sore thumb

[Christine Macke]

Right handed, 15 lb., stroker. 195 average. I am constantly having trouble with my thumb. The ball frequently starts to slide off in my downswing, forcing me to add tape to the point of discomfort, or squeeze. We have moved the thumb under and forward and decreased the span slightly with some improvement. In order to increase the time before thumb release we have slowly started moving the thumb lateral. The callous on the knuckle is decreasing. However, when I bowl more than three games or so...the thumb gets sore near the nail bed. following a tournament this weekend the thumb nail bed was bruised, I was sore just above the nailbed (before the knuckle) and the pad of the thumb near the fingers was bruised. I need to have the thumb holes tightened (shrinkage has caused an increase from 2-3 pieces of tape to six or sometimes eight) but want to make any other adjustments necessary. My ball driller is very hesitant about changing the lateral pitches. It has been suggested that I may be squeezing, I don't think so...but, wouldn't the knuckle be the pain point in that case? Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

[editor]

You should have no more grip pressure than you would holding a baby bird. You can get pain near the nail bed if you are squeezing with the pad of the thumb. Your rev rate, speed, etc might help too, if you know them. When you changed pitches, what were they and what are they now?

[OhioBowler]

I would consider looking at your span. My guess is that it is too long.
That would account for the pain in your thumb nail. If too long it also makes you squeeze the ball.

Put your thumb only in your ball. Now take you fingers and lay them across you finger holes (but not in the hole). If the first crease of your fingers do not stretch to the center of your finger hole , or if your first crease of your fingers are at the front edge or behind your finger hole front edge than your span is too long.

Remember you can bowl with all types of bad pitches and spans but it makes it very difficult to bowl without adding other problems such as blisters , callouses and squeezing / muscleing. Just because you can get your hand in a bowling ball and roll it does not mean that you have correct hand measurements. Get a second opinion from another ball driller.

[Joe]

I spent years with basically the same problem: the ball falling off my hand prematurely. I have had over 15 balls drilled by about four different drillers, and none of these balls ever seemed to "really fit." Then one day I got my ball drilled by someone who checked the angle of my thumb, meaning the angle at which the thumb comes across my hand. The driller mentioned that this angle was different than the average person's, and after he adjusted for it I finally had a ball that fit.

This simple little difference took years to resolve, years that I wasn't getting the most enjoyment out of my bowling, and I must admit I was rather bothered by it because these previous drillers were all "professionals" who hadn't accounted for a major fit consideration. Perhaps they weren't trained for it; I don't have an explanation. But over the years of never having a ball that fit, I had come to the mistaken conclusion that there was something wrong with the way I was bowling. The reason for this is that every fit description I'd seen or heard pointed to the fact that my spans and pitches were correct. Well, they were correct for the average person's hand, but not for mine, (which, to every appearance, looks like everyone else's hand. The difference is that if you put a clock face on my right hand, my thumb when pointed across my hand points more to 9 o'clock than the average person's).

From now on, I'll go to this particular driller, and I'd advise others to keep trying until they find a driller who actually makes their ball comfortable, because if your ball isn't comfortable on your hand, then there's something wrong and unless you have some physical oddity, the problem isn't with you.

I'd mention one thing -- if you're getting a ball drilled by someone other than your usual driller, don't give them an old ball to work off of, let them do a fitting from scratch.

So my advice would be to go to someone with the credentials and who does balls drilled by the better bowlers in your area. And keep trying until you have solved the problem.


Joe

Edit: If you live in NJ, that driller's name his name is Tony Dalfonzo, operating out of Semiz's 11th Frame at Brunswick Zone lanes. Obviously I recommend him highly.

[irbowler]

This is a great subject. I had the same problem with a bruised nailbed. What I found out was that I was putting the tape to far forward and it was pushing my thumb nail against the wall and causing a bruised nailbed. When I moved the tape more lateral (right of center, front - so that it layed more on the pad of my thumb instead of the inside of my thumb) I had no more problems with the nailbed.

Hope this helps!