient and have had to give up a lot of foods for health and to avoid having to take any medicines, but you what ?, It's not that hard for me to do as I hardly eat any of it anyway, and it shows !
Good luck everyone !
my wife got poly arthritis . , on every articulation of her body , to help i've made a lot of things bigger for her it help with handling things .
perhaps a "bigger , wider" riser could help .
keep courage and good moral !!