Archery

Road to recovery

In February 2024 I had what seemed an inocuous accident on my motorbike, but ended up resulting in several broken rib, and more seriously for my archery, the need for surgery on my left hand.

This meant a total break from shooting, at first because I was in a case, and laterly because, on the advice of the medical team, 12 weeks of rehabilitation to get movement and strength back into my thumb plus the reconstructve work to heal.

I couldn't even work on repairing kit, because of the loss of movement, so I went back to reading a few books, and reviewing my shot routine.

Small gains

First time back shooting was a bit daunting, the physio hd given the OK but where the handle came into contact with my hand it was directly on top of the scar from surgery. I decided against getting some lower poundage limbs out, as the set-up was tuned and wanted to concentrate on shooting instead of worrying about modifications to equipment.

The first day was going to be just shoot 12 arrows at 20yds. It hurt, every shot felt like someone was sticking pins into my scar. I just concentrated on the shot routine, and took my time. There was no way I could shoot any more, with my bow shoulder starting to collapse near the end, but it was a start.