Holding the string with three fingers gives a steadier hold than with two

The summary today

The only study that actually measures how steady the hold is was not done on archers and used no bow: eight right-handed men, whom the study does not describe as archers, held a simulated string on a force sensor with two, three or four fingers. With three fingers the force error during the aiming phase drops on all three axes compared with two, and the virtual firing point becomes more consistent from one trial to the next, though not closer to the centre. The whole gain comes with the third finger: the fourth adds nothing, and with four fingers the consistency can no longer be told apart from two. The number of fingers does not change the duration of the simulated release either. On archers there is a single piece of data, and it is indirect, because it looks at the group rather than the hand: nine international-level archers trying a two-finger grip for the first time shot groups of 11.1 centimetres against 14.1 with their usual three-finger grip, with no significant difference. The steadier hold therefore rests on a laboratory task, while the only comparison made with a bow in hand finds no tighter groups with three fingers: weak and indirect evidence, but it goes against the claim.

Also phrased as: "three-finger grip"; "mediterranean grip"; "three fingers on the string"; "two-finger grip"; "how many fingers on the string"

Evidence

• 1990
  Against Archers Published later

  9 international-level archers, used only to the vertical three-finger grip, three ends of three arrows per grip after a quarter of an hour of practice: on the last end the group outline measures 14.1 centimetres with three fingers and 11.1 with two, with no significant difference between the two grips. It measures where the arrows go, not how steady the hand is on the string, and the two-finger grip was new to all of them: it goes against the claim indirectly.

  Muscular Activity of Different Shooting Distances, Different Release Techniques, and Different Performance Levels, with and without Stabilizers, in Target Archery · J.P. Clarys, J. Cabri, E. Bollens, R. Sleeckx, J. Taeymans, M. Vermeiren, et al.

• 2017
  For General population Published later

  8 right-handed men whom the study does not describe as archers, average age 29.6, 25 trials per condition with a simulated string on a force sensor: the root mean square error of the force during the aiming phase is higher with two fingers than with three or four on all three axes (F from 4.79 to 12.52, p below 0.05), while three and four fingers do not differ. The index and middle fingers carry most of the load: in a maximal four-finger press the index reaches 29.8 newtons against 16.5 for the middle, 11.1 for the ring and 14.9 for the little finger.

  Effect of Kinetic Degrees of Freedom of the Fingers on the Task Performance during Force Production and Release: Archery Shooting-like Action · Kitae Kim, Dayuan Xu, Jaebum Park

• 2017
  For General population Published later

  In the same task the virtual firing point is more consistent across trials with three fingers than with two (p below 0.05), but not closer to the centre: the accuracy index does not change between conditions, and with four fingers the consistency cannot be told apart from two. The number of fingers changes neither the duration of the simulated release nor its variability.

  Effect of Kinetic Degrees of Freedom of the Fingers on the Task Performance during Force Production and Release: Archery Shooting-like Action · Kitae Kim, Dayuan Xu, Jaebum Park

Status history

1. 1990 Contradicted The first piece of data on archers concerns the group, not the hold. Nine international-level archers, used only to the vertical three-finger grip, try four string grips: after three ends of three arrows the group outline measures 14.1 centimetres with three fingers and 11.1 with two, and the difference is not significant. Nobody measures how still the hand stays on the string, but where the target is concerned the third finger does not tighten the group. It is the only evidence on archers, indirect and based on a two-finger grip only just tried, and it goes against the claim: contradicted.
2. 2017 Contradicted The first measurement of the hold arrives, but outside the shot. Eight right-handed men, whom the study does not describe as archers, hold a simulated string on a force sensor, twenty-five trials per condition: with three or four fingers the force error during the aiming phase is lower than with two on all three axes, and the virtual firing point is more consistent across trials, though not closer to the centre. The whole gain comes with the third finger, the fourth adds nothing, and the duration of the release does not change. The index and middle fingers carry most of the load, and adding fingers cancels the component that pulls the string downwards with two. No archers and no bow, so this does not outweigh the 1990 finding, which remains the only one on archers and goes against the claim: contradicted.

Related

Related articles

• The string grip: what changes between two fingers, three fingers and the thumbTwo fingers, three fingers or the thumb on the string: what studies have measured on grouping, steadiness, muscles and release, and where the data stop.

Research lines

• 9 studiesThe string grip: fingers, thumb and thirty years of comparisons
• 22 studiesTraditional and historical bows, from models to archers

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