Thumb Swelling Tricks?

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soupy1957
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Thumb Swelling Tricks?

Post by soupy1957 »

When my thumb swells, like it does on most of us I suppose, I haven’t figured out exactly what I need to do to stop that, or to fix that, or to work around that.......

I don’t know if the air is supposed to help, that blows out of the back end of the ball return; or if powder is supposed to help. I use both of those. I’ve even gone back into the pro shop a couple of times and had the whole resized a little bit bigger, and change the radius of the edge of the hole.

Thoughts, ideas, suggestions??
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Re: Thumb Swelling Tricks?

Post by 44boyd »

Keep your thumb above your heart when you’re in the setee area. If it happens every time you bowl, you’ll have to learn to add/remove tape from the ball to keep it fitting right. Or you could go interchangeable thumb insert and get 2 or 3 in different sizes to go from your smallest thumb to the most swollen. Turbo makes a “cushion “ insert for the back of the hole that can fill the area so it’s not loose and still get your thumb out. Main thing is it should be snug so you don’t squeeze.
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Re: Thumb Swelling Tricks?

Post by kajmk »

Do a search on this forum for chapstick. You will find a lot of replies dealing with thumb issues.
Parker Bohn III recommended chapstick. I always carried it afterwards

I copied this from one of my replies.

"Pro Tem, Quick coping tips:

A TINY bit of lip balm like chapstick applied on the place you feel the resistance will lubricate the area. Caution a little goes a long way. This could be a good addition to your accessory bag.

Wrap a tissue or handkerchief around your thumb, insert your wrapped thumb into the thumb hole, this is to force fluid out of your thumb. Work the thumb in and out and in and out. The effects can last just long enough to make a shot. The fluid WILLINGNESS return shortly.

Keep your hand raised between shots, for example, rest it on your opposite shoulder, using gravity to reduce fluid.

Avoid salty foods, avoid msg.

Get an ice pack, put ice in it, Wrap the thumb. Other ad hoc methods using ice while keeping the thumb dry.

Determine whether the problem is in your technique or the hole.
Determine other variables, shot frequency, weather, game situations, and so on.
Keep a Bowling diary.

Avoid making a permanent change for a random or temporary condition."
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Re: Thumb Swelling Tricks?

Post by pjape »

One thing I found that helps me immensely is using thumb tape on my thumb. What I do differently is I make sure the tape covers the sides of my thumb. What I found is without side coverage, my thumb swells and then I start hanging. Since I started doing this, my thumb rarely changes while bowling, and when it does, I usually have to add tape. I use the Turbo black patch that is normally used on the fingers. Even when I have to jam my thumb in the ball, I still get out very cleanly. YMMV.
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Re: Thumb Swelling Tricks?

Post by Dax »

soupy1957 wrote:When my thumb swells, like it does on most of us I suppose, I haven’t figured out exactly what I need to do to stop that, or to fix that, or to work around that.......

I don’t know if the air is supposed to help, that blows out of the back end of the ball return; or if powder is supposed to help. I use both of those. I’ve even gone back into the pro shop a couple of times and had the whole resized a little bit bigger, and change the radius of the edge of the hole.

Thoughts, ideas, suggestions??
Tiny bit of chapstick works wonders.

Just at the side of your thumbs where it is catching.

If not, I end up opening the thumb - which I have to fill up a couple of days later with tape.
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Re: Thumb Swelling Tricks?

Post by boomer »

I bought a plug and had it drilled JUST so it's tight. . . then when my thumb starts swelling, I'll stick my thumb in there while I'm not bowling, so it keeps my thumb from swelling up. Pull the thumb out, bowl, seems to work.

Now I'm putting that cloth tape on the back of my thumb (and adjusted ball tape to fit) and haven't had the same issues, but we're heading in to Summer so . . .
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Re: Thumb Swelling Tricks?

Post by soupy1957 »

My alley of choice was swarming with little kids last night!! So I went into the Pro Shop and asked the fella in there to give me another .200 of diameter to my thumb hole, on the ball that I was getting hung up in. He also put one piece of some “special” kind of tape (?)

Without a less than one hour wait for a lane, I went 10 miles down the road to a different Alley that I’d passed hundreds of times before. Surprisingly, NOBODY was bowling!!

1. My thumb didn’t stick anymore
2. The lanes in THIS Alley were MUCH drier!
3. The “hook” I’ve been trying to achieve in my “regular” Alley but could find very little of, came to LIFE with BOTH balls, in this older Brunswick house. (If I could find that elusive “repeatability,” I’d be down right DANGEROUS!!! I’d have to have a LICENSE to “carry!!”)
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Re: Thumb Swelling Tricks?

Post by 44boyd »

You probably need to move right on the oily lanes to find the dry. Thumb tape, white is for grip on the pad side and black is slick for the back of the thumb. Have some ready and adjust your thumbhole as needed as environment changes. You don’t want to squeeze the ball at all.
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Re: Thumb Swelling Tricks?

Post by spmcgivern »

Many times we figure out our thumb is swelling when on the approach setting up for a shot. Instead of going back and digging out your chapstick or whatever possibly causing a delay, you can also take the part of the thumb that is hanging up and rub it across the bridge of your nose. Your nose will have a little oil on it and it is usually enough for a shot or two until you get a more permanent method.

Also, many people have issues with thumb swelling between shifts or days of long format tournaments. My grandmother had a great treatment for those instances..... Preparation H. Seems odd at first, but the swelling reducing powers of Preparation H works wonders on the thumb. I used it in college during the break between qualifying and match play/baker. I also used it between days for multi-day tournaments. I do recommend the cream and not the ointment since the ointment is quite greasy.

Also, for college bowlers, having a routine where you raise your hands above your heart between shots will help tremendously. College bowling is the one place where there are 10 bowlers within inches of each other behind the approach. Most bowlers won't sit down even one time during an entire tournament. This will cause lots of swelling due to the position of the hands to the heart, heat of being on top of each other and because most college bowlers I met try to over-throw the ball causing issues of their own.
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Re: Thumb Swelling Tricks?

Post by JohnP »

My alley of choice was swarming with little kids last night!! So I went into the Pro Shop and asked the fella in there to give me another .200 of diameter to my thumb hole, on the ball that I was getting hung up in. He also put one piece of some “special” kind of tape (?)
You added almost 1/4" diameter to the hole???? Or maybe you meant .020" (20/1000) added? -- JohnP
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Re: Thumb Swelling Tricks?

Post by soupy1957 »

JohnP:

Not a mistake.....but don’t forget, that’s .100 per side. I “requested” or “suggested” that he open it up that much, but I can’t say that I know that he actually increased the diameter that much. I didn’t pull out my calipers to verify it.

I suppose I COULD have gone down the road of thumb inserts of various sizes, but I didn’t want to get that complicated with the whole issue.

What I DO know is, now my thumb doesn’t stick, and I wanna bowl more on dry lanes that give me more hook! I LOVE watching the ball hook!!

If I could figure out how to achieve a good hook on oily lanes, that’d be fun too!!

I realize of course, that it’s all about scores, but lemme put it this way......when I played golf, I was known to put the score card in my back pocket, and not record my strokes. Not because I stunk at golf, (I was an average handicapped golfer), but because the serenity of the outdoors was more valuable to me than my talley.

A bowling alley may not be the beautiful outdoors, (and I still spend a good deal of time “outside”), but it has its own ambiance and “fun” (if you will). One of those “fun” aspects to me, is watching my ball react to the dry wood!
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Re: Thumb Swelling Tricks?

Post by MegaMav »

soupy1957 wrote:JohnP:

Not a mistake.....but don’t forget, that’s .100 per side. I “requested” or “suggested” that he open it up that much, but I can’t say that I know that he actually increased the diameter that much. I didn’t pull out my calipers to verify it.
He didnt, or it would be like a hot dog down a hallway.
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Re: Thumb Swelling Tricks?

Post by kajmk »

A thread on Pre and Post Shot Routines.

viewtopic.php?f=3&t=12227&p=108574#p108574" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
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Re: Thumb Swelling Tricks?

Post by steve s »

"Have the thumb hole fixed when you are swelled ...then before you bowl gentle pound your thumb like a piece of meat to tenderize it and this will cause it to swell up and your thumb will fit "....Carmen Salvino steve s
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Re: Thumb Swelling Tricks?

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steve s wrote:"Have the thumb hole fixed when you are swelled ...then before you bowl gentle pound your thumb like a piece of meat to tenderize it and this will cause it to swell up and your thumb will fit "....Carmen Salvino steve s

The Great Salvino. :)

I read his book when it came out. Very entertaining.

Fast lanes : Carmen Salvino and professional bowling grew up together, here is their story Paperback – March 1, 1988

Editorial Reviews
From Library Journal
pap. $9.95. sports Entertaining for the sports buff, this book is also a good resource for the sports historian. It traces the evolution of bowling from cramped basements with pin boys to today's elaborate bowling emporiums. A book of contrasts, it ranges from the early years when professional bowlers stayed afloat with other jobs and hustling, to the time when significant prize money became available through tournaments and TV competition; from the era of the classic city leagues, with company sponsorship of teams who also traveled for team competition, to the current individual competition format. The focus is on Salvino, but bowling's greats are presented and its excitement and history portrayed. The chapter on technique is much better than the one on staying in shape. Kenneth Tillman, Trenton State Coll., N.J.
Copyright 1988 Reed Business Information, Inc.

One person's review

Carmen Salvino has been a legend for over 50 years. Watch a PBA tournament and he's sitting in the first row observing and lending his considerable presence. Carmen was called by many the "Clown Prince of Bowling". Don't let that fool you. He knew more ways to beat you than you knew ways to win. His record setting 846 series on "Bowling Stars" in 1955 endured until Bob Learn, Jr's televised 850 in 1995. Carmen is a good will ambassador for the sport. Perhaps not as well known to the public he's a self-taught engineers with 30 patents to his name. Salvino is a "one of a kind" and this book should be required reading for bowling fans, especially those who think the game was invented in 1990.
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Re: Thumb Swelling Tricks?

Post by pinchasertb »

Tips:

Less salt in your diet will reduce the potential for swelling.

When swollen, use an unfolded paper napkin over your entire thumb and force into hole. Repeat folding napkin in half. Keep forcing into thumb until your thumb glides in and out to the comfort you like. Then bowl. You have essentially pushed the fluid out of the thumb and into your hand. I may come back in a half game or so but it is an instant fix.
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Re: Thumb Swelling Tricks?

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pinchasertb wrote:Tips:

Less salt in your diet will reduce the potential for swelling.

When swollen, use an unfolded paper napkin over your entire thumb and force into hole. Repeat folding napkin in half. Keep forcing into thumb until your thumb glides in and out to the comfort you like. Then bowl. You have essentially pushed the fluid out of the thumb and into your hand. I may come back in a half game or so but it is an instant fix.
Good one.
A companion to that one is use a tiny bit of chapstick (PBIII tip)

Take care.
May all beings everywhere be happy and free,
and may the thoughts, words, and actions of my own life
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Re: Thumb Swelling Tricks?

Post by rrb6699 »

I have interchangeable for my strike balls but, not my spare ball which has the tightest thumb of all my balls and interchangeables. I make sure I can fit my thumb in that ball first, then decide on the interchangeable to use.

my thumb shrinks to fit the thumb hole. rarely I find it too big for my spare ball. but, last night it happened. painful to insert my thumb. affected my spare shooting. so I used my strike ball for spares. I don't like doing that because it oil soaks the cover quicker. but, had to this time.

now, today, i'm gonna widen my thumb to fit before I bowl when my thumb is it's largest.

seems like I have to do this about once every 6 months. I don't put interchangeable in my spare ball because plastic spare balls don't last too long.

rr
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Re: Thumb Swelling Tricks?

Post by elgavachon »

rrb6699 wrote:I have interchangeable for my strike balls but, not my spare ball which has the tightest thumb of all my balls and interchangeables. I make sure I can fit my thumb in that ball first, then decide on the interchangeable to use.

my thumb shrinks to fit the thumb hole. rarely I find it too big for my spare ball. but, last night it happened. painful to insert my thumb. affected my spare shooting. so I used my strike ball for spares. I don't like doing that because it oil soaks the cover quicker. but, had to this time.

now, today, i'm gonna widen my thumb to fit before I bowl when my thumb is it's largest.

seems like I have to do this about once every 6 months. I don't put interchangeable in my spare ball because plastic spare balls don't last too long.

rr
I have put interchangeables in the Motive Sniper and have had no issues.
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Re: Thumb Swelling Tricks?

Post by rrb6699 »

I did it on one spare ball. will probably have to on this one
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