COORDINATIVE ASPECTS OF ARCHERY - AN APPROACH USING SURFACE-ELECTROMYOGRAPHY

Abstract

The process of a shot in archery can be described as follows: The archer draws the bow, pulls the arrow to the clicker1, fixes in this position and aims. Before he releases the arrow, the archer pulls the arrow through the clicker so that a click can be heard. Shortly after this sound, the archer releases. Immediately before the shot there are changes in the muscle activity of shoulder and back. From a biomechanical point of view, the archer must cope with the release of the balance of force between the external tension and the muscular forces (see Fig. 1) immediately after the shot by means of his neuromuscular system. The quality of the anticipation of the balance's release strongly influences the result: After the release of the hand from the string, which also means the release of the static force balance, the arrow still sticks to the string (Leroyer et al. 1993). Thus each motion of the bow is transferred to the arrow. The goal of the archer is to keep the bow steady during and after the release of the balance up to the moment when the arrow leaves the string.