With their eyes closed, archers reproduce a shoulder angle with errors of a few degrees

The summary today

There are few measurements, all in regional journals, and they point the same way without being strong. In 2019 thirty Iranian club archers, lying down and blindfolded, reproduced 60 degrees of external shoulder rotation by stopping on average almost six degrees short, with individual errors of up to eighteen; at 30 degrees the mean error was close to zero, but with errors in both directions. In 2025, in seventeen middle-school children at the end of a beginners' course, the angles reproduced at 60 and 90 degrees tended to fall short of the one requested, and position sense was not linked to the score over six arrows at ten metres: it is the only time anyone has looked at the score, too little to say that it does not matter. The same year, in twenty-two teenage archers chosen precisely because their error exceeded 89 millimetres, the error was still between 67 and 81 after four weeks of treatment. The only comparison with non-archers, from 2022, puts the archers slightly ahead, but in a venue with questionable editorial standards and with figures that may be either errors or angles. Nobody has measured high-level adult archers, position sense in the shooting posture, or its link to the spread of the arrows.

Also phrased as: "shoulder proprioception"; "joint position sense"; "feeling the shoulder"; "proprioception in archery"; "proprioceptive training"

Evidence

• 2019
  For Archers Published later

  30 recurve club archers, aged 18 to 39, with at least a year of practice, tested lying down and blindfolded before the taping: reproducing 60 degrees of external shoulder rotation they stop on average 5.91 degrees short (standard deviation 6.52, from minus 18.10 to plus 5.63); at 30 degrees the mean error is 0.60 degrees (standard deviation 4.55, from minus 5.60 to plus 7.47). It is a signed error, so the mean close to zero at 30 degrees hides errors in both directions. A regional journal.

  The Effects of Shoulder Kinesio Taping on Shooting Accuracy and Joint Position Sense in Female Archery Athletes · Banafsheh Rajabzadeh, Ali Amiri, Behnoosh Vasaghi-Gharamaleki, Seyed Hassan Saneii

• 2019
  Context Archers Published later

  Half an hour after kinesio tape on the drawing shoulder, the error at 60 degrees goes from minus 5.91 to minus 0.99 degrees and the median scores over three arrows rise at every distance (from 26 to 28 at 18 metres, from 23 to 27 at 30, from 23 to 26 at 50). With no control group and the second test always after the first, this is not a link between position sense and score.

  The Effects of Shoulder Kinesio Taping on Shooting Accuracy and Joint Position Sense in Female Archery Athletes · Banafsheh Rajabzadeh, Ali Amiri, Behnoosh Vasaghi-Gharamaleki, Seyed Hassan Saneii

• 2022
  Context Archers Published later

  22 competitive recurve archers aged 15 to 19 against 22 peers from other sports, external rotation at 30 and 60 degrees: 25.21 against 33.98 at 30 degrees (p below 0.001) and 45.61 against 51.71 at 60 (p=0.015), read by the authors as smaller errors in the archers, who in their view are still imprecise. The paper does not say whether the figures are errors or reproduced angles, and read as angles they would mean something else. A venue with questionable editorial standards.

  Comparison of Joint Position Sense in Competitive Recurve Archers and Non-Archers in the Age Group of 15-19 Years Old: A Cross Sectional Study Questionable venue · Shreeya Athavale, Namrata Sidhaye-Bhadbhade

• 2025
  Context Archers Published later

  17 middle-school children at the end of a beginners' Olympic bow course, 6 arrows at 10 metres (mean 16.00, standard deviation 8.00): shoulder position sense at 90 and 60 degrees of abduction does not correlate with the score (r=-0.253 and r=-0.194, not significant). The tables report the mean of the reproduced angles, not the error. The only measure linked to the score is a ball throw at a target (r=0.507). A regional journal.

  Okçuluk Öğretimi ile Propriyosepsiyon Bazı Antropometrik Ölçümler ve Motor Beceri İlişkisi · Emrah Aslan, Zeynep Beyza Taşdemir

• 2025
  For Archers Published later

  In the same children, with eyes closed, the reproduced shoulder angle tends to fall short of the one shown, at both 60 and 90 degrees of abduction and on all three repetitions. The authors report it as a tendency, with no mean error value.

  Okçuluk Öğretimi ile Propriyosepsiyon Bazı Antropometrik Ölçümler ve Motor Beceri İlişkisi · Emrah Aslan, Zeynep Beyza Taşdemir

• 2025
  Context Archers Published later

  Position sense measured at 60 degrees and at 90 is almost independent of each other (r=0.254): being accurate at one angle does not mean being accurate at the other. Taller children are slightly less accurate (r=-0.330 and r=-0.279), in 11 to 13-year-olds in the middle of their growth.

  Okçuluk Öğretimi ile Propriyosepsiyon Bazı Antropometrik Ölçümler ve Motor Beceri İlişkisi · Emrah Aslan, Zeynep Beyza Taşdemir

• 2025
  Context Archers Published later

  22 teenage archers aged 14 to 18, admitted only if their shoulder repositioning error exceeded 89 millimetres: after four weeks the error is 69.94 in flexion and 66.64 in abduction with tape alone, and 76.45 and 80.91 with tape plus Flexi-bar. Having deliberately chosen those with the largest errors, the study says nothing about how imprecise archers are in general. A regional journal.

  Effectiveness of Combination Flexi-Bar Shoulder Exercise to the Kinesiotaping Application on Increasing Upper Extremity Proprioceptive Ability and Shooting Accuracy in Archery Athletes at Gandawa Archery Club · Embun Dinihari, Indira Vidiari Juhanna, Syahmirza Indra Lesmana

• 2025
  Context Archers Published later

  Between the two groups the abduction error differs, 66.64 against 80.91 millimetres (p=0.00) in favour of tape alone, while the score over three arrows at 18 metres does not: 26.36 against 25.45 (p=0.163). A difference in position sense that does not show up in the score, in eleven archers per group.

  Effectiveness of Combination Flexi-Bar Shoulder Exercise to the Kinesiotaping Application on Increasing Upper Extremity Proprioceptive Ability and Shooting Accuracy in Archery Athletes at Gandawa Archery Club · Embun Dinihari, Indira Vidiari Juhanna, Syahmirza Indra Lesmana

Status history

1. 2019 Reported The first measurement comes from thirty club archers in Tehran, tested before a shoulder taping: lying down and blindfolded, they have to find 30 and 60 degrees of external rotation again. At 60 degrees, the angle closest to that of full draw, they stop on average 5.9 degrees short, with individual errors from minus 18 to plus 5.6; at 30 degrees the mean error is close to zero, but the errors range from minus 5.6 to plus 7.5. It is an indication of imprecision, in a single regional journal and measured lying down: reported.
2. 2022 Reported The first comparison with non-archers: 22 competitive recurve archers aged 15 to 19 against 22 peers from other sports. The authors read the archers' values as smaller errors, 25.2 against 34.0 at 30 degrees and 45.6 against 51.7 at 60, and conclude that archers sense the shoulder better, while still being imprecise. But the paper does not say whether those figures are errors or reproduced angles, and the journal is flagged as a questionable venue: it moves nothing, and the status holds.
3. 2025 Reported Two regional studies add little to the measurement of the error. In seventeen middle-school children at the end of a beginners' course, the shoulder angles reproduced with eyes closed fall short of the one requested, at 60 and 90 degrees and on all three repetitions, though with no mean error value; in the same sample position sense does not correlate with the score over six arrows at ten metres (r of minus 0.19 and minus 0.25), the only time anyone has looked at the score. Twenty-two teenage archers, chosen because their error exceeded 89 millimetres, are still off by between 67 and 81 after four weeks of tape or tape plus exercises, but since they were picked from the least accurate they say nothing about archers in general. Two regional studies remain in favour, one on club archers and one on beginners: reported.

Related

Related articles

• The bow shoulder: how it rotates, why it rises and how hard it worksHow to hold the bow shoulder at full draw, why it tends to rise, and what X-rays, electromyography and position-sense tests have measured in archers.
• Balance, core and proprioception: the training you never seeWhat balance and core exercises change in archers, which test is linked to score, and what shoulder position sense does and does not tell you.

Research lines

• 102 studiesFrom the total on the scorecard to the arrow's coordinates
• 28 studiesThe archer's shoulder: pain, injury and recovery

Other claims in this domain

• CorroboratedBetween one and a half and two tenths of a second pass between the clicker sounding and the arrow leaving7 studies · 94 archers measuredStatus since 1990
• ReportedA camera diagonally behind the archer measures the vertical sway of the aim well, but not the horizontal1 study · 3 archers measuredStatus since 2010
• ReportedA continuous final pull through the clicker leads to better shots9 studies · 56 archers measuredStatus since 1993
• ReportedA sound or light cue about the angle of the bow arm tightens beginners' groups2 studies · 1 archers measuredStatus since 2012
• ReportedA thumb grip on the string is less tiring than a finger grip3 studies · 9 archers measuredStatus since 1990

See all claims on technique and biomechanics