Bow arm and draw arm in young archers: Sarı 2025 study

Thirteen registered archers aged 11 to 18, each with at least two years of practice, were measured on both sides of the body, comparing the arm that draws the string with the arm that holds the bow. The drawing arm was stronger in almost every test: shoulder flexion, abduction and adduction, elbow flexion and extension, and all four grips measured. The large differences, with a Cohen's d above 1, concern only the finger grips, though: palmar grip 6.05 against 5.22 (d 1.29), fingertip grip 5.18 against 4.55 (d 1.07), lateral grip 7.35 against 6.09 (d 1.74). Elsewhere the effect was small or moderate: 0.59 for elbow flexion, 0.46 for shoulder abduction, 0.21 for whole-hand grip (30.42 against 28.78).

On the drawing side the shoulder external rotators were shorter (10.60 against 6.60 cm, d 0.75), and the same held, with smaller differences, for pectoralis minor and trunk rotation. Among the scapular measures, only the distance from the upper border to the spine (7.67 against 7.10), lateral slide at 45 degrees (10.53 against 9.75) and the acromion to wall distance differed between sides. In the photographic posture analysis the shoulder and hip on the drawing side were tilted further forward (2.80 against 2.39, and 2.24 against 1.86). On the musculoskeletal questionnaire the back and lower back were the sites of pain mentioned most often, then the knee and the neck.

The study is cross-sectional and has no comparison group: each archer serves as their own control, because the two sides of the body are compared. Sample size was calculated in advance for a right versus left comparison (13 people, with d = 0.86 and 80% power); of the 15 archers approached, one declined and one did not meet the inclusion criteria. All were right-handed. Shoulder and elbow strength was measured with a MicroFET 2 handheld dynamometer, grip with a Jamar dynamometer, and arm circumference 10 cm above and below the elbow. Muscle shortness and flexibility are clinical tests in centimetres; the scapula was assessed with distances from the spine and with the Lateral Scapular Slide Test at 0, 45 and 90 degrees, and lateral trunk endurance with the side bridge.

Posture was analysed with the PostureScreen Mobile app on photographs from the front, back and side, with anatomical landmarks marked on the images. Complaints were collected with the Cornell Musculoskeletal Disorders Questionnaire. The two sides were compared with the Wilcoxon test, alongside Cohen's d. Bow type was recorded but is not reported, the pain questionnaire is described without any figures and no units are given for strength.

The main limitation lies in the design. All were right-handed and, according to the discussion, most drew with the dominant arm, so the drawing side largely coincides with the side of the stronger hand, and without a group of peers who do not shoot there is no way to tell how much of the asymmetry comes from archery and how much from ordinary handedness; the authors touch on this in the discussion. The archers were measured only once, so the study does not show the asymmetry growing with years of practice, and no measure is linked to score or to injuries that actually occurred: the injury risk in the title is inferred, not observed.

The data contain several inconsistencies. The sample percentages (57.1% male, 42.9% female, 21.4% wearing glasses) correspond to 14 people, not 13. For lateral trunk endurance the bow side has a maximum of 22 and a mean of 59.42, which is impossible. Some d values in the text do not match the table (1.72 and 1.74 for lateral grip, 1.31 and 1.29 for palmar grip). The discussion refers to elite archers and to pain mainly in the upper limbs, whereas the sample is a youth one and the results put the back and lower back first, followed by the knee.

The study describes how thirteen young archers with a few years of practice look when their two sides are compared: on the drawing side the finger grips are clearly stronger, the shoulder somewhat stronger and the external rotators stiffer. The picture is consistent with the work the drawing arm does, but the study cannot separate it from handedness, and most of the differences are small. The scapular ones in particular amount to a few millimetres and come from clinical measures with their own margin of error.

The authors' conclusion, that strengthening and stretching exercises are needed to prevent postural problems, is their own proposal: no exercise was tested and no injury was counted. For anyone working with young archers, the most concrete finding is the stiffness of the external rotators on the drawing side (d 0.75), which is useful to know about as a possible adaptation to shooting; finding out whether it has consequences would need a study that follows archers over time and records injuries.