I am getting pain coming from the middle joint on my middle finger of my draw hand.  Last night I could not hold at full draw without letting go early because it hurt to bad to hold on. I tried a deeper hook but did not seem to help any. I am shooting a 57 lb longbow right now. I am going to shoot my 45 recurve this morning when it gets light out to see if that is tolerable.

What the heck did I do, pull a tendon, muscle? As I am typing this it feels tender but no real pain, just noticable.


Anyone else experience this before and what helped besides laying off shooting?

I would go see a doctor,he could set you up with some physical therapy.Have you seen the ultra tab,Kustom King has it listed in their 2008 catalog.From its design it looks to me it will transfer some of the weight to the wrist similar to the grips the olympic gymnast use on the parallel bars.I could be wrong about the tab,but go see a doctor is always the best advice you may have some tendon injury.

northener:
Coming on this forum looking for medical advise is like taking you children to your auto repair shop to have his appendix removed. SEE YOUR DOCTOR!!!!!!!
Bob

Maybe a thicker tab would help.
Gil

switch to a mechanical release aid until you get it worked out.

i had to...arthritis, ya know.

i now use a trufire 3d hunter.

i have no problem with arrow flight, accuracy or 'off the shelf'; recurve or longbow.

If you were not using a deep hook to begin with, that could be the cause of the problem. If you were using your fingertips, then you were putting undue pressure on the joints and tendons. It forms an S shape with your fingers and wrist. With a deep hook it keeps the wrist and fingers inline with your arm and all the string pressure is taken by the larger muscles in the forearm.

I suspect arteritus is beginning.  I have the same deal going on.. Advil helps, but I eventually had to have surgery.. If it still keeps bothering you I'd look into seeing an ortho type.

I too was having issues.

Was from lack of shooting mainly.  I'm noticing the more I'm back into it the less I notice any pain.  

I do take time off though when things start getting sore.  

I'm sure it's signs of old age setting in for me, hopefully I shoot enough throught life to keep things from hurting too much  

Thanks, I am beginning to think it is a combination of things you guys suggested.
Lack of shooting. (definately)
Artheritis, (possibly)
Deep hook, (possibly too) I am going to watch out for this and try and have someone look at my alignment at full draw

I did have a layoff from shooting, wife has been hospitalized for a month with acute pancretitis.  (sp)

I shot my 45 lb recurve yesterday and it did not bother as much, just a little sore this morning.

Thinking back, I did have a couple of dbl clutches, you know when your body says release and the mind says hold on. I am thinking I may have strained it then.

I don't think it is anything serious but am going to layoff for a while and see what happens.

Thanks for the ideas.

Also noticed I had an issue with starting my draw with a cocked hand.  Put a tremendous amount of strain on the back of my hand.  Worked that issue out and all of that pain is gone.   Been shooting on a regular basis again and the joint pain is 99.9% gone too.  

Just happened to see the cocked hand deal in TBM in one of Asbells articles this summer.   Not sure if that will help or not, but I'm sure it'll help someone  

ps, where bouts in Mn ya at?