Bowling thumb hole

Question
I am feeling pain in my lower thumb, at the lower joint back.  Will a reverse pitch in the thumb hole help?

Answer
Gary,
Thanks for asking a question. The pain you feel is you bending your thumb in the hole, the bending presses the back of the thumb against the wall of the thumb hole and it rubs as you exit. More reverse will cause more gripping and more pain.

Try keeping the thumb straight when going in and while in the thumb hole. The way to do that is concentrate on pressing the thumb nail back against the back of the hole. Or, press the front crease of the knuckle joint, against the front of the hole. In either case your thumb will be straight and problem will be gone. But only when you remember to execute this little trick.

PS. Thumb hole doesn't fit well if you have to do what you're doing. Hole is too big, or thumb angle is off, or span is short, or some variation of one or more of these.

Thanks again for the question. Good bowling.