https://matteocampagna.com/en/registry/physical-training/elastic-bands-and-score Changes to this claim in Matteo Campagna's evidence registry: its status, its year-by-year history, revisions of the page. en-gb https://matteocampagna.com/en/registry/physical-training/elastic-bands-and-scoreThe first study, in 2008, was already randomised: forty-five Indian archers of national level split at random into three groups, and after four weeks those who had added thera-band exercises and respiratory muscle work shot better than the other two groups over twelve arrows at ten and twenty yards, although the paper does not report the means and does not separate the bands from the breathing work. Up to 2025 the four studies that followed all point the same way, with gains of between eight and twenty-five points, but none of them allocates the archers at random: two are before-and-after studies without a control group, one of them on a single archer, and in the other two the bands are either compared with other strength work, which on its own brings two thirds of the gain, or sit inside a wider package. In 2026 came the second randomised trial, the first to isolate the bands from everything else: in twenty-four traditional archers followed for eight weeks the scores of both groups improved alike, and those who had added the bands were not ahead of those who had only shot. The same study shows that the bands do their job, since grip, thumb pinch and back and leg strength all rise more than in the control group, while on shoulder proprioception and mobility the two groups cannot be told apart. The picture reads like this: the physical gain is real, while on the target the two randomised trials disagree, and the one that separates the bands from everything else finds no difference from shooting itself.claim:elastici-punteggio:revision:2026-08-17:2Mon, 17 Aug 2026 08:00:00 GMT https://matteocampagna.com/en/registry/physical-training/elastic-bands-and-score#storiaThe second randomised trial on the question, and the first to isolate the bands from everything else: in twenty-four traditional archers followed for eight weeks the score does not differ between those who add the bands and those who simply shoot, even though the bands raise grip, thumb pinch and back and leg strength, while on shoulder proprioception and mobility the two groups cannot be told apart. Studies of archers point in opposite directions, and the two randomised trials split as well: the 2008 one mixes the bands with respiratory muscle work and does not publish the means, while this one reports the comparison between the groups and finds no difference. The status falls to contested.claim:elastici-punteggio:status_change:2026-07-21:contestatoTue, 21 Jul 2026 08:00:00 GMT https://matteocampagna.com/en/registry/physical-training/elastic-bands-and-scoreclaim:elastici-punteggio:new_claim:2026-04-25:riportatoSat, 25 Apr 2026 08:00:00 GMT