Field card: Health and recovery
An A4 sheet to take to the range: the terms that recur in the studies in this domain, with a one-line definition, and the registry claims that are currently corroborated, contested, contradicted or refuted.
It fits on a single A4 sheet. You can also print with Ctrl+P, or Cmd+P on a Mac.
Terms
- Lower trapezius
- The lower part of the trapezius, which draws the shoulder blade down and towards the spine and helps it rotate upwards as the arm rises.
- Overuse injury
- A complaint that does not come from a blow or a single incident but from repeating the movement, arrow after arrow, until the tissue can no longer cope with the load.
- Rotator cuff
- The group of deep shoulder muscles (supraspinatus, infraspinatus, teres minor and subscapularis) that keeps the head of the humerus centred in the socket.
- Body mass index
- Body weight in kilograms divided by the square of height in metres.
- Hypohydration
- The state of having lost body water without replacing it.
- Urine specific gravity
- How concentrated urine is compared with water: a high value is read as a sign that the body is short of fluid.
- Beta blockers
- Drugs that blunt the effect of adrenaline on the heart and lower heart rate.
- Lateral epicondyle
- The bony prominence on the outer side of the elbow where the muscles that extend the wrist and fingers begin.
- Kinesiology tape
- The elastic adhesive tape applied to the skin over a muscle or joint.
- Basal metabolic rate
- The energy the body uses at complete rest simply to sustain its basic functions, measured in the morning after fasting.
- Isotonic drink
- A drink containing sugars and salts at a concentration close to that of the body's fluids, designed to replace the water and salts lost in sweat.
- L-theanine
- An amino acid found in tea, sold as a supplement with the aim of easing tension.
Claims
- Contested In Florida recurve archers report more injuries, but in India shoulder pain does not change with the bow: two studies pointing in different directions.
- Contested Blood glucose holds in short tests and over 72 arrows shot after lunch, differs from rest after a simulated morning block, and never reaches hypoglycaemia.
- Contested Four studies disagree: Turkish national archers sleep over seven hours, while kyudo students and Indian teenagers sleep less than is recommended.
- Contested In US emergency departments fingers and hand are 83% of archery injury sites in men, but among competitive archers the few acute cases mostly hit the arm.
- Contested In two small studies on archers, with kinesiology tape the shoulder finds a position more accurately, but nobody compared the tape with sham tape or none.
- Contested It depends how you measure: few severe injuries in one study, but frequent overuse from 1971 onwards and no reliable count per hour of shooting.
- Contested Two studies in archers point opposite ways: no effect against a blinded placebo in six boys, a large jump without placebo in twelve university archers.
- Contested In many groups of archers body mass index sits between 24 and 26, but in others it is well within the normal range, and the index cannot tell muscle from fat.
- Contested In twenty Indonesian university archers, urine showed dehydration before the session had even begun, and daily fluid intake stayed below the recommended amount.
- Contested Two studies disagree: among 156 Indian archers shoulder pain is more common over twenty, while among 62 elite archers age makes no difference.
- Contested In a study of 58 Japanese kyudo students, those who had had the yips reported more injuries, but the link fades once years of practice are accounted for.
- Contested One 2002 study of seven archers: a small aorta and total arterial diameter next to endurance sports, but a radial artery among the widest.
- Contested In sixteen archers urinary lactate follows the physical load, but a second paper on the same archers also links it to tension in competition.
- Contested Only one weak result links more training days to more overuse injuries, while three studies of archers find no link with training load.
- Contested In 1971 one kyudo archer in four warmed up or did other exercise; today almost 90 per cent of competitive archers warm up, but few do strength work.
- Contested Eight weeks of archery in 34 sedentary young men raised two heart rate variability indices and left the rest unchanged, with no comparison between groups.
- Contested In one randomised trial, carotenoids with omega-3 nudged up the scores of archers and shooters, but the archers' arrow groups did not get any tighter.
- Contested One study of 15 young archers: after a year of sleep education they fall asleep sooner, but they do not sleep longer and are no less sleepy by day.
- Contradicted The only controlled study of archers in the bibliography, randomised with placebo in 15 national-team archers, finds no gain in score or aiming.
- Contradicted The only study that has measured scores, in thirteen young Malaysian archers, found no drop in score during the Ramadan fast.
- Contradicted In the only study, eleven young Malaysian archers had no stronger bones than sedentary peers or badminton players of the same age.