BallReviews
General Category => Miscellaneous => Topic started by: lilpossum1 on February 03, 2017, 11:48:48 AM
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I have mentioned before that I have swelling and shrinking issues. Well I have graduated to just having swelling issues with my thumb. I switched to a Turbo switch grip a few years ago because of the swelling and shrinking issues. My largest thumb hole, which I refer to as my OMG sized hole is my emergency sized one and is quite a few sizes too large when I get it drilled, and I am always increasing the size of it because of my thumb growing. Well I can start out the night fitting perfectly in the thumb hole, it even a little small, but within a few shots my thumb swells to fit the hole. If my thumb "fits a thumb hole perfectly" I feel like I hang up in it and start pulling shots inside of target. So I go ream the largest thumb hole out more. And more. And my thumb always swells to fit it within a couple shots. I take my next smallest insert and shove my thumb in it between shots with my shirt wrapped around it to force down swelling and that helps. Some. Anyone know what I can do to help solve this issue? I'm convinced that my thumb can swell to fit my dad's equipment, and that is an impressive feat
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lil...."hanging" in the thumbhole can be caused by too many reasons to mention. I'll list a few.
1. wrong span(combined with wrong thumb pitches)
2. away pitch on thumbhole combined with early turn of the hand
3. oval thumbhole combined with early turn of the hand
4. squeezing the ball (wrong span or holding the ball weight with your thumb
instead of fingers)
5. broken wrist at release point
6. really late release point
7. grip powder
8, soft plastic insert
and on and on
1. excessive body fluid (combined with salty intake)
2. heat
3. humidity
4. excessive sweating
5. stress (life and bowling)
and on and on.
Anyhow, good luck
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Are you drinking a lot of beer or eating a lot of very salty foods just before or during bowling?
These can cause swelling of the fingers and cause you to adjust the size of the holes a lot. I stopped drinking any beer during and just before bowling for that reason. I also try not to eat food for at least 2 hours before bowling.
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Most thumb problems are caused by the wrong pitch. In my experience, the only way to find this is by trying different pitches. I know of no sure way to get the proper pitch except by trying different pitches. Maybe someone on this site knows a better way.
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Assuming everything is correct with your fit/grip.....
Have you tried using http://www.bowl4fun.com/magiccarpet/magiccarpet.htm Magic Carpet tape?
Along with the vent hole and this tape, My thumb fit which is tight gets even tighter when I eat Veggie Pizza like I did last night. My thumb was swollen and my fit got tighter. Not so tight that I can't bury my thumb in the hole, but tighter than my norm.
Anyway, the Magic Carpet allows me to have a tight thumb without getting hung up. Plus, having a vent hole also helps.
A trick I've seen people do that have IT thumbs, is where the smaller size when not bowling and keeping the hand up. Before the IT thumbs... I've seen guys squeeze a bandana around their thumb lol
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Lots of possibilities. Beer drinking definitely will increase the size of your thumb. The other one may be that when you arrive at the center your hands would be cold (thumb has shrunk) but after throwing a few balls and warming up your body temperature increases causing your thumb to swell.
Just drill a big thumb hole and drop in some tape. I typically have 4-5 slices of tape in the front of my hole as I like the feel as well as the option of being able to take some out for when I do swell.
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Are you "knuckling" your thumb? That's bending it at the joint to grip it with the tip instead of the base. That will not only make your thumb swell but also you'll have a tendency to knuckle even more as you make the hole larger. Look at your thumb with the nail end pointed at your eyes. Now bend it at the knuckle and see what that does to its diameter. -- JohnP
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lil...."hanging" in the thumbhole can be caused by too many reasons to mention. I'll list a few.
1. wrong span(combined with wrong thumb pitches)
2. away pitch on thumbhole combined with early turn of the hand
3. oval thumbhole combined with early turn of the hand
4. squeezing the ball (wrong span or holding the ball weight with your thumb
instead of fingers)
5. broken wrist at release point
6. really late release point
7. grip powder
8, soft plastic insert
and on and on
1. excessive body fluid (combined with salty intake)
2. heat
3. humidity
4. excessive sweating
5. stress (life and bowling)
and on and on.
Anyhow, good luck
This is a long comment so I will address it separately lol. Ill try to hit everything in my reply
1. My span is correct. I am 99% sure anyway. I was recently remeasured due to some pain issues I was having and my span had lengthened from when I was first measured about 5 years ago, and I have not had any pain since. The hanging up is a reoccurring issue from even before then.
2. Pitches I am not sure on... I have wanted to play with thumb pitches, but never have. I do not believe I turn the ball early either. I do not feel like I turn the ball much at all. I try to just let it roll off my hand. I need to take a video soon,
3. I use a round thumb hole. After I get away from the switch grip, I am going to go with a normal thumb slug and oval thumb. Doing that on the next ball I buy.
4. I am not squeezing the ball. I consciously make a point to not do this. If i accidentally do, i know it and the result is obvious lol
5. No broken wrist
6. dont believe the release is late, except for the ball hanging up causing it to be later. when i can keep the swelling down and get my thumb out when i want it out, the ball rolls out onto the lane nice and early. I like to roll the ball into the lane rather than onto the lane if that makes sense
7. I think you make have hit the nail on the head with this one, but it is the crux of the situation. I never even thought of this. I have sweaty hands. like really sweaty when i bowl. for years i have used one of the grip ball things to dry my hand off before each shot. I may try to go without it tonight and see what happens.
now for the rest of the comments.
I don't drink beer. I don't like beer. I do like sweeter and fruity alcoholic drinks (don't judge me lol) though and i do drink on one of my leagues. haven't noticed a difference on the nights i drink and don't drink. I do not exactly have the best eating habits so sometimes I do eat a lot of salty foods, but it isn't consistent. Hell, i have days where I do not even eat all day before league and my hands are still swollen. I might be able to deal with that if getting rid of the rosin bag stops my thumb from sticking.
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My hanging issues stemmed from too much reverse pitch causing me to bend my thumb and do grab the ball. The more I grabbed the ball, the more my thumb swelled. Now throwing a zero reverse pitch and no more hanging.
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I don't know my pitches, measurements, or anything of the sort. But if not using the bag does not solve the issue, I'll change something on the next ball I get drilled. I'm really wanting to drill up a venom cobra
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Hey I forgot to give my results after league Sunday. I went the whole night without even looking at a rosin bag. I didn't have many hanging up issues. There were just a couple times I did, but that was more because of the swelling issues and MAYBE moisture on my thumb, but it was much improved over recently. I think it has been compounded issues all coming together for one bad situation.
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Hey I forgot to give my results after league Sunday. I went the whole night without even looking at a rosin bag. I didn't have many hanging up issues. There were just a couple times I did, but that was more because of the swelling issues and MAYBE moisture on my thumb, but it was much improved over recently. I think it has been compounded issues all coming together for one bad situation.
Rosin causes your hand to swell. Use either hand conditioner powder or easy slide.
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Hey I forgot to give my results after league Sunday. I went the whole night without even looking at a rosin bag. I didn't have many hanging up issues. There were just a couple times I did, but that was more because of the swelling issues and MAYBE moisture on my thumb, but it was much improved over recently. I think it has been compounded issues all coming together for one bad situation.
Rosin causes your hand to swell. Use either hand conditioner powder or easy slide.
I agree. I have not used rosin since the '80's but I thought that it was to provide more 'grip' on the fingers or thumb. If I remember correctly, if you have sweaty hands, rosin will interact with that moisture and become tacky, causing more grip or hanging in the holes. Hanging up in the holes either due to tackiness or bending the thumb (squeezing) will cause the thumb to swell. Maybe someone with sweaty hands can confirm or deny this.
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Wanted to check back in. I decided I really wanted something to cover my thumb. I ran into sweaty hands because of the heat in a bowling alley I was at. As my hand dried, it became tacky. I was really sick of dealing with it. I ordered in a Brunswick glove with thumb saver combo thing. Anyway, I had league tonight and didn't want to bowl without something, so I picked up a cheap golf glove to use tonight. Cut the middle and ring finger off half way down and reamed out one of my undersized thumb inserts to use. I think I'm onto something now. I'm not going to say I got out of the ball as clean as I like, but the release off my thumb was consistent as long as Dummy #1 kept his thumb relaxed. The glove had just enough tack that I didn't feel like I needed to use any muscle to hold the ball on my hand in the back swing. I don't have to have a huge thumb hole to compensate for swelling now because I think the glove will hide some of that. Now this was just one night, but I should have done this a long time ago.