This is season has been a bit of a struggle for me; have had a couple nights where it could barely bowl due to various pains.

my pro-shop guy and I have solved the finger and thumb pains with new spans/pitches.  It was nearly 10 years ago that I last evaluated and tweaked the spans and pitches so it was time.

This leaves me with general wrist pain.  not nearly as bad after span/pitch adjustments, but still noticeable.  at its worst, I can not even hold a ball in the set position with out a lot pain.

it has been suggested that a possible mitigation for the wrist pain would be to drop from 16 lbs equipment to 15 lbs.

I have been resisting this change; I have thrown the occasion 15 lbs ball and find that I do 2 things.  1) get fast feet and 2) really overthrow the ball.

since the wrist pain has me strongly considering this change, I am curious how you guys decided it was time to make this change?

For me it was more a case that the 16 pound balls were wearing me out. Granted, I had come off a nearly 5-year layoff so that could have had something to do with my lack of bowling stamina, but those old 16 pounders were suddenly tough for me to throw more than a game or two. Once I dropped down to 15 it became so much easier to finish out a set.

When you change from urethane to reactive...

for me it was wrist pain --- NO pain at all since I have switched about 5 years ago

for me, I really don't want to change.  creature of habit I guess.

But, it is probably time to do so.   I am encouraged that this change helped some of you guys with similar symptoms relieve the wrist pain.

Thanks all, I will be pulling the trigger on this change.

I think there are good reasons to go to 15 beyond physical problems.  In the modern game higher rev rates and higher ball speed in combination are both advantageous.  Unless you are still old school hit up on the ball you will find that it is possible to get more revs and more ball speed by dropping.