Using Joints to move a sword to certain points around a Character

I'm trying to achieve a fluid, physics, pseudo animation that makes a sword swing from point to point in 2D. For the most part, I've gotten it to work. The only problem is that the DistanceJoint2D's manage to get themselves stuck in a certain place and don't return to the specified location. The way I managed this was through Invoke and setting specific distances for each phase of the animations. This created a fluid animation that had physics and realism. If someone could help me understand distance joints or maybe even help me understand whether or not this is viable, that would be appreciated. Here are some pictures:

 

Working. Proof of concept: