Relationship between the muscle activity during aiming,follow-through, and the performance in archery

Abstract

In archery, highly reproducible release is required during shooting to get a good score.Shooting in archery consists of eight different techniques. The last phase of these techniques is follow-through, which all eight have in common. The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between the muscle activity at follow-through and performance. In ten healthy archery club members, we recorded the muscle activity of six regions from both sides of M.deltoideus (pars acromialis), M. trapezius (pars ascendens), M. trapezius (pars descendens) by means of electromyogram. Integrated electromyograms of 1 second each at the aiming phase and the follow-through phase were calculated in order to evaluate this technique. The results obtained in this study were: 1) The skilled archers sustained high level (above 80%) muscle activity in the follow-through phase. 2) A significant correlation (r=0.791 r<0.05) was observed between the muscle activity on the draw side and the best score in a single round.3) The performance in archery was effected by the continuation of muscle activity in the shoulders, the neck and the back at follow-through. The continuation of muscle activity in the draw side seemed to be especially significant for archery performance.