Severe finger pain
Another member had a thread about bowling pain but I didn't want to hijack his thread so forgive a similar topic. I remember way back when I would always have pain in my middle and ring finger for the first few balls and then it would go away. I figured because I was putting 16lbs on my tiny little finger tips and that's a lot. However, now that I've been out of it for a decade and coming back to it that the pain is severe. I have no pain anywhere else but at the base of my fingers the middle knuckle to the where they meet my hand but not all the way to the knuckle. Even right now they hurt like heck like I slammed it in a car door.
We did take video of the outing for my son's benefit. I looked in slow motion, I wasn't forcing the ball but I did notice a little loft compared to normal when you barely hear it hit the lane. I can't see anything even in slow motion that I was doing wrong at all besides turning my foot to the right on occasion. Could this be a fit issue with the ball? Maybe a grip issue where I may be squeezing it too hard? I know I'm getting older but I can't hardly make a fist right now. I'd upload the video but it's an hour long and 2.4 gigabytes and I don't have a video editor to take a clip out. Any ideas why I'm getting such excruciating pain like this? Oh, 16lb fingertip grip with standard white inserts.
As I said in the other thread people just assume throwing a 15lb-16lb object should hurt but with a proper grip there really should be no pain. So the two things I would suggest is go to your pro shop guy, tell them about your pain and have your grip adjusted. Also you may want to consider dropping down in weight. You don't really lose much carry if any with a 15lb or even 14lb ball.
EEK! Lowered ball weight huh? Boy that's kind of a kick in the manhood. LOL All kidding aside. I think I will at least take the ball to the pro shop and see if it's a grip issue. I mean the ball feels really good but maybe it is wrong and I don't realize it. I hope it is as simple as that. Maybe softer inserts? I hate the thought of going to this guy by my house because he's that less than favorable PSO I posted about before. For something like this I may give him a shot since he's 5 mins from me. Next step maybe the doctor to check into arthritis. I'm at that prime age for it. Man I tell ya, I used to shoot 60-80 games a week for over two decades never had much problem besides blisters popping and needing new skin. Tonight I shoot 3 and ready for some serious pain meds, Advil isn't making a dent.Originally Posted by JasonNJ
One more thing to add. It's been about 2 1/2 hours since we got home and now I noticed my two middle knuckles are significantly swollen
A couple of issues. First, very, very few bowlers still use 16 lb. balls. It's really not a kick in your manhood... just thinking that may be something that you should look into. Secondly, how old are you. What you are describing in your fingers sounds a whole lot like arthritis to me.
Talking to our PSO he said he has not sold a 16lb ball in the 2 years he has been running the shop. Said hardly anyone uses them anymore.
I used to use 15# equipment for as long as I can remember. Then everything started getting more and more aggressive, so I dropped down to 14# to bring my ball speed slightly up. Keep in mind, I'm one of those "dreaded 2-handers", so I already have decent ball speed. I've now throw 14# equipment for 5-6 years and haven't noticed anything in pin carry. If anything, it got a little better lol. It's not a kick in the manhood if it's going to improve your game.
- Current Arsenal: Storm Timeless, Storm Phaze II, Storm Pitch Black, Storm Drive, Rotogrip Hot Cell, Rotogrip Show Off, DV8 Turmoil Pearl
- High Game: 300 (3 11 in a row) / High Series: 799
- Current Average: 202 / PAP: 5" over, 1/8" up
- Rev Rate: 425rpm / 2-Hands
Definitely could be arthritis but that would make your grip change as well and you should be able to adjust your grip to accommodate. I remember watching an interview with Walter Ray Williams jr and he was talking that he considered quitting bowling because of the arthritis in his hand but he got his grip adjusted a few times and it made a huge difference. Also with the modern bowling balls, most people throw 15 lbs now and see no difference in carry. Usually the drop in weight is compensated by more speed and increased rev rate.
Knuckles are still a bit puffy today but the pain is much less. Guys, I hope that manhood crack I made didn't offend anyone here I was only messing around. I tend to be silly and sarcastic in some of my posts but I would never say anything to intentionally offend anyone so if I did let me apologize now if I did. If you knew me in person you'd understand. If I have to drop in weight a pound or two I'm grateful I found that out prior to dropping cash on a new ball. Funds for that are hard to come by right now so it's a good thing I didn't buy something I'd have to throw on my rack to collect dust.
I plan on going to the PSO this afternoon and check the fit. I'll update with the findings. One thing my son did remind me of but we didn't get it on video because he had to plug in the ipad we were using to record us. It was the second ball I threw I lofted it way out there past the dots. He remembered it because of two things. One it double bounced, it hit the lane then came up and hit it again. He seen me shake my hand in pain after the throw. I remember it felt loose so I probably gripped it too hard because it felt like it was slipping and put a slice of tape in the thumb and fetched my rosin bag. I didn't even remember I did that but he did. It's possible I strained my fingers just on that one shot. It's just speculation but worth mentioning. I'm quite impressed that my son is paying so close attention.
Robv1 - I'm 46 years old, prime age for arthritis
UPDATE: I went to the local PSO, although I don't care for the guy he did help me out and I agree 100% with his findings which are as follows. My span on my middle finger is 1/4 inch too close. Ring finger span is 5/16 too far. Both are pitched for lift I can't remember if he said forward or reverse and he said way too much. In addition the finger inserts are completely worn out making them far too big. Thumb hole has perfect fit and perfect forward pitch and also pitched toward the palm. It's drilled exactly right for a clean release. I still think he's arrogant but I do agree with what he said. Now the bad news, $58 to plug, redrill the two holes and replace inserts. He's still out of his mind with that price so he will not be doing it.
I feel a lot better that it's not a medical. It explains a lot of what was happening last night. I had more loft than usual. I did that because I was trying to grip the ball way too hard and since it's drilled for lift which isn't needed for a reactive ball. Plus the lanes were freshly oiled and I had to try that much harder to get it to move.
Last edited by Phonetek; 01-25-2018 at 12:05 AM.
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