Lower trapezius exercises rebalance the work of an archer's trapezius muscles

The summary today

Two training studies of recurve archers measure the trapezius muscles with electromyography during the shot, and both see the ratio between upper and lower trapezius fall, meaning the upper part works less relative to the lower; the registry counts only one of them, though, because the other treats archers with shoulder pain, and treating pain is a clinical intervention. The study that counts involves fourteen Taiwanese university archers, seven per group chosen by preference: twelve weeks centred on the lower trapezius halve the ratio on the drawing side, from 2.2 to 1.1, and also lower the bow-side upper trapezius, from 95 to 69 per cent of maximal contraction; here the change comes from the upper trapezius working less, not from the lower working more. The measure has poor reliability, with a coefficient of variation of 60 per cent, and the Korean study of thirty-one archers with pain, which points the same way (from 3.47 to 1.43), had groups that started far apart, so part of the fall may be a return towards the average. Neither shows that the rebalancing does anything at the target: in the Korean study the score does not change, and in the Taiwanese one it rises in the trained group without clearly pulling away from the control group.

Also phrased as: "lower trapezius strengthening"; "shoulder rising during the draw"; "upper to lower trapezius ratio"; "scapular exercises for archers"; "keeping the shoulder down at full draw"

Evidence

• 2018
  Context Archers Published later

  A single world-class archer aged 31, with scapular dyskinesis, joint noise in the drawing shoulder and, on MRI, a labral tear: eight weeks of scapular stabilisation, 24 sessions of 40 minutes with five exercises under increasing load. Scapular position on CT improves (upward rotation by 16.4 degrees), and on a handheld dynamometer lower trapezius strength rises from 22.1 to 28.5 kg, 28.6 per cent, against the upper trapezius going from 31.2 to 33.9, 8.7 per cent. It is a single case with a shoulder injury and unblinded assessors; the programme works on all the scapular stabilisers, not only the lower trapezius, and it measures strength, not how the trapezius muscles work during the shot.

  An 8-week scapular stabilization exercise program in an elite archer with scapular dyskinesis presenting joint noise: A case report with one-year follow-up · Jin-Taek Kim, Suhn-Yeop Kim, Duck-Won Oh

• 2020
  Context Archers Published later

  31 elite Korean recurve archers, university and high-school athletes with shoulder pain, randomised with stratification by sex and experience into 16 exercising and 15 controls: eight weeks of four prone bodyweight exercises, three times a week, with increasing load (Y-raise, T-raise, modified prone cobra and external rotation at 90 degrees of abduction). The ratio of upper to lower trapezius activity, measured at full draw before the clicker drops, goes from 3.47 ± 3.50 to 1.43 ± 0.93 in the exercise group and from 1.57 ± 1.00 to 1.39 ± 0.89 in the control group, with a group-by-time interaction of F = 4.739, p = 0.038. A regional journal. These are archers with pain treated for that pain: for the registry this is a clinical intervention, and the study counts as context.

  Effects of Lower Trapezius Strengthening Exercise on Shoulder Pain, Function and Archery Performance in Elite Archers · Eunkuk Kim, Jinho Kim, Jinyoung You

• 2020
  Context Archers Published later

  The same study, what does not change. Among the activation ratios only the upper to lower trapezius ratio moves: upper over middle F = 1.583 (p = 0.220), middle over lower F = 3.067 (p = 0.090), and the three deltoid ratios stay put (p from 0.137 to 0.894). The exercise group started with a ratio more than twice that of the control group and a standard deviation equal to the mean, so part of the fall may be a return towards more typical values. And the score over 15 arrows at 70 m does not move, from 132.13 to 132.06 against 132.87 to 129.80 in the control group (F = 1.40, p = 0.247): the trapezius muscles change, the score does not.

  Effects of Lower Trapezius Strengthening Exercise on Shoulder Pain, Function and Archery Performance in Elite Archers · Eunkuk Kim, Jinho Kim, Jinyoung You

• 2022
  For Archers Published later

  14 recurve archers from a Taiwanese university team, 7 exercising and 7 controls assigned by preference, twelve weeks of exercises centred on the lower trapezius; electromyography over the last second before release, six arrows at 5 m in a laboratory. On the drawing side the ratio of upper to lower trapezius goes from 2.2 ± 0.8 to 1.1 ± 0.9 (p = 0.014, d = 1.29) because the upper trapezius drops from 78 ± 22 to 44 ± 36 per cent of maximal contraction while the lower does not change. The comparison is within the trained group, not between groups, and the reliability of the ratio is poor (ICC 0.42, coefficient of variation 60 per cent, typical error 1): with figures like these, a halving may be largely noise.

  Twelve-Week Lower Trapezius-Centred Muscular Training Regimen in University Archers · Chien-Nan Liao, Chun-Hao Fan, Wei-Hsiu Hsu, Chia-Fang Chang, Pei-An Yu, Liang-Tseng Kuo, et al.

• 2022
  For Archers Published later

  The same study, the bow side: after the twelve weeks, upper trapezius activity over the last second before release falls from 95 ± 35 to 69 ± 36 per cent of maximal contraction (p ≤ 0.05, d = 0.73), while the lower trapezius stays where it was, from 49 ± 24 to 42 ± 17. Here too the rebalancing comes from the upper part working less.

  Twelve-Week Lower Trapezius-Centred Muscular Training Regimen in University Archers · Chien-Nan Liao, Chun-Hao Fan, Wei-Hsiu Hsu, Chia-Fang Chang, Pei-An Yu, Liang-Tseng Kuo, et al.

• 2022
  Context Archers Published later

  The same study, what changes even without the programme: the drawing-side triceps falls both in the exercise group, from 26 ± 10 to 19 ± 14 per cent, and in the control group, from 34 ± 13 to 23 ± 12, so the exercises cannot take the credit. The only muscle that actually differs between the two groups at the end is the biceps, from 42 ± 15 to 29 ± 12 in the trained group against 54 ± 32 to 51 ± 24 in the control group, and the shoulder angles during the draw do not change.

  Twelve-Week Lower Trapezius-Centred Muscular Training Regimen in University Archers · Chien-Nan Liao, Chun-Hao Fan, Wei-Hsiu Hsu, Chia-Fang Chang, Pei-An Yu, Liang-Tseng Kuo, et al.

Status history

1. 2018 Not studied The first work close to the question is the case of a single world-class archer with an injured drawing shoulder and a poorly positioned scapula: after eight weeks of scapular stabilisation the lower trapezius gains more strength than the upper, 28.6 per cent against 8.7, and the noise in the shoulder during the shot fades until others can no longer hear it. But it is a single case, the programme works on all the scapular stabilisers and it measures strength at rest, not trapezius activity during the shot: the question still has no direct measurement.
2. 2020 Not studied The first study arrives, and it is randomised: thirty-one elite Korean recurve archers with shoulder pain, eight weeks of four prone exercises. At full draw the ratio of upper to lower trapezius falls from 3.47 to 1.43 in the trained group and from 1.57 to 1.39 in the control group, with a difference between groups, while the other muscle ratios stay put. The programme, though, treats pain that was already there, which makes it a clinical intervention, and the registry does not use treatments of pain as evidence: the study stays as context, not least because the trained group started much higher and with an enormous spread, and in archers without pain the question still has no measurement.
3. 2022 Reported The first study the registry can count arrives: in fourteen Taiwanese university archers, seven per group and not randomised, twelve weeks centred on the lower trapezius halve the ratio of upper to lower on the drawing side, from 2.2 to 1.1, and lower the upper trapezius on the bow side as well, from 95 to 69 per cent of maximal contraction, while the lower trapezius does not change. It points the same way as the 2020 Korean study, but it compares the group with itself, has seven people and a measure with a coefficient of variation of 60 per cent, and the fall in triceps activity also appears in the control group. A single, fragile study: reported.

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