I recently stopped using an arm guard. I brace at 5 1/2" on average. I guess it's the way I hold the bow, wrist slightly bent, elbow slightly bent. It shortened my draw length by about one inch and I don't get wrist slap at all. If anything, the string sometimes just barely grazes my wrist, so slight that I don't really notice. Anyway, I did away with it, so it is possible. You just have to bend a little here and there.