Matteo Campagna
ITEN
Menu
Menu

Experienced archers show scapular dyskinesis more often than beginners

2 studies · 101 archers measured

ForContextAgainst201820202022202420262021, context, n = 1002018, context, n = 1
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.

There is a single comparison, in a journal with questionable editorial standards. Among 100 Indian recurve archers aged 15 to 25, on the scapular dyskinesis test the movement of the shoulder blade is rated normal in 30% of the 50 district, state or national-level archers against 58% of the 50 beginners on the drawing arm (p = 0.005), and in 40% against 54% on the bow arm (p = 0.012); obvious dyskinesis stands at 18% against 8% on both sides. The experienced group has been shooting for 4.3 years on average, the beginners for 1.9: years of practice and level go together, so it is impossible to say which of the two counts. The study excluded anyone with a history of upper-limb trauma, but it did not measure pain, and the test is a visual rating of movement; nor does it say whether this dyskinesis is a risk for the shoulder or an adaptation to shooting. Before this comparison there is only a case report from 2018, a world-class Korean archer with the shoulder blade out of position and a clunk in the drawing shoulder, which says nothing about frequency. It is a cross-sectional association in a venue with questionable editorial standards: the registry reports it but does not use it to decide the status, which remains not studied.

Also phrased as: "scapular dyskinesis in archers"; "winging shoulder blade in archery"; "shoulder blade movement and years of shooting"; "drawing-arm shoulder blade"

In practice

People say the experienced archer's shoulder blade works differently, and a shoulder blade that lifts off the back is read sometimes as a sign of strength, sometimes as the first step towards shoulder pain.

Evidence

Status history

  1. 2018 Not studied Before any comparison there is a single case: a world-class Korean archer with a career of about twenty years who has heard a clunk in his drawing shoulder during the holding phase for five years, with the shoulder blade out of position on CT and a glenoid labrum lesion on MRI. It shows that dyskinesis can be found in a top-level archer, but it is a single person, with symptoms, and it says nothing about how common it is in experienced archers and in beginners: not studied.
  2. 2021 Not studied The first and only comparison arrives: 100 Indian recurve archers aged 15 to 25, 50 high-level and 50 beginners, with no history of upper-limb trauma. On the drawing arm the movement of the shoulder blade is rated normal in 30% of the experienced archers against 58% of the beginners, and on the bow arm in 40% against 54%. In the experienced group dyskinesis weighs more on the drawing arm, while in beginners the two sides look alike, although the comparison between sides was not tested. It is a cross-sectional comparison in a journal with questionable editorial standards: the registry reports it but does not use it to decide the status, which remains not studied.

Related

Related articles

Research lines

Cite
APA

Campagna, M. (2026). Experienced archers show scapular dyskinesis more often than beginners (Version 3). In Evidence Registry. Retrieved 16 October 2026, from https://matteocampagna.com/en/registry/health/scapular-dyskinesis-in-experienced-archers

BibTeX
@misc{campagna2026_discinesiascapolareesperienza,
  author = {Campagna, Matteo},
  title = {Experienced archers show scapular dyskinesis more often than beginners},
  year = {2026},
  howpublished = {Evidence Registry, matteocampagna.com},
  url = {https://matteocampagna.com/en/registry/health/scapular-dyskinesis-in-experienced-archers},
  note = {Version 3; accessed 2026-10-16}
}

Other claims in this domain

See all claims on health and recovery