Matteo Campagna
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Archers have better fine manual dexterity than people who do not shoot

2 studies · 142 archers measured

ForContextAgainst20102015202020252026, for, n = 1142026, context, n = 1142010, context, n = 28
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.

A single study compares archers' fine dexterity with that of people who do not shoot, and it points the way the claim does. Thirty-eight Chinese archers of provincial or national level, with an average of more than nine years' practice, beat thirty-eight sedentary people of the same age on every dexterity test, with differences ranging from moderate to very large: on the Purdue Pegboard the total score is 44.8 against 40.8, and on the grooved pegboard with the dominant hand they finish in 52.4 seconds against 59.5. The study adds a third group, thirty-eight basketball players, and the comparison with them shows how far the advantage goes: the archers stay ahead on the Purdue placement tests, with moderate differences, and on the grooved pegboard with the dominant hand, but on the grooved pegboard with the non-dominant hand and on the assembly subtest they are level. The advantage over sedentary people is clear, while the one over other athletes is smaller and does not hold on every test. It is a comparison made at a single point in time, so it cannot say whether shooting builds dexterity or whether people with skilful hands come to archery and stay. A South African study from 2010, comparing archers with norms for elite athletes from other sports, found eye-body coordination better and eye-hand coordination worse, but did not measure finger dexterity.

Also phrased as: "hand dexterity in archers"; "fine motor skills and archery"; "archers and manual skill"; "finger precision in archers"; "purdue pegboard and archers"

In practice

It is often said that archers have more sensitive and precise hands than average, and that the care taken over the string, the fingers and the release brings fine control of the hands even off the range.

Evidence

  • 2010
    Context Archers Published later

    28 South African archers of various styles, compared with norms for elite athletes from other sports taken from another study: on a light board linked to a balance board, eye-body coordination comes out better (an average band of 30 to 38 lights in the archers against 27 to 31 in the norms), while eye-hand coordination, on the same instrument, comes out lower, as do visual acuity, contrast sensitivity and stereopsis. These are visual-motor skills, not finger dexterity, and the comparison is with elite athletes rather than with people who do not shoot, so it weighs neither for nor against.

    The role of vision and visual skills in archery* · B. Strydom, J. T. Ferreira

  • 2026
    For Archers Published later

    114 young people aged 20.1 ± 1.6, 97 men and 17 women, 38 per group: Chinese archers of provincial or national level with 9.4 ± 2.5 years' practice and about four hours' training a day, basketball players of similar level and experience, and sedentary people of the same age. On the Purdue Pegboard the archers score highest with the dominant hand (16.61 against 15.84 for the basketball players and 15.16 for the sedentary group), with the non-dominant hand (15.32 against 14.39 and 13.87) and with both hands together (12.84 against 12.16 and 11.74); the total is 44.76 ± 3.66 against 42.39 ± 4.18 and 40.76 ± 4.61 (F = 8.605, p < 0.001), a large difference over the sedentary group (d = 0.96) and a moderate one over the basketball players (d = 0.60, p = 0.012). Basketball players and sedentary people do not differ from each other on any of these tests.

    Do archery athletes’ hand dexterity, strength, and cognition exceed those of age-matched athletes and non-athletes? A cross-sectional study · Xinpeng Gao, Fuxin Hong, Jinlong Hou, Yanan Gao, Qianqian Han, Ming Li

  • 2026
    For Archers Published later

    The same study, the timed grooved pegboard: with the dominant hand the archers finish in 52.41 ± 2.87 seconds, the basketball players in 53.84 ± 1.93 and the sedentary group in 59.54 ± 3.37 (F = 67.848, p < 0.001); the archers are faster than the sedentary group by a very large margin (d = 2.27) and faster than the basketball players by a moderate one (p = 0.014, d = 0.58).

    Do archery athletes’ hand dexterity, strength, and cognition exceed those of age-matched athletes and non-athletes? A cross-sectional study · Xinpeng Gao, Fuxin Hong, Jinlong Hou, Yanan Gao, Qianqian Han, Ming Li

  • 2026
    Context Archers Published later

    The same study, where the advantage stops. With the non-dominant hand on the grooved pegboard, archers and basketball players are identical (60.26 ± 2.34 against 60.29 ± 2.78 seconds, p = 0.917, d = 0.01) and both faster than the sedentary group (65.71 ± 2.82). On the Purdue assembly subtest, the most complex task, the archers do not beat the basketball players (37.82 ± 5.07 against 37.92 ± 4.38, p = 0.924, d = 0.02), and both sit above the sedentary group (33.13 ± 6.97). Against people who do not shoot the advantage holds everywhere; against people who play another sport it shows on the Purdue placement tasks, with both hands, and on the grooved pegboard only with the dominant hand. It is a cross-sectional comparison, so it cannot separate training from the selection of who takes up archery.

    Do archery athletes’ hand dexterity, strength, and cognition exceed those of age-matched athletes and non-athletes? A cross-sectional study · Xinpeng Gao, Fuxin Hong, Jinlong Hou, Yanan Gao, Qianqian Han, Ming Li

Status history

  1. 1990 Not studied No study in the registry's bibliography had yet compared archers' manual dexterity with that of people who do not shoot.
  2. 2010 Not studied The first figures close to the question come from twenty-eight South African archers compared with norms for elite athletes from other sports taken from another study: on a light board, eye-body coordination comes out better and eye-hand coordination worse, with visual acuity, contrast sensitivity and stereopsis lower. These are visual-motor skills, not finger dexterity, and the comparison is not with people who do not shoot: the question is still without a direct measurement.
  3. 2026 Reported The right design arrives: thirty-eight Chinese archers of provincial or national level, thirty-eight basketball players and thirty-eight sedentary people aged eighteen to twenty-two. The archers beat the sedentary group on every dexterity test, 44.8 against 40.8 on the Purdue Pegboard and 52.4 against 59.5 seconds on the grooved pegboard with the dominant hand, and they are ahead of the basketball players on the placement tests as well, but with the non-dominant hand on the grooved pegboard and on assembly they cannot be told apart. A single cross-sectional study in favour: reported, because one study is not enough for corroborated and cannot say whether dexterity comes from shooting or leads to it.

Related

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Research lines

Studies describe groups of archers, and your own numbers show how far the finding applies to your shooting.

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Cite
APA

Campagna, M. (2026). Archers have better fine manual dexterity than people who do not shoot (Version 1). In Evidence Registry. Retrieved 16 October 2026, from https://matteocampagna.com/en/registry/physical-training/archers-fine-manual-dexterity

BibTeX
@misc{campagna2026_destrezzafinearcieri,
  author = {Campagna, Matteo},
  title = {Archers have better fine manual dexterity than people who do not shoot},
  year = {2026},
  howpublished = {Evidence Registry, matteocampagna.com},
  url = {https://matteocampagna.com/en/registry/physical-training/archers-fine-manual-dexterity},
  note = {Version 1; accessed 2026-10-16}
}

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