A finer sense of shoulder position goes with better scores
4 studies · 114 archers measured
The summary today
Two studies of archers have set shoulder position sense against score, and almost all they find is an absence of any link. In 17 youngsters at the end of a beginners' course, shoulder position sense at 60 and 90 degrees has no link with 6 arrows shot at 10 metres. The most informative study follows 30 professional compound archers through twelve weeks of balance work: at the start, comparing the thirty archers with one another, shoulder position sense is not linked to score; over the weeks, those who most reduce their error in finding the bow shoulder raised to 125 degrees improve their score most (rho -0.505), but at the other five angles measured there is no link. The samples are small, the measures differ and there is no control group, and the only clear link depends on the angle chosen: for now the studies do not agree. Elastic taping of the shoulder sees position sense and score improve together, but without a control it does not show that one goes with the other; and in children under 12 a general kinaesthetic perception test, which does not concern the shoulder, carries little weight for score, in a model that claims to explain 97.1% of it.
Also phrased as: "proprioception and score"; "feeling the position of the shoulder"; "joint position sense in archery"; "training proprioception to shoot better"
In practice
It is said that a good archer feels the position without needing to look, and that training shoulder proprioception, with eyes closed or on unstable surfaces, makes the shot more repeatable.
Evidence
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2019
Context Archers Published later
30 female recurve archers from Tehran clubs, three arrows at 18, 30 and 50 m before and half an hour after elastic taping of the supraspinatus and deltoid of the drawing shoulder: the median score rises from 26 to 28, from 23 to 27 and from 23 to 26 out of a maximum of 30, and the error in reproducing 60 degrees of external rotation goes from -5.91 to -0.99 degrees, while at 30 degrees it does not change (0.60 against 0.23, p = 0.637). The two measures improve together, but with no control, no sham taping and the second test always after the first: it does not show that position sense goes with the score. Regional journal.
The Effects of Shoulder Kinesio Taping on Shooting Accuracy and Joint Position Sense in Female Archery Athletes · Banafsheh Rajabzadeh, Ali Amiri, Behnoosh Vasaghi-Gharamaleki, Seyed Hassan Saneii
-
2022
Context Archers Published later
37 archers under 12 from every club in West Jakarta, path analysis: kinaesthetic perception has a direct effect on the score with a coefficient of 0.130 (p = 0.021), a declared contribution of 1.69%, against 6.7% for eye-hand coordination and 15.8% for anxiety; the authors also credit it with an indirect effect, through anxiety, of 18.9%. The model claims to explain 97.1% of the score, an unusual figure for a cross-sectional study of children; regional journal. The test is a general kinaesthetic perception test, not shoulder position sense: that is why it is context.
The effect of eye-hand coordination, kinesthetic perception and anxiety on the results archery scoring of athlete u-12 west jakarta · Nurikhwan Aziz Arifin, Ika Novitaria Marani, Mansur Jauhari
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2025
Against Archers Published later
17 middle school pupils (11 girls and 6 boys) measured at the end of a basic Olympic bow course in Kırıkkale, 6 arrows at 10 m, mean 16.00 points with a standard deviation of 8.00: shoulder position sense, measured by reproducing 60 and 90 degrees of abduction, does not correlate with the score, and neither do limb lengths or body mass index. The only measure linked to the score is throwing a ball at a wall target (r = 0.507, p = 0.038), out of some ten uncorrected correlations. Thirty-five had started; regional journal.
Okçuluk Öğretimi ile Propriyosepsiyon Bazı Antropometrik Ölçümler ve Motor Beceri İlişkisi · Emrah Aslan, Zeynep Beyza Taşdemir
-
2026
For Archers Published later
30 professional compound archers from the Cyprus federation (mean age 28.2, 4 to 8 years of compound), twelve weeks of BOSU balance work twice a week on top of their shooting; score over 15 arrows at 18 m from 88.62 to 104.60. The eyes-closed repositioning error of the bow shoulder falls at 125 degrees of flexion from 4.51 to 4.03 degrees and at 125 degrees of abduction from 3.91 to 3.07. Those who most reduce the error at 125 degrees of flexion improve their scores the most (rho -0.505, p corrected for multiple comparisons 0.021); at 55 and 90 degrees of flexion and at the three abduction angles there is no link (rho between -0.167 and 0.238). A single group with no control: a correlation between changes, significant for one measure out of six.
Associations between changes in postural control, shoulder proprioception, and shooting accuracy in professional compound archers · Sema Acaröz, Tuba Yerlikaya, Hüseyin Bilal Özkader, Yelda Kıngır Soykurt
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2026
Against Archers Published later
In the same 30 compound archers the link with the score is missing for most measures: changes in repositioning error at 55 and 90 degrees of flexion and at 55, 90 and 125 degrees of abduction are not linked to gains in score (rho between -0.167 and 0.238, none significant), and at the start of the study, comparing the archers with one another, the score is not associated with any sensorimotor measure after correction for multiple comparisons. It is the comparison between archers closest to the claim, and it finds nothing.
Associations between changes in postural control, shoulder proprioception, and shooting accuracy in professional compound archers · Sema Acaröz, Tuba Yerlikaya, Hüseyin Bilal Özkader, Yelda Kıngır Soykurt
Status history
- 2019 Not studied The first paper in the bibliography to measure shoulder position sense and score together is an elastic taping study on 30 female recurve archers: half an hour after the tape, the error in finding 60 degrees of external rotation falls from 5.91 to 0.99 degrees and the median score over three arrows rises at all three distances. The two measures improve together, but with no control group and the second test always after the first, nobody can say that one goes with the other. No study has yet compared the position sense of different archers with their scores.
- 2022 Not studied In 37 archers under 12 from the clubs of West Jakarta, a path analysis gives kinaesthetic perception a direct effect on score with a coefficient of 0.130 (p = 0.021), a stated contribution of 1.69%. But the test is a general kinaesthetic perception test, not shoulder position sense, and the model claims to explain 97.1% of the score, an unusual figure for a cross-sectional study of children. It stays as context: for the shoulder, nobody has yet compared different archers with their scores.
- 2025 Contradicted The first study to compare the shoulder position sense of different archers with their scores finds nothing: in 17 middle-school pupils at the end of a beginners' Olympic recurve course, the ability to reproduce 60 and 90 degrees of abduction is not linked to 6 arrows shot at 10 metres, and the only test linked to score is throwing a ball at a target (r = 0.507). The sample is small and six arrows make an unstable measure, but it is the only evidence, and it goes against the claim: contradicted.
- 2026 Contested Thirty professional compound archers followed through twelve weeks of BOSU balance work added to their shooting: those who most reduce the error in finding the bow shoulder again at 125 degrees of flexion improve their scores the most, with rho -0.505 and a corrected p of 0.021. The starting error is about four degrees and it shrinks in flexion and in abduction, but the link with the score appears only at that angle, close to the one at which the bow is raised: at 55 and 90 degrees and at the three abduction angles it is not seen, and at the start of the study, comparing the thirty archers with one another, no measure of position sense is linked to score. The study therefore brings a hint on each side, in a single group with no control, and alongside the null result of 2025 the picture becomes contested.
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.
- The bow shoulder: how it rotates, why it rises and how hard it worksHow to hold the bow shoulder at full draw, why it tends to rise, and what X-rays, electromyography and position-sense tests have measured in archers.
- How to improve your archery score: where to start and what to work onHow to measure your level, what sets better archers apart and the levers on your score, from release to mind and load, and how well the evidence holds.
Research lines
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See the full assessmentCite
Campagna, M. (2026). A finer sense of shoulder position goes with better scores (Version 2). In Evidence Registry. Retrieved 16 October 2026, from https://matteocampagna.com/en/registry/physical-training/shoulder-proprioception-and-score
@misc{campagna2026_propriocezionespallapunteggio,
author = {Campagna, Matteo},
title = {A finer sense of shoulder position goes with better scores},
year = {2026},
howpublished = {Evidence Registry, matteocampagna.com},
url = {https://matteocampagna.com/en/registry/physical-training/shoulder-proprioception-and-score},
note = {Version 2; accessed 2026-10-16}
}
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