Blood rash on thumb! HELP!!!

[trekker34]

I found this post online regarding someone who had questions about thumb pitch and I thought it would be helpful in understanding what possibly is happening in my situation:


The benefit or thought process behind putting reverse (away from the fingers) pitch in a thumb hole is to get the thumb out faster so you put more of the ball's weight on the fingers giving you more revs. The reality is that reverse pitch causes the ball to slip off of your thumb causing you to squeeze the thumb to hang onto the ball and making your thumb come out later and get less revs on the ball.

Putting the proper amount of pitch in the ball for your hand requires you to keep putting more and more forward (toward the fingers) pitch in the thumb hole until you hang up, then back off 1/16" or 1/8" for comfort. The amount of forward pitch can change as your hand learns to realx in the ball without squeezing the thumb. After you have mastered not squeezing the ball with your thumb you will notice higher rev rate and more control with less effort.

Think of it like this, it is easier to palm a baseball than a basket ball.


I have read this several times and believe that perhaps two things are causing my painful rash and blisters. Like bowl1820 said, there is too much reverse pitch on my thumb and that the span is simply too big. When I confronted the pro shop guy about the span, he assured me it was correct and it would provide more lift in my ball. To be honest, I feel the lift and reaction I had was about equal with the balls in the past I had with much less span. Why would this be?? I did not feel much, if any, difference in the larger span. When I showed him one of my spare balls, which has much less span, he said that for a spare ball the span will be greatly reduced to help the ball go straighter. But, like I said, I have had my strike balls drilled with that same smaller span and have felt no difference in how they reacted and how my brand new one with the larger span does. As far as the pitch goes, I simply didn't even know such a thing existed before reading some of the replies to this topic. I have no clue what pitch was used in drilling my new ball or any of my previous ones. All I know is that every single ball I've ever owned has caused these incredibly painful blood rashes/blisters on the top corner of my left thumb.

I plan on calling the pro shop this week and speaking with someone who might provide me with some answers. If you still want to chime in on this, please do. I'm extremely interested in hearing a lot of opinions.

Thanks!!!

[DaveAyotte]

if all else fails, you can open your thumb hole a little bit, and use the tape that you apply to your thumb. Granted it's not solving the issue, but it should allow you to get by without injury.

edit: also, do you know what position your hand is in at release? are you behind it when your thumb comes out, or do you know if you are doing what I've heard referred to as "suitcasing" the ball (for a lefty - it would be thumb at 3 o'clock, and fingers at 9) that would put pressure in different areas as well.

[striker12]

yeha jsut like dave sead open the hole up abit and use thumb guard it helps alot but i have had the same problem like you did but i dont use thumb guard makes my thumb slip out of the ball on my back swing which makes me grip more and thats creates the pinch soo i changed over to grip tape in my thumb hole it helps out alot less bleeding form my thumb just alittle scrapes but onces its ully healedi can take out the grip tape and put my thumb plug back in

[K3ntFIN]

I actually doubt this has much to do with the pitch or grip in itself. Well, the thumbhole can be a bit too loose, which means you have to squeeze the ball. That will always give you a "bad" release. Another is to make sure a) your thumb is the first to release from the ball b) that is points forward. Search youtube for a slow motion release of Chris Barnes and you can see one of the best releases there is, and thumb sores are a thing of the past once you can consistently do that.
I had a similar problem and that was completely due to by hand basically being sideways and the release, thus always tugging at the thumb.

BTW: that video I mentioned, has a bit of a green tinge to it, so it should be easy to spot among the search results.