Bowling Injuries

[chip82901]

Anyone ever had major injuries while bowling? I bowled a tourney last weekend, 3 squads (18 games total). I knew I shouldn't have bowled the last squad as I was getting tired, but decided to anyway. My arm started hurting, but I didn't think anything of it. Bowled league Tuesday night and it started bugging me 3rd game. Bowled league friday night and it started hurting from frame 1. Woke up yesterday and my gf notice I had some bruising on my arm (where it has been hurting). Only think I can think of, is when I started getting wore out, I started muscling the ball, and I had to have ended up doing a slight tear in the muscle. Still kinda hurts a week later. Anyone else ever have this issue?

[foreverincamo]

You can get hurt in this sport. I tore my right quad as a teenager bowling. Took 4 months to heal up. Still hurts from time to time. It's hard for people to realize you really need to warm up before bowling. Also don't fire your first practice ball at full force. Just work into getting to your top speed

[RobLV1]

I know a guy who tore his bicep. It took surgery and months to heal.

[fordman1]

Torn upper hamstring takes up to 2 years. Anytime you try to bowl you almost crumble to the floor.

[chip82901]

I know a guy who tore his bicep. It took surgery and months to heal.

Mine is on the backside of my bicep. Just bruising and sore. No bulge though so I know its not completely torn. Think mine is just strained. 18 games at one time was rough lol

[Tony]

I know quite a few guys that have had rotator cuff surgery, including me, now some of it is wear and rear from other sports, but also have know a couple of guys who played no other sports. I primarily caused the damage to mine playing softball, and then fell on it.

I also have seen a number of guys have hand surgeries, and carpal tunnel surgery, not sure if or how much the damage was from bowling.

I can attest that a complete tear and bicep tendon surgery is a nasty one, re-casted 4 times over 8 weeks and then 6 months of rehab, bowled left handed for a year and a half.

[chip82901]

I know quite a few guys that have had rotator cuff surgery, including me, now some of it is wear and rear from other sports, but also have know a couple of guys who played no other sports. I primarily caused the damage to mine playing softball, and then fell on it.

I also have seen a number of guys have hand surgeries, and carpal tunnel surgery, not sure if or how much the damage was from bowling.

I can attest that a complete tear and bicep tendon surgery is a nasty one, re-casted 4 times over 8 weeks and then 6 months of rehab, bowled left handed for a year and a half.

Damn. That doesn't sound like fun. I'm hoping mine isn't anything too serious. Luckily its the end of our season here, but there is a few ABT Tourneys in the area I'd like to bowl, provided it gets better

[Blomer]

I have bursitis (sp?). Inflamation in my bowling shoulder. Usually a few asprins does the trick.

[Stormed1]

Strainedx bicep, severe strained MCL,tendonitis in bowling elbow.

[Tony]

Damn. That doesn't sound like fun. I'm hoping mine isn't anything too serious. Luckily its the end of our season here, but there is a few ABT Tourneys in the area I'd like to bowl, provided it gets better

Chances are that it's a strain / slight tear, pretty common and complete recovery is usually the case. If you can't turn your hand from palm down to palm up and it is very painful you should probably get to an orthopedic surgeon pronto and get examined.
Mine was an extreme case, a complete tear at the elbow, a fairly uncommon injury, (not injured from bowling) and the initial Dr screwed up the diagnosis resulting in a delay of a couple days for the surgery, not a good plan with tendons as they curl up in a ball. According to the surgeon I recovered the maximum use of the arm possible at the one year exam of the arm, I made it back to 80% use of the arm.

[Timmyb]

Partial quad tear (three years ago), my meniscus is done, and I'm waiting for my elbow to flare up again. Yep, bowling is easy......

[bubba809]

Wrist tendonitis caused from bowling. Received the maximum # of three cortisone injections in that area and had to finally have surgery in January to relieve the pressure in the 1st and 2nd dorsal compartments.

10 weeks post op and I still cannot hold a bowling ball without pain. It was forecasted 6-8 weeks recovery. I go back to Dr. in May and will have a MRI done to see if something else is going on.

I use a 14 Lb ball by the way.

[chip82901]

Chances are that it's a strain / slight tear, pretty common and complete recovery is usually the case. If you can't turn your hand from palm down to palm up and it is very painful you should probably get to an orthopedic surgeon pronto and get examined.
Mine was an extreme case, a complete tear at the elbow, a fairly uncommon injury, (not injured from bowling) and the initial Dr screwed up the diagnosis resulting in a delay of a couple days for the surgery, not a good plan with tendons as they curl up in a ball. According to the surgeon I recovered the maximum use of the arm possible at the one year exam of the arm, I made it back to 80% use of the arm.

Yeah, no pain doing that. Just hurts to throw a ball. Like I said, let it rest for a week or so and see how it feels. There's a ABT tourney this weekend a few hours away, and if I don't make that one, they hold one every 2 weeks

[KYDave]

Wow and I was complaining about my knuckle. That's some serious stuff there. Only thing that I have is my middle knuckle on middle finger gets swollen and sore when I make a fist. Most of it goes away after a day or two but still a minor amount past that. Usually take Aleve and it helps.

[chip82901]

Wow and I was complaining about my knuckle. That's some serious stuff there. Only thing that I have is my middle knuckle on middle finger gets swollen and sore when I make a fist. Most of it goes away after a day or two but still a minor amount past that. Usually take Aleve and it helps.

Go to GNC and get some stuff called Tri-Flex. I take 2 of them, twice a day. Used to have knee pain for years after a football injury, started taking this, and not a pain one. Also helped with inflammation in my fingers and wrist. It's pretty awesome

[KYDave]

Go to GNC and get some stuff called Tri-Flex. I take 2 of them, twice a day. Used to have knee pain for years after a football injury, started taking this, and not a pain one. Also helped with inflammation in my fingers and wrist. It's pretty awesome

Awesome thanks! There is a GNC near me, I will check it out.

[chip82901]

Awesome thanks! There is a GNC near me, I will check it out.

It's pretty awesome man. I stopped in one day and told them I had some inflammation in my fingers and knee and they pointed it right out to me. There's a few different versions of it, the pills, power, and I believe there is a liquid form too

[Tony]

It's pretty awesome man. I stopped in one day and told them I had some inflammation in my fingers and knee and they pointed it right out to me. There's a few different versions of it, the pills, power, and I believe there is a liquid form too

You don't even need a local GNC you can buy it from Amazon.....

[stargell1]

I'm 46 and I haven't bowled since December because of tendinitis on the inside of elbow, and tendinitis on my left knee(I'm right handed). Both injuries from bowling. Been seeing a orthopedic doctor. Elbow has improved a lot, but knee has not. Hoping to get back on the lanes by sometime this summer. Will be going down to a 14 lb ball.

[chip82901]

You don't even need a local GNC you can buy it from Amazon.....

I suppose if you didn't want to wait lol. You can find ANYTHING on amazon these days lol

[fordman1]

Ok a torn hamstring in your slide leg is the worse. I missed only 6 weeks after a heart bypass in 1998. I missed 3 weeks after having 6" of colon removed because of cancer. Missed 1 week after having 3 plugs removed from my lung because of cancer. Had tendinitis in my hand so bad I could hardly lift a coffee cup. Just changed my release and went down from 214 to 213 for in 10 weeks.
With the hamstring I couldn't bowl for 6 months. Then for the next year was fearful of knee bending and bowled like crap. Still careful when I get on approaches that are tacky.

[chip82901]

Ok a torn hamstring in your slide leg is the worse. I missed only 6 weeks after a heart bypass in 1998. I missed 3 weeks after having 6" of colon removed because of cancer. Missed 1 week after having 3 plugs removed from my lung because of cancer. Had tendinitis in my hand so bad I could hardly lift a coffee cup. Just changed my release and went down from 214 to 213 for in 10 weeks.
With the hamstring I couldn't bowl for 6 months. Then for the next year was fearful of knee bending and bowled like crap. Still careful when I get on approaches that are tacky.

I get fearful when I can't stop on an approach lol. Used to bowl in a house 15 miles away, but they kept buffing duraslide into the approaches. Started bowling full time in my home house when I stopped working in the other town, went back 3 years ago to bowl a memorial tourney. I put a 2 sole and 2 heel on and still couldn't stop. That sketches me out more than sticking a bit, cuz I can always go up in soles/heels, but if I can't stop when I've hit the bottom already, we are going to have an issue

[Albundy]

For years I wondered what the bump on my middle finger was. I remember injuring it when I was younger and I remember still bowling with it taped up and grunting on each shot when I did a tournament...Maybe i hurt a ligament but
I just got an xray finally and it is a bone spur and arthritis..so that explains why my finger would hurt after just 2 games the past 10 years. I guess i didn't let heal properly? I bought Steel Fingers and no more pain but it is annoying having to adjust and tighten the velcro all the time.
my bowling hand is tighter than the other and I can't curl that finger all the way down to my palm the same as the other..it's stiffer.

[Albundy]

I'm 46 and I haven't bowled since December because of tendinitis on the inside of elbow, and tendinitis on my left knee(I'm right handed). Both injuries from bowling. Been seeing a orthopedic doctor. Elbow has improved a lot, but knee has not. Hoping to get back on the lanes by sometime this summer. Will be going down to a 14 lb ball.

I have to cut down on my Legend of Zelda playing on the Switch. I've played 160 hours in 4 months and my wrists are hurting.

[JerseyJim]

In the last 5 years, I've had to deal with bowler's elbow, wrist tendonitis, arthritis in both knees, venous ulcer on my sliding leg (left), and a pulled groin muscle. The groin muscle injury was by far the worst. I couldn't drive in to my power step because of it. It took the entire summer to heal from it.

[Albundy]

That sounds terrible.

[foreverincamo]

After 3 months of no bowling after open heart surgery, I finally got to bowl. All I did was 1 1/2 hours of 1-step drills with a 14 pound ball. No firing the ball, no high revs, no really trying to make adjustments. Just step and roll the ball. My chest where they broke my sturnum was fine. No heart problems at all. My back never bothered me much, and when it did start to twinge, my wife would massage it until it calmed down. No arm issues either.
BUT! My left hip is so sore I'm still limping. The day after, I couldn't hardly walk. All day with a heating pad on and off. Went to work Monday. I limped like an old man all day. Today is better but still hurts. I've never had my hip bother me bowling. So, I'm shutting down until my league starts on the 5th of Sept.