Strengthening the lower trapezius reduces shoulder pain in archers
3 studies · 46 archers measured
The summary today
The only trial that measured pain involves archers who already had a sore shoulder, which makes it a treatment, and the registry does not use treatments of pain as evidence: that is why the status is not studied, even though the finding points the way the claim does. A Korean group randomised thirty-one elite recurve archers with shoulder pain and had sixteen of them work on the lower trapezius three times a week for eight weeks: pain fell from 4.56 to 2.88 out of ten in those who trained and rose slightly in those who did not, and perceived shoulder instability fell as well. It remains a single trial, on thirty-one people, in a regional journal and without blinded assessment. Those who have returned to the archer's lower trapezius since then looked at strength, muscle activation and score, leaving out the pain itself.
Also phrased as: "lower trapezius exercises for archers"; "scapular strengthening and shoulder pain"; "lower trapezius and the archer's shoulder"; "how to settle shoulder pain while shooting"
In practice
In prevention routines for archers the lower trapezius is the muscle to wake up, on the idea that it holds the shoulder blade down and takes load off the shoulder.
Evidence
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2018
Context Archers Published later
A single world-class Korean archer, with a click in the drawing shoulder for five years and mild discomfort: eight weeks of scapular stabilisation exercises, not of the lower trapezius alone. Lower trapezius strength rises from 22.13 to 28.46 kg and is at 30.33 a year later; the sports module of the shoulder disability questionnaire falls from 75.00 to 6.25 and the questionnaire on apprehension about the noise from 51 to 22. Pain is not measured as an outcome, and a single case has no comparison.
An 8-week scapular stabilization exercise program in an elite archer with scapular dyskinesis presenting joint noise: A case report with one-year follow-up · Jin-Taek Kim, Suhn-Yeop Kim, Duck-Won Oh
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2020
Context Archers Published later
31 Korean elite recurve archers aged 18.9, at university and high school, with shoulder pain, randomised into 16 exercise and 15 control: eight weeks of lower trapezius strengthening, three sessions a week. The numerical pain rating goes from 4.56 to 2.88 in the exercise group and from 3.20 to 3.67 in the control group, with a group-by-time interaction of F = 11.43 and p = 0.002. These are archers with pain treated for that pain: for the registry this is a clinical intervention, and the study counts as context.
Effects of Lower Trapezius Strengthening Exercise on Shoulder Pain, Function and Archery Performance in Elite Archers · Eunkuk Kim, Jinho Kim, Jinyoung You
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2020
Context Archers Published later
In the same group perceived shoulder instability falls too, measured with the WOSI questionnaire: from 90.1 to 62.0 in those who trained and from 74.5 to 71.9 in the control group, with an interaction of F = 7.05 and p = 0.013. Two different outcomes moving the same way, which makes the result harder to explain by the attention received alone.
Effects of Lower Trapezius Strengthening Exercise on Shoulder Pain, Function and Archery Performance in Elite Archers · Eunkuk Kim, Jinho Kim, Jinyoung You
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2022
Context Archers Published later
14 university recurve archers, 7 and 7 with the groups chosen by preference, twelve weeks of work centred on the lower trapezius: the muscle gets stronger, on the drawing side the upper trapezius falls from 78 to 44 per cent of maximal contraction and the upper to lower ratio goes from 2.2 to 1.1, while the simulated-round score rises from 628 to 639 out of 720. Pain was not measured, so on the outcome that matters here the work says nothing.
Twelve-Week Lower Trapezius-Centred Muscular Training Regimen in University Archers · Chien-Nan Liao, Chun-Hao Fan, Wei-Hsiu Hsu, Chia-Fang Chang, Pei-An Yu, Liang-Tseng Kuo, et al.
Status history
- 2018 Not studied That the archer's shoulder hurts has been known for a long time, and the lower trapezius is the muscle coaches name first, but nobody has yet tried strengthening a single muscle in archers and measuring whether the pain comes down. The closest data come from a case report: a world-class archer with a clicking shoulder does eight weeks of scapular stabilisation, lower trapezius strength rises by almost 30 per cent and reported disability collapses. It is one archer, the programme works on the whole scapula and pain is not among the outcomes: the question remains unanswered.
- 2020 Not studied A Korean group randomises thirty-one elite recurve archers with shoulder pain, stratifying by sex and experience, and has sixteen of them work on the lower trapezius three times a week for eight weeks. Pain falls from 4.56 to 2.88 out of ten in those who train and rises slightly in the control group, with a clear group-by-time interaction, and perceived shoulder instability falls as well. The trial has the right design and points the way the claim does, but it treats pain that was already there, which makes it a clinical intervention, and the registry does not use treatments of pain as evidence: the study stays as context and the status remains not studied.
- 2022 Not studied The archer's lower trapezius returns in a controlled study of fourteen university archers over twelve weeks of targeted work: the muscle gets stronger, upper trapezius activation during the draw falls and the simulated score rises by about eleven points. Pain, though, was not measured, so nothing arrives on the outcome the claim is about that the registry can count, and the status remains not studied.
Related
Related articles
- Shoulder pain when you shoot: what the numbers say about archersHow many archers have shoulder pain, how bad it is and on which side, and what turns up in those who hurt: what the studies measured and where they stop.
- 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.
Research lines
Where there are no studies on archers, every decision starts from a written hypothesis and is checked against the data over time.
See the programmeCite
Campagna, M. (2026). Strengthening the lower trapezius reduces shoulder pain in archers (Version 3). In Evidence Registry. Retrieved 16 October 2026, from https://matteocampagna.com/en/registry/health/lower-trapezius-shoulder-pain
@misc{campagna2026_trapezioinferioredolorespalla,
author = {Campagna, Matteo},
title = {Strengthening the lower trapezius reduces shoulder pain in archers},
year = {2026},
howpublished = {Evidence Registry, matteocampagna.com},
url = {https://matteocampagna.com/en/registry/health/lower-trapezius-shoulder-pain},
note = {Version 3; accessed 2026-10-16}
}
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