Relationship between bow stability and postural control in recurve archery

AbstractArchery is a sport that requires fine movement control, and postural stability is considered an important variable to achieve high performance. In order to better understand the coupling between archer and bow during the aiming phase, the aim of this study was to investigate the relationship between bow stability and postural control in recurve archery according to shooting performance. A total of 8 archers shot 6 arrows at a 13-m distant target. The three-dimensional position of one marker attached to the bow and the center of pressure (COP) position of the archer (the point of application of the resultant ground reaction force on a force plate) were measured during the aiming phase, representing bow and archer displacement, respectively. COP displacement in the direction across the target (COP_Y), length of the COP trajectory (D_COP) and length of the bow trajectory (D_bow) were higher in the lowest scoring shot compared to the highest one. A strong and significant correlation was found between COP and bow displacement in the direction towards/away from the target (COP_X and D_X) and between COP_X and vertical displacement of the bow (D_Z) during the highest scoring shot. This result indicates that synchronization between body and bow sway may influence the accuracy of the shot, suggesting that combined balance and bow stability training exercises would be beneficial to improve archery performance.