Dynamic shoulder stretching just before shooting worsens the score

The summary today

The registry holds only one study that has measured the score after dynamic shoulder stretching, with a design that is sound on paper: 30 intermediate Turkish archers, about 17 years old, shoot 30 arrows at 18 metres on three different days and in random order, after five minutes of easy running and their warm-up arrows, followed by dynamic stretching, static stretching or no stretching. After the dynamic routine the score falls to 244.8 against 246.2 without stretching and 245.5 with static stretching, and the difference is statistically clear. It is, however, little more than one point out of 300, far less than the spread between one archer and another, which is about 12 points: an effect that shows in the numbers and that nobody would notice over an end. The statistics also leave a doubt: dynamic and static stretching are 0.6 points apart, yet the test gives a value implying that almost all thirty archers shot worse after the dynamic routine, and without the individual data this cannot be checked. The authors cite a 2016 Turkish paper that reportedly found the same drop after a dynamic warm-up, but it could not be verified and the registry does not count it. That leaves one study, on intermediate archers and over a short 30-arrow test, with no replication on stronger archers or over a full competition: there is evidence in favour, it is limited, and it shows that dynamic stretching does not help rather than that it does serious harm.

Also phrased as: "dynamic stretching before shooting"; "shoulder warm-up and score"; "arm swings before shooting"; "stretching before a competition"; "dynamic stretching and accuracy"

Evidence

• 2021
  For Archers Published later

  30 intermediate Turkish recurve archers, about 17 years old, 15 girls and 15 boys, three days 72 hours apart in random order: five minutes of easy running and warm-up arrows, then five shoulder exercises in 3 sets of 15 seconds (dynamic, static or none), then 3 ends of 10 arrows at 18 m. Score 244.83 ± 12.59 after dynamic stretching, 245.47 ± 13.58 after static, 246.20 ± 12.19 without stretching (Friedman X² = 40.24, p < 0.001; dynamic against none Z = -4.49 and dynamic against static Z = -4.69, both p < 0.001). Clear for the statistics, about 1.4 points out of 300 in practice; a Z of -4.69 for 0.6 points between dynamic and static stretching implies that almost everyone shot worse after the dynamic routine, which is unusual with standard deviations of 12 to 13 points. The abstract speaks of randomly assigned groups, the methods of a crossover design.

  Acute Effect of Dynamic and Static Stretching Exercises on Targeting Performance in Archery · Bulent Turna, Burcu Bayazit, Mehmet Emre Eryucel, Mustafa Yildiz, Mehmet Bilgin Karademir

Status history

1. 2021 Reported The only study of the question that the registry has been able to verify has a design that is sound on paper: thirty intermediate archers shoot thirty arrows at 18 m under three conditions in random order, 72 hours apart, and after dynamic shoulder stretching the score falls from 246.2 to 244.8, a statistically clear drop. The effect is tiny, though, little more than one point out of about 246, the statistics are unusually clear-cut for differences so small, and there is only one study, on 17-year-old archers: there is evidence in favour, and it is limited.

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