Slide leg pain while bowling. Please help, see videos.

[guam_bomb]

Hi, I bowled in a league from the time that I was 10 years old until I left for the Navy at 18, I'm now 31 and just trying to get back into league bowling. As a teen, I carried a 190+ average for my last two seasons, so I was very confident and considered myself a good bowler. Fast forward until now, I've bowled 15 games over the last month and every time I go out, sometime between late in the first or early in the second game I get a severe pain radiating from my upper slide leg. I feels like a "charlie horse" that just won't go away (until several hours after I've stopped bowling). It seems to be located in the upper thigh, around the front/outside portion, kind of just below the hip. When I was a youth, I never had these pains, I was 40lbs lighter then, so I know that I could afford to lose some weight, but I'm not sure that's the only thing that's causing my pain. After taking 13 years off from bowling, I know my mechanics are rusty, but I can't even get in a decent practice session without pain. Can you watch the two videos on the links and please tell me why I'm in so much pain and what I need to do to correct it? Both approaches felt normal to me, it wasn't until after I saw the second one that I noticed how far forward I'm leaning at release, this approach feels like it did when I was younger though…except it was pain-free back then.



Here's a link to the second video, I'm only allowed to post one in the forum. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nRwxUjmOBmM

Thanks!

Terry

[The German Shepherd]

Sounds to me like your hip flexor muscle. My guess is that you need to take some time to stretch that out before you begin bowling. Sit with your left leg crossed over your right with your ankle on your right knee. Press down on the inside of your left knee gently stretching this important muscle out. Hold for 10 seconds and repeat two or three times. There are other stretches that will help as well and you can look them up online. This one works for me.

Jay

[TheSheibs]

If the stretching mentioned above don't work, talk with your doctor about it. This really is something that a doctor should be consulted on. Also could something have happened while in the service that has caused this pain without you knowing?

[guam_bomb]

Thanks Jay. I was actually going to before I went the last time, but I forgot…that won't happen again. I'm really hoping that it's just some seldom used muscle and not something more serious. It is around the hip flexor, I used to stretch quite a bit before PT, I guess it'd be a good habit to get back into…a little PT wouldn't hurt either. I'll try stretching thoroughly and see if that helps. If not, I'll seek out a sports medicine clinic and see what they can do. I'll have about a month off from bowling while on vacation, so that should give it time to heal. It actually isn't even bothering me today (I went bowling yesterday), but for 3-4 hours after bowling it kills me.

TheSheibs, I don't have any military related injuries…maybe way too much coffee and beer, but nothing more.

Thanks again!

[vgw]

I also have pain there because my approach and release leaves my leg turned slightly to the right. I am now using a foam roller at home to help reduce long-term pain. I'm also going to see if using compression shorts helps. I use them for playing basketball and that helps me so I'm hoping it'll do the same when I bowl.

[Tampabaybob]

Two years ago this happened to me one night during the first game. It hurt so bad I went over to the machine and bought a couple of tylenol. I continued bowling and it continued to hurt. Getting into the car that night was tough and of course my wife got on me about it when I got home. Iced it down...no help. Went to my doctor the next day and was told I had pulled some ligaments and should layoff for a week or two. What I didn't notice was the back and inside of my leg had turned all black and blue even though the pain seemed to radiate from the top of my leg. Laid off for a week and have been fine ever since, but I can sympathize with you because it hurt like hell. Take care of it and it will heal. I looked at your video and nothing seems to be wrong. It may be that you just turned wrong when sliding in just one frame and thats all it takes. If it continues, get to your doc.

Bob