TargetTalk

For the past week, my shooting shoulder has been literally killing me.

The pain is very much aggravated by raising pistol from the bench in the straight arm position. Shoulder joint is the fulcrum and it is just killing me.

I was looking for a way relief my shoulder pain during this straight arm raise. I came across video of Kostevych.

http://www.saskhandgun.ca/index.php?opt ... &Itemid=67

She raised her arm from the bent elbow position on the bench. She just sticks her arm out from the bent elbow arm rest position on the bench. It looks very simple and efficient.

I tried it and it is certainly much more comfortable than the straight arm raise from bench.

How come very few shooters raise their arms this way?

Don't know enough about pistol shooting to say what the pros and cons are, but as an Instructor I suggest that with her arm-raise being in the minority, you should start by asking why she does it that way, and why everyone else doesn't.
She may have a medical problem the same as you that makes it painful to come up with her arm straight. If you find it more comfortable with your shoulder then that's fine, but the fact that she does it does not mean there is any inherent advantage to one's shooting in it. She may be doing it in the knowledge that it is an inferior shot process (for her), but the only one available to her given some physiological problem.

When doing an Rifle Instructor's course, I recall the course leader giving us a couple of anecdotes.
The first was of a world class pistol shooter who turned up and won an international match with his pistol slightly canted.
At the next match everyone started canting their pistols gangsta stylie, until someone asked him why he was doing it.
"Oh" he replied, "I shattered my wrist and can't hold the pistol level. I'd love to be able to use a conventional hold!".

The second was when he was at an ISSF coaching event. Watching two rifle shooters with horrific contorted, banana-shaped positions, the coaching team were furiously scribbling suggestions to improve their positions.
In the debrief afterwards, the coach opened with the question "Is their any reason for your unconventional positions?".

The answers were that both had been in car accidents. One had whiplash and was constrained by what his neck would permit, and the other had to work around a sore back. At which point all the other coaching students started tearing up their now-defunct notes!

Why, why, why, why, why! The most important question when one is dissecting a position.


FWIW (as a new and inexperienced AP shooter), I just find a straight-arm to be a natural and intuitive part of the shot process, which has been corroborated by the little coaching I have had in my club. I straighten out my arm and acquire my sight picture (i.e. get the foresight aligned in the rearsight) before coming up to the target, rather than coming up and then trying to find the foresight.
In doing so I leave myself with only one thing to do once I raise my arm (i.e. go vertically up to the target), rather than having to get it straightened as I come up, then get on target, etc.

You need to find out the cause of the shoulder pain. If you are old like me, it may be arthritis, but it could be something like a torn rotator cuff. Stop shooting now. This will do two things; it will allow the shoulder to rest and motivate you to seek help soon. See a sports medicine doctor or shoulder specialist. There are remedies for these two things, but it takes effort and time (possibly as significant amount). It could be something else entirely.

I agree with Misny, figure out why your shoulder is hurting, it should not. I have had to overcome rotator cuff problems as well as tennis elbow...work with a sport medicine type doctor and/or physical therapist. The general doctor will not be of much help. You have to exercise both arms and develop a fitness plan to compete. Your exact needs will different than mine.

The point of raising a straight arm is that your sights should be aligned and the weapon should be aligned with the target; just some very fine tuning as you come onto the target. We generally think that this is better accomplished be setting your self before you raise the pistol from the bench. Other techniques may be possible.

Forget what other people are doing. They will be doing it for a very specific reason, unless you know what that is and are in the same position... forget it

GO TO YOUR PHYSIOTHERAPIST!!!!!!!!!!!!! (Yes I am shouting this at you) If your having pain when raising your pistol there is a reason for it.

If you talk to them beforehand (and you have a good physio) they will let you bring your gun in with you. Work out a way to raise your pistol with them.

I'm going to go along with the "seek help crowd." Go see an orthopedic surgeon and let him do his x-ray/CT scan thing and see what's what inside the arm. It could be any of a hundred things wrong, many of which are fixable with either rest or a bit of surgery. Sometimes rest now may prevent surgery later.

After you know what the problem is and if it cannot be fixed, an occupational therapist probably can help. Occupational therapists differ from physical therapists in that they help you learn how to do things withing your physical imitations. They physical therapist would be the one you see after your doctor tells you how to fix the problem.

As for why people do things differently, it could be any of a thousand reasons. For example, that girl may have started picking her pistol up that funny way when she was five and not strong enough to do it straight armed. It worked for her so she stuck with it. Or she could have an elbow problem.