Expert archers do not grip the bow: the bow hand stays open even after the release

The summary today

Three independent measurements point the same way, from different sides. In 1992, on fifteen recurve archers, sensors on the grip show that almost all the load passes through the palm, high up and towards the finger side, while under the thumb and under the fingers the forces are low: the hand supports, it does not close, and it does so in the same way in the national squad archers and in the weaker ones. In 2009, electromyography on ten elite archers and ten beginners shows that in the experts the finger extensor works harder than the flexor over nearly the whole two-second window around the clicker, while in the beginners the two muscles sit at the same level and the flexor jumps a tenth of a second after the click. There is a detail the coaching does not mention: even in the experts the extensor's advantage disappears over the first three hundred milliseconds after the clicker, because both muscles peak at around two hundred and then relax. The difference between the two groups in the flexors only becomes clear from half a second onwards. Two master's projects from 2000 and 2001, on seven and six experienced archers with compound and traditional bows, add only a description: in the second, the finger flexors of the bow hand stay at rest for almost the whole draw and rise close to the release together with the extensors, with no way of telling which of the two prevails, and in the first the brachioradialis of the bow arm has its only peak at the release. In 2017 a third group, thirty-two young Malaysian archers, finds the finger extensor of the left arm more active in the higher scorers, but with p = 0.050, right on the threshold, and without saying which is the bow hand. Nobody in the bibliography has yet set the activity of the bow-hand muscles beside the score of the individual arrow.

Also phrased as: "relaxed bow hand"; "do not grip the handle"; "bow hand fingers extended"; "pressure on the grip"; "the bow falls into the sling"

Evidence

• 1971
  Context Kyudo archers Published later

  3 kyudo archers (fourth dan, second dan, beginner) with surface electromyography on 14 muscles: over the first half of the opening the bow arm is abducted and extended with the extensor carpi ulnaris, triceps, deltoid and teres major, while the string arm works with the flexor carpi radialis, the deltoid and the teres major. The authors read the rise in the extensor as fixation of the bow wrist. It concerns the wrist, not the hold on the grip, and kyudo uses a different handle.

  An Electromyographic Analysis of Japanese Archery · Sadatsugu Kamei, Hideji Matsui, Mitsumasa Miyashita

• 1992
  For Archers Published later

  15 American recurve archers, 8 from the national squad with FITA scores above 1,250 and 7 below 1,150, with an array of sensors on the grip and repeated measures: the highest forces sit on the upper rear sensors and on those on the finger side, while those on the thumb side and under the fingers register much lower forces. The load passes through the palm, and there are no systematic differences between the two groups. The measurement covers the final 150 ms before the release, not what follows; the same study, arrow by arrow, finds no consistent link between the distribution of force and where the arrow lands (only one archer in 15 vertically and three horizontally).

  Archery Bow Grip Force Distribution: Relationships with Performance and Fatigue · Philip E. Martin, Gary D. Heise

• 2000
  Context Archers Published later

  7 experienced archers, right-handed men aged 36 to 51 from the same club, about six draws each with a compound and a traditional bow at a foam target five feet away, surface electromyography on twelve muscles of both arms: the left brachioradialis, the one on the bow arm, has no period of peak activity during the draw with either bow and has its only peak at the release, higher with the traditional bow. The authors read it as the reaction that stops the bow from falling. It is an elbow muscle, not a finger muscle, and the data are descriptive only (table 3 and pp. 36-37).

  An Electromyographic and Video Motion Analysis Study of the Drawback and Hold Phases of a Compound Bow versus a Traditional Bow in Experienced Archers · Andrea L. Vagle

• 2001
  Context Archers Published later

  6 experienced archers, right-handed men aged 37 to 51 from the same club, four to six draws each with a compound and a traditional bow at a foam target five feet away, surface electromyography of the wrist and finger muscles of both hands: in the bow hand the finger flexors and the flexor carpi ulnaris stay at resting level until 97% of the time from the start of the draw to the release and then rise, and the radial wrist extensors and the finger extensor do the same between 94 and 98%. The signal is not normalised to maximal contraction, and the study itself says it cannot tell which muscle works harder: the bow hand switches on close to the release, but whether it closes or opens cannot be seen.

  Analysis of Wrist and Elbow Muscle Activity in Compound versus Traditional Bows with Experienced Archers · Jesse Fuhrer

• 2007
  Context Kyudo archers Published later

  19 university kyudo practitioners, 8 arrows at 28 m, with an instrumented bow recording force, upward push moment and torsion: the upward push, called ue-oshi in kyudo, is worth between 1 and 5 Nm in every subject, the torsion about the bow's long axis around 0.6 Nm, and over the five seconds before release none of the three quantities changes appreciably. It shows that the bow hand pushes and orients without gripping, but kyudo has a different handle and a different technique, and the study measures neither flexor activity nor the score of the individual arrow.

  B39 Quantification of TENOUCHI for Playing Kyudo · Sekiya Koike, Takuro Sugiura, Sakura Murata, Toshio Mori

• 2009
  For Archers Published later

  10 recurve archers from the German and Turkish national squads, 12 shots each, electromyography of the flexor digitorum superficialis and the finger extensor of the bow hand: the extensor exceeds the flexor in every interval of the two seconds around the clicker with p below 0.05, except between 100 and 300 ms after the click. In the experts the hand works in extension, not in flexion.

  Muscular activation patterns of the bow arm in recurve archery · Hayri Ertan

• 2009
  For Archers Published later

  In the same study, the comparison between the 10 elite archers and the 10 club beginners from Cologne and Ankara: activation of the finger extensor is higher in the elite group in every interval, with p below 0.05. The extension work of the bow hand grows with the level.

  Muscular activation patterns of the bow arm in recurve archery · Hayri Ertan

• 2009
  For Archers Published later

  The other side of the same comparison: the beginners have a more active finger flexor than the elite archers in almost every interval, and the difference is significant with p below 0.05 at 500, 600 and 700 ms after the clicker. Once the arrow has gone, the less experienced archers close the hand.

  Muscular activation patterns of the bow arm in recurve archery · Hayri Ertan

• 2009
  For Archers Published later

  In the 10 beginners the finger flexor rises sharply between 100 and 200 ms after the clicker goes off, with a significant difference from the extensor (p below 0.05), while before the click the two muscles sit at the same level. The grab does not accompany the aim, it arrives at the release.

  Muscular activation patterns of the bow arm in recurve archery · Hayri Ertan

• 2009
  Context Archers Published later

  In the 10 beginners the contraction values of the finger extensor and flexor do not differ from each other (p above 0.05): the difference is significant only at 100 and 200 ms after the clicker, and in favour of the flexor. In beginners the bow hand has no clear role.

  Muscular activation patterns of the bow arm in recurve archery · Hayri Ertan

• 2009
  Context Archers Published later

  The time limit of the comparison: the beginners have higher flexor values than the elite archers in every interval except the 200 ms one, but the difference only becomes significant (p below 0.05) at 500, 600 and 700 ms after the click. In the moments when the arrow is still on the string the two groups cannot be clearly told apart.

  Muscular activation patterns of the bow arm in recurve archery · Hayri Ertan

• 2009
  Context Archers Published later

  The detail the claim leaves out: even in the 10 elite archers the extensor exceeds the flexor in every interval except 100, 200 and 300 ms after the clicker, where the difference is not significant. At the moment of release the experts' bow hand is no longer clearly in extension.

  Muscular activation patterns of the bow arm in recurve archery · Hayri Ertan

• 2009
  Context Archers Published later

  In the elite archers both muscles of the bow hand peak at about 200 ms after the clicker and start to relax straight after. It is the time frame the comparison has to be read in: the interesting window lasts three tenths of a second.

  Muscular activation patterns of the bow arm in recurve archery · Hayri Ertan

• 2009
  Context Archers Published later

  In the 10 beginners too the two forearm muscles of the bow hand peak at around 200 ms after the click and return to resting values at around 300 ms, with the flexor rising sharply already at 100 ms. The timing is the same in both groups: what changes is which muscle does the work.

  Muscular activation patterns of the bow arm in recurve archery · Hayri Ertan

• 2017
  For Archers Published later

  32 young Malaysian archers aged 13 to 20, split by cluster analysis into 20 higher scorers and 12 lower scorers, six arrows at 50 m with electromyography on the finger extensor of the left arm: in the better group the extensor works harder, with t = 1.98 on 30 degrees of freedom and p = 0.050, right on the threshold. The authors read it as a bow hand that does not grip, but the two groups come from a cluster analysis on the same measures, score included. The paper does not state handedness, so taking the left arm as the bow arm is an assumption, and it covers the aim and the release, not what comes after.

  Analysis of biological and mechanical related performance parameters of Malaysian senior youth archers · Zahari Taha, Mainul Haque, Rabiu Muazu Musa, Mohamad Razali Abdullah, Ahmad Bisyri Husin Musawi Maliki, Siti Musliha Mat-Rashid, Norlaila Azura Kosni, Aleesha Adnan

Status history

1. 1971 Not studied The oldest observation in the bibliography is about the wrist, not the hand. In three kyudo archers the wrist of the bow arm is locked by the extensor carpi ulnaris and that of the string arm by the flexor carpi radialis, and the authors read the extensor's burst as the wrist fixation needed to hold the aim and push harder. Whether the hand grips or stays open is not measured: the question is not yet asked.
2. 1992 Reported The first measurement of the force on the grip, on fifteen recurve archers, shows that almost all the load passes through the palm, higher up and towards the finger side, while the sensors under the thumb and under the fingers register much lower forces. The hand supports, it does not close, and it does so in the same way in the eight national squad archers and in the seven weaker ones. It is a description from a small sample, looking at the moments before the release and not those after: reported.
3. 2001 Reported Two master's projects in physical therapy from the University of North Dakota, in 2000 and 2001, record electromyography of the bow arm and bow hand in seven and six experienced archers from the same club, with a compound and a traditional bow, at a foam target five feet away. The finger flexors of the bow hand stay at resting level for almost the whole draw and rise only close to the release, together with the extensors and the wrist muscles; the brachioradialis of the bow arm has its only peak at the release, which the authors read as the reaction that stops the bow from falling. These are descriptions without normalisation to maximal contraction, so they do not say whether the hand closes or opens at that moment: the status stays reported.
4. 2007 Reported An instrumented kyudo bow measures for the first time what the hand actually does on the grip: in nineteen university practitioners the upward push is worth between one and five newton metres and the torsion about the bow's long axis around six tenths, and in the seconds before release these values stay practically still. The hand works by pushing, not by closing. It is a different discipline, with a different handle, and it does not say whether the fingers are open: the status does not move.
5. 2009 Reported The first electromyographic measurement of the bow hand that compares levels arrives, and it comes from a group independent of the 1992 one. In ten elite archers the finger extensor exceeds the flexor over nearly the whole two-second window around the clicker; in the ten beginners the two muscles work at the same level and the flexor jumps right after the click. The direction is the one the claim describes and there are now two independent studies, but it is still twenty people in a cross-sectional comparison, with no link at all to where the arrow lands: the status holds at reported.
6. 2017 Reported A third group, independent of the previous two, sets electromyography of the bow hand beside the score for the first time. In thirty-two young Malaysian archers, split into higher and lower scorers, the finger extensor of the left arm is more active in the better group, with p = 0.050, right on the threshold of significance, and the authors conclude that those who shoot better do not grip the bow. It is a comparison between groups over six arrows, not arrow by arrow, handedness is not stated and the period after the release is not measured: the direction is the same and the status stays reported.

Related

Related articles

• The bow hand: where it pushes, how much it closes and how much torque mattersHow the hand sits on the grip, how much expert archers squeeze, and what the measurements say about grip pressure, its consistency and bow torque.
• The follow-through: what happens after the arrow has goneIn the top archers measured, the arrow leaves the string in about 15 milliseconds. What the body does next, what studies have found and where they stop.

Research lines

• 17 studiesGrip pressure and bow torque: from 1971 to today
• 48 studiesBow stability and aiming time: research since 1971

Other claims in this domain

• CorroboratedBetween one and a half and two tenths of a second pass between the clicker sounding and the arrow leaving7 studies · 94 archers measuredStatus since 1990
• ReportedA camera diagonally behind the archer measures the vertical sway of the aim well, but not the horizontal1 study · 3 archers measuredStatus since 2010
• ReportedA continuous final pull through the clicker leads to better shots9 studies · 56 archers measuredStatus since 1993
• ReportedA sound or light cue about the angle of the bow arm tightens beginners' groups2 studies · 1 archers measuredStatus since 2012
• ReportedA thumb grip on the string is less tiring than a finger grip3 studies · 9 archers measuredStatus since 1990

See all claims on technique and biomechanics