Scapular stabilisation exercises improve score

The summary today

Four studies have tried to change the score by working on the muscles that hold the shoulder blade, and they do not agree. The first is also the soundest: a randomised trial on thirty-one elite Korean archers, eight weeks of lower-trapezius strengthening, and the score over fifteen arrows at seventy metres stays where it was, from 132.1 to 132.1, while functional balance in both arms improves and shoulder pain goes down. Two years later fourteen Taiwanese university archers do twelve weeks of the same kind of work and gain eleven points over seventy-two arrows, while the group that does not train loses sixteen: all seven who trained improved against two out of seven, yet the final comparison between the groups falls short of significance and the groups were not randomised. In 2025 a randomised trial on thirty young archers sees the score rise by eighteen per cent with scapular stabilisation, and in the same year adding Flexi-bar work to kinesio taping does not change the accuracy of twenty-two barebow archers. There is a thread running through the results, and it is where they stop: the shoulder improves, the ratio between upper and lower trapezius comes back into balance, the joint angles at full draw stay the same. Whether the points follow depends on which study you read.

Also phrased as: "scapular exercises and score"; "lower trapezius work means more points"; "scapular stability in archery"; "off-the-bow shoulder exercises improve shooting"

Evidence

• 2020
  Against Archers Published later

  31 elite Korean recurve archers, randomised with stratification by sex and experience, eight weeks of four prone bodyweight exercises three times a week (Y-raise, T-raise, modified prone cobra and external rotation at 90 degrees of abduction) with progressive load: 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 (interaction F = 1.40, p = 0.247). In the same study functional balance improves in both arms (bow arm from 71.3 to 79.0 against 75.5 to 71.1, F = 22.97, p = 0.001; string arm from 71.2 to 79.6 against 74.3 to 74.0, F = 14.17, p = 0.001), and among the muscle activation ratios only the upper to lower trapezius ratio shifts (F = 4.74, p = 0.038), while the other trapezius ratios and every deltoid ratio stay as they were. The shoulder changes, 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 squad, 7 training and 7 changing nothing, twelve weeks of lower-trapezius-centred exercises: the score of a simulated competition over 72 arrows at 70 m goes from 628 ± 19 to 639 ± 20 (p = 0.045, d = 0.56) in the training group and from 617 ± 29 to 601 ± 44 in the control group (p = 0.125); 7 out of 7 improved against 2 out of 7 (p = 0.026, Fisher's exact test). The direct comparison between the groups at the end stays above the threshold (p = 0.062) and the groups were not randomised, so the effect is suggested rather than shown.

  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.

• 2025
  For Archers Published later

  30 archers aged 15 to 24 from an Istanbul club, about four years of practice, randomised into three groups of ten for eight weeks: 6 arrows at 18 m go from 46.7 to 55.2 points with scapular stabilisation (+18.2 per cent) and from 45.0 to 52.8 with proprioceptive neuromuscular facilitation (+17.3 per cent), against 44.7 to 47.4 in the group that simply carried on training (interaction F = 70.8, p < 0.001). There is no difference between the two kinds of exercise (2.05 points, p = 0.155). Two caveats: the control group also improved by 6 per cent, so part of the gain does not come from the exercises, and six arrows are too few for a stable score. The article's arithmetic all recomputes from the published values, partial eta squared and the interaction F included, and that is exactly what allows the standard deviations the main table does not print to be recovered: 2.78 points between archers before, 2.12 after, and about 1.19 on the individual change. That last number implies six arrows pin an archer down to within 0.84 points, that is 0.34 per single arrow on a scale from five to ten, which is not how arrows group: the direction of the result holds, the eighteen per cent magnitude does not. The post hoc comparison, moreover, is computed on the average of before and after, so it mixes the starting point with the gain; redone on the gains it gives a 5.80-point advantage for stabilisation and 5.10 for facilitation, both well past the threshold. The scapula was not measured, for strength, angle or range, and on the dose of the exercises no sets or repetitions are stated.

  The Effect of Different Exercise Methods on Shooting Performance in Archers · Bünyamin Yamanarda, Deniz Demirci

• 2025
  Against Archers Published later

  22 barebow archers aged 14 to 18 from an Indonesian club, four weeks, three times a week, two active groups: adding Flexi-bar shoulder exercises to kinesio taping does not improve accuracy more than taping alone (25.45 ± 1.57 against 26.36 ± 1.36, a difference of 0.91, p = 0.163). It is not scapular stabilisation in the strict sense, but it is an added shoulder exercise, measured on the target, and it moves nothing. On shoulder joint position sense in abduction there is a difference, at p = 0.00, and it favours the group without the exercises: the error is 66.64 mm with tape alone against 80.91 with the Flexi-bar, and the lower error is the better one. The article's abstract lists that comparison among those without a significant difference.

  Effectiveness of Combination Flexi-Bar Shoulder Exercise to the Kinesiotaping Application on Increasing Upper Extremity Proprioceptive Ability and Shooting Accuracy in Archery Athletes at Gandawa Archery Club · Embun Dinihari, Indira Vidiari Juhanna, Syahmirza Indra Lesmana

• 2026
  Context Review Published later

  A systematic review of fifteen exercise studies in archery between 2015 and 2025, without meta-analysis. It takes up the 2022 study with its figures: simulated score from 628 to 639 (p = 0.045) in the training group and no change in the control group, lower-trapezius strength from 8 to 9 kgf (p = 0.045), horizontal abductor strength from 81 to 93 per cent of body weight (p = 0.048) and the upper to lower trapezius ratio from 2.2 to 1.1. It is the same evidence already counted once, so it sits here as a second reading and not as an extra study.

  Systematic Review of Exercise Interventions in Archery: Injury Management and Performance Outcomes · Ambusam Subramaniam, Fairus Fariza Zainudin, Mon Redee Sut Txi

• 2026
  Context Review Published later

  A focused systematic review of five studies on the draw force line in recurve archery. Of the twelve-week lower-trapezius programme in fourteen archers it reports the point that matters most here: the strength of that muscle and of the horizontal abductors rises, while shoulder abduction and horizontal extension angles at full draw stay unchanged (p > 0.05). The effect stopped before the movement.

  Impact of Kinematic Variables of the Draw Force Line on Performance in Recurve Archery: A Focused Systematic Literature Review Questionable venue · Namchan Norbu Bhutia, Atanu Ghosh, Snehunsu Adhikari, Awesh Khati

Status history

1. 1990 Not studied No study in the registry's bibliography had yet measured score before and after a programme for the muscles that stabilise the shoulder blade.
2. 2020 Contradicted The first study on archers is a randomised trial on thirty-one elite Korean archers, with allocation stratified by sex and experience, and on the outcome that matters here it finds nothing: after eight weeks of lower-trapezius strengthening the score over fifteen arrows at seventy metres goes from 132.1 to 132.1. In the same study shoulder pain, perceived instability and functional balance all improve. A single, well-run study with a null result on score: contradicted, for now.
3. 2022 Contested The first result in favour arrives. Twelve weeks of lower-trapezius-centred exercises in fourteen university archers take the score over seventy-two arrows at seventy metres from 628 to 639 out of 720, while the control group falls from 617 to 601, and all seven who trained improved against two out of seven controls. The final comparison between the groups, though, falls short of significance, and the groups were not randomised. Two studies on archers pointing in opposite directions: contested.
4. 2025 Contested A three-group randomised trial on thirty archers aged fifteen to twenty-four raises the score by eighteen per cent with scapular stabilisation and by seventeen with proprioceptive neuromuscular facilitation, against six per cent in the group that simply carried on training. In the same year, though, adding Flexi-bar work to kinesio taping does not change the accuracy of twenty-two barebow archers. The evidence in favour grows, the 2020 trial still shows no effect and the disagreement does not close.
5. 2026 Contested Two reviews take up the 2022 study with its figures: one confirms the rebalancing between upper and lower trapezius, the other adds that the muscle's strength rises while the shoulder angles at full draw stay the same. It is the same evidence read twice, so it counts once and the status does not move, but it becomes clearer where the effect stops, that is before the movement itself.

Related

Related articles

• Exercises, tape and massage for the archer's shoulder: what has been testedLower trapezius work, scapular stabilisation, bands, kinesiology tape and massage: what they change in archers' shoulders and in the score.
• Which muscles work in an archery shot, and at what share of their maximumWhich muscles switch on in an archery shot, in which phase and at what share of their maximum, and why studies give different figures for the same muscle.
• Specific strength for archers: 8 exercises and why they matterEight specific strength exercises for archers, with the numbers behind them: which muscles work in the shot, which equipment to use, how to plan the week.

Research lines

• 39 studiesPhysical training interventions: what has been tested
• 102 studiesFrom the total on the scorecard to the arrow's coordinates

Other claims in this domain

• ReportedA battery of physical tests identifies the most promising young archers7 studies · 373 archers measuredStatus since 2018
• ReportedA few weeks of archery improves children's balance1 study · 32 archers measuredStatus since 2009
• ReportedA mobility and stretching programme improves an archer's flexibility1 study · 30 archers measuredStatus since 2025
• ReportedA spell of reduced training makes the score drop1 study · 9 archers measuredStatus since 2021
• ReportedA strength programme away from the range increases an archer's measured strength15 studies · 316 archers measuredStatus since 2018

See all claims on physical training