TargetTalk

I have natural hypermobility in my elbow, and my elbow bends noticeably beyond 180 degree when I am holding the pistol. I recently increased the amount of training, and noticed pain at the inside of my elbow after shooting, which was diagnosed as golfer's elbow. I've tried shooting with a straight elbow, but since I had to use muscle to prevent my elbow from hyperextending, my hold then became very unstable due to movement around the elbow joint and the additional muscle involvement. I saw that a significant portion of the women air pistol shooters in the Olympics Final also have their elbow bent beyond 180 degree. They must be training way more than I do, so I've been wondering how they aren't injuring their elbow shooting like that. Is there any other solution to this besides physical therapy?

I used to suffer from tennis elbow, shooting air pistol. It got so bad I could not practice and almost quit the sport. Changing to a pistol with a fully adjustable grip angle made the difference (it changed my hold) and I am happily shooting again. If your pistol does not have a fully adjustable grip angle, try one that does and see if that helps. If it does work for you, be sure to let us know. I am certain the response will help others.

The college team I help coach has a had a number of women (and a few guys) that have hypermobility. It doesn't bother most of them. The one that have had issues were typically "over-locking" their elbow. You only need enough tension in the joint to immobilize the bones/cartilage, which really doesn't take much.

Tennis elbow is another issue, and can be nasty. I had it years ago, and it took a long time to get over, in part because I kept shooting. I'd put a hotpack on it before shooting, and ice it afterward, and took a lot of Motrin. I'd recommend backing off & letting it heal to get back faster. If you can, shoot with your other hand. A lot of the skills required transfer over. I shot lefty for a while, and at least got to the point where my best left handed scores were better than my worst right-handed scores before my elbow improved.

What works for me for elbow and shoulder shooting issues is physical therapy with weights. You will have to reduce a bit your training load at the beginning, but it gets better really quick.