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In archers, age is not associated with more overuse injuries

2 studies · 218 archers measured

ForContextAgainst2016201820202022202420262017, against, n = 1562018, for, n = 62
Each circle is a study: its position gives the year, its row whether it is for, against or context, its size how many participants it measured. Light circles are studies on other populations or without archers.

The two studies that look at it disagree, and neither is built to answer it. Among 156 Indian university archers, aged 15 to 28, those with shoulder pain at the time of the examination were more often over twenty, 51 per cent against 32 per cent of those without, with an odds ratio of 2.13, and the authors read it as micro-injuries building up over the years of shooting; in the abstract of the same paper, though, the risk factor becomes young age. Among 62 high-level recurve archers, asked about the injuries of their whole career, age shows no link with overuse problems, even though the German championship group, which was older, had had far more of them than the European group, 72 per cent against 36. Neither counts injuries per hour of shooting, and age is tangled up with years of practice: today the question remains open.

Also phrased as: "age and injuries in archery"; "older archers and injuries"; "archery can be done at any age"; "shoulder overuse with age"; "overuse injuries and years of practice"

In practice

It is often said that archery can be practised at any age without the joints paying the price, and that aches depend on draw weight and technique more than on years.

Evidence

  • 2017
    Against Archers Published later

    156 Indian university archers, 91 men and 65 women, 20.3 ± 2.3 years old (from 15 to 28), interviewed with both shoulders examined during a national tournament: among those with current shoulder pain 50.6% are 20 or older, among those without it 32.4% (chi-square 5.24, odds ratio 2.13, p ≤ 0.05). The results and discussion say pain is more common in the older archers; the abstract speaks of young age. It measures pain at that moment, not overuse injuries.

    Prevalence of Shoulder Pain in Competitive Archery · Jasleen Kaur Grover, Akhoury Gourang Kumar Sinha

  • 2018
    For Archers Published later

    62 high-level recurve archers from eight countries, 40 at the German indoor championship and 22 at the 2012 European outdoor championship, with a retrospective questionnaire on their whole career: no correlation between age and the occurrence of overuse injuries, though the paper does not report the coefficient. The German group was older and had had more overuse problems, 71.8% against 36.4% (p = 0.007), but it also trained less often and with fewer arrows.

    Acute and Overuse Injuries in Elite Archers · Claudia K. Niestroj, Volker Schöffl, Thomas Küpper

Status history

  1. 2017 Contradicted The first figure goes against it. A hundred and fifty-six Indian university archers, examined during a national tournament, aged 15 to 28: current shoulder pain, which in most cases shows the clinical signs of overuse, is more common over the age of twenty, 43 of the 85 archers with pain against 23 of the 71 without, with an odds ratio of 2.13. The authors explain it by micro-injuries building up over years of shooting, although the abstract of the same paper says young age. It is a single study, measuring pain at that moment rather than injuries, and splitting age in two at twenty: contradicted.
  2. 2018 Contested Sixty-two high-level recurve archers, at the German indoor championship and the European outdoor championship, answer a questionnaire on the injuries of their whole career, and age shows no link with overuse problems. The same study notes that the German group, which was older, had had far more of them, 72 per cent against 36, but it also trained differently, and the correlation with age is absent. There is now one study on each side, both cross-sectional and based on what archers report: contested.

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Research lines

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Cite
APA

Campagna, M. (2026). In archers, age is not associated with more overuse injuries (Version 2). In Evidence Registry. Retrieved 16 October 2026, from https://matteocampagna.com/en/registry/health/age-overuse-injuries-archers

BibTeX
@misc{campagna2026_etainfortunisovraccarico,
  author = {Campagna, Matteo},
  title = {In archers, age is not associated with more overuse injuries},
  year = {2026},
  howpublished = {Evidence Registry, matteocampagna.com},
  url = {https://matteocampagna.com/en/registry/health/age-overuse-injuries-archers},
  note = {Version 2; accessed 2026-10-16}
}

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