String hand pain

[Timothy Murphrey]

Hi all.  So, I have very good form - so I am told.  I'm shooting a 53lb Black Widow with a tab, and everything is cool as can be.  Then I switched to a three fingered shooting glove. Right away I noticed the amount of control I had over my shot with it, and I loved it. But, after a few days of shooting, my hand became insanely sore, specifically the tendon running along my ring finger. It got so bad that just getting my keys out of my pocket sent me through the roof - and it was one particular motion that did it. So, I went back to the tab, and couldn't notice the pain. I let it heal up as best I could for a couple of months, and am trying to slowly work back into the glove. I suspect it was me putting too much pressure on my ring finger. Anyone else ever experience this?

[moebow]

Tab or glove, you shouldn't get pain!!  Are you using a deep hook?

Let it rest, see a Doctor if it doesn't heal!!  In the meantime, you might want to check out a video I did a while back. It is found here:
http://youtu.be/h7N3gJePX4I

See if that helps.

Where in AK are you, I lived in North Pole for 20 years.  Welcome to Trad Gang!

Arne

[Timothy Murphrey]

Hi Arne,
Thanks for the quick response and the welcome. I'm in Fairbanks, and been here for 20 years.
It is weird, I've never had any pain before; it definitely started with the glove, so my deductive reasoning says either the glove is a poor fit, or it is giving me too much freedom with my fingers to develop poor a poor habit.  I'm shooting three under, and a fairly shallow hook - not finger tips, but fist digit.
I'm checking out the video as we speak.\\
Thanks again!
Tim

[TimBoA]

I sprained what sounds like the same tendon last year and had to lay off the last part of the bow season.  I shoot a glove and split-finger.  When I hurt it, I was shooting a heavier than usual bow (55 vs. 47) that was also shorter (62" recurve vs. 64" longbow) in cold-ish weather.  I think all of those factors contributed.  I sold the recurve this summer because the finger felt a bit funny after shooting and I didn't want to go through that again...plus the doctor said it would be a lot worse the second time if I re-sprained it.  Longer bows/less finger pinch seems to be the way to go for me.  Good luck!