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A flotation-tank session before shooting lowers forearm tension during the shot

1 study · 20 archers measured

ForContextAgainst2000200520102015202020251999, for, n = 201999, against, n = 201999, context, n = 20
Each circle is a study: its position gives the year, its row whether it is for, against or context, its size how many participants it measured. Light circles are studies on other populations or without archers.

There is a single Swedish study, and its results point two ways. Twenty young archers aged 13 to 18 shot twelve arrows at 18 metres in two sessions six weeks apart, once after 45 minutes in a flotation tank and once after 45 minutes in an armchair, in an order assigned at random. With electromyography on the finger extensor of the drawing arm, after the tank mean tension falls in the least experienced archers, from 17.0 to 13.1 per cent of maximal contraction, and in the elite, from 15.5 to 13.7; in the intermediate group, however, it rises, from 15.5 to 17.5, across the three groups together the difference between the two conditions is not significant (p = 0.127), and in the half second before the release, the moment that matters most, tension does not change at all (p = 0.772). The score stays put, while perceived exertion falls from 11.9 to 10.8 on the Borg scale. With groups of six or seven teenagers and an effect that changes sign from one group to the next, the study points partly in favour and partly against; and a flotation tank, moreover, is not something an archer can use before a competition.

Also phrased as: "relaxation before shooting"; "relaxed string hand"; "forearm tension"; "flotation tank and archery"; "sensory deprivation tank and archery"; "floating before competition"; "deep relaxation and muscle tension"; "flotation REST and archery"

In practice

Archers are told to arrive on the line loose, and that a deep relaxation session before shooting takes the tension out of the arms and makes the release cleaner.

Evidence

  • 1999
    For Archers Published later

    20 young Swedish archers (13 boys and 7 girls, mean age 15.8; 12 shooting freestyle, 5 compound and 3 with what the paper calls a classic bow), sorted by four national coaches into three levels of six or seven each, 12 arrows at 18 m after 45 minutes in a flotation tank and after 45 minutes in an armchair, in random order and six weeks apart. Mean tension in the finger extensor of the drawing arm, as a percentage of maximal contraction, in the armchair and after the tank: in the least experienced 17.00 and 13.12 (p = 0.043), in the elite 15.48 and 13.70 (p = 0.028).

    Primary process in competitive archery performance: Effects of flotation REST · Torsten Norlander, Henrik Bergman, Trevor Archer

  • 1999
    Against Archers Published later

    In the same study tension in the intermediate group goes the other way, from 15.45 to 17.48 per cent (p = 0.075); across the three groups together the effect of the condition is not significant (p = 0.127), with a strong group by condition interaction (p = 0.001), and tension in the half second before the release (0.1 to 0.5 s before) does not differ between the two conditions (p = 0.772).

    Primary process in competitive archery performance: Effects of flotation REST · Torsten Norlander, Henrik Bergman, Trevor Archer

  • 1999
    Context Archers Published later

    The score over the 12 arrows does not change after the tank (p > 0.1): in the least experienced the mean actually goes from 91.3 to 77.9 points, in the elite from 105.5 to 108.7. Perceived exertion on the Borg scale does fall, from 11.85 to 10.80 (p = 0.006), above all in the least experienced. The order of the two conditions changes none of the results (score p = 0.723, perceived exertion p = 0.449, mean tension p = 0.343, tension before the release p = 0.319): those who had been in the tank six weeks earlier did not shoot differently, so the session's effect, where there is one, does not last six weeks.

    Primary process in competitive archery performance: Effects of flotation REST · Torsten Norlander, Henrik Bergman, Trevor Archer

Status history

  1. 1999 Contested The first and only study on the question: twenty young Swedish archers, 45 minutes in a flotation tank or in an armchair before twelve arrows at 18 metres, in random order. Mean tension in the finger extensor of the drawing arm falls after the tank in the least experienced and the elite archers, but rises in the intermediate group; across the three groups together the difference is not significant, and in the half second before the release tension does not change. The same study points partly in favour and partly against, with groups of six or seven teenagers: contested.

Related

Related articles

Research lines

Cite
APA

Campagna, M. (2026). A flotation-tank session before shooting lowers forearm tension during the shot (Version 2). In Evidence Registry. Retrieved 16 October 2026, from https://matteocampagna.com/en/registry/mind/flotation-tank-forearm-tension

BibTeX
@misc{campagna2026_rilassamentotensionetiro,
  author = {Campagna, Matteo},
  title = {A flotation-tank session before shooting lowers forearm tension during the shot},
  year = {2026},
  howpublished = {Evidence Registry, matteocampagna.com},
  url = {https://matteocampagna.com/en/registry/mind/flotation-tank-forearm-tension},
  note = {Version 2; accessed 2026-10-16}
}

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