Thumb issue

Question
QUESTION: Hello,
My wife is a scratch bowler and has an issue with her thumb.  After bowling several games her thumb between the thumb nail and the knuckle, swells and hurts.  The swelling is not happening and then the pain starting.  She doesn't hang up in the ball and thumb is not to loose.  Have had several pro shop people look at this issue.  All are at a loss.  The issue has been present for some time (couple of years).  Once again several pro shop operators have said span, is correct.  span is 4 1/4 fingers are 1/8 away and thumb is 3/8 forward.  I have tried to decrease this but she drops the ball quite a bit.  Any ideas, I know it is tough without seeing her hand and throwing ball.  Any suggestion would be appreciated

ANSWER: Mike,
I have several thoughts but provide some additional details and I can narrow down or eliminate some variables and get a better handle on what might be going on.

Is her hand small? What's the length of her thumb? Is the hand dry or moist when she bowls? She's scratch but very accurate scratch or turns the ball and hooks it?? How hard does she throw the ball (ball speed)? What are her lateral pitches on both the fingers and the thumb?

I'm assuming a finger tip grip, does she use finger grips? what kind? Grip in thumb (oval or tapered or slug)? Given your wife's style would you describe it as similar to others that play in the center, or is she slower? faster? hooks it more? goes straighter? then the rest of the women.

Thanks for the question. Please tell me more and we can get to the bottom of this. I look
forward to hearing back soon.

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: hand size is average? medium for a women. Thumb length is 2 3/4".  Hand is more dry when she bowls, uses vise thumb tape (beige)on the back of her thumb.  She turns the ball and hooks it.  She is on the slower side like 15-16 mph.  Rev rate is around 300.  She uses vise finger inserts just the oval and a solids vise thumb slug(drilled oval) Specs are below

after checking ball previous finger spec were incorrect
fingers middle - left 3/8, 0 away, ring 1/4 right, 0 away
thumb  1/8 under palm, 1/2 forward.

Overall Span is 4 1/8 and 4 1/4

Oval thumb at 25 degrees .075 cut

Hand is very flexible and when we had her at 1/4 ad 3/8 forward she dropped ball.  

She also wears pro release extended and steel fingers (had tendon issue a few years back)

I was wondering if it was possible because of forward in thumb she was hitting the backside of her thumb when coming out of the ball.  She never hangs up at all and clears it well.  In fact one coach suggested going with more forward.  Thank you for your help.  Let me know if you need any more information

ANSWER: Mike,
I'm thinking a combination of things are happening. Pitches in the fingers are forcing her to actively rotate just a little late in her delivery to cleanly get out of the ball. I's suggest a pitch change on both fingers and thumb.

With a Pro Release on shes not flexible at all. The metal plate strapped to her hand does not allow the most flexible hand to flex at all. When she tried less forward in the thumb was she using the Pro Release? What kind of angles are set on the Pro Release?

She's definitely rubbing against the back of the hole as she exits. What kind of room does she have between her hand and the ball with the PR on? What sizes are the holes? I'm getting a sense that she may have a little room to get flatter on the ball, too. Was she fit with the PR on?

Thanks for the follow up. A dry, flexible hand (especially if she doesn't have a very big hand - short fingers/thumb) should get out of the ball lightening quick, but the wrist device is stifling that. I'm thinking that the span or hole sizes can't be what they need to be or she'd have no issues. Let me know more.

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: She was using pro release with less forward thumb pitch and seemed like she was dropping ball.  Several proshop people said to increase the forward pitch and that seemed to stop the dropping but the new issue started.  So I am wonder when you say change the pitch in the fingers and Thumb. Do you mean away in fingers and less reverse in the thumb?  Her pro release is set one hole forward (making wrist slightly cupped) and no lateral setting is used. She was fitted with pro release on and she has about a pencil width between palm and ball when on her hand.  The Thumb is pretty snug and she uses tape.  Her thumb whole size is 3/4 with a oval at 25 degree cut at .090.  We have tried different degrees but this is the one she feel the cleanest out of.  Thank you for all your time and effort I am ready to try anything and will do so once tournament season is over so any information is greatly appreciated.

Answer
Mike,
Your wife has a couple things going on that help her get out of the ball. An oval urethane slug can be very slick and easy to exit. (Is the tape on the front of the hole?) Add beige tape to the back of her thumb and she's going to fly out of the thumb. Her hand sounds like it is on the small, dry, flexible side, all elements that facilitate easy quick delivery. Secure the hand with the Pro Release and she can't "flex" the hand to help hold on, now the ball is screaming to fall off quickly. Now, try to stop the ball from falling off prematurely by adding a ton of forward pitch. This seems like the issue.

Try the following one at a time, throw some shots and try the next:
1. Don't use the beige tape on the back of the thumb.
2. Put a piece of finger tape positioned at the front of the thumb, not front of the hole, to give her a little security.
3. Lock the Pro Release so there is no cup, adjust the lateral position to gain some tilt and axis rotation.
*4. A little forward pitch in the fingers might help secure the hand, snug the span length and help delay the feel of the ball exiting the hand. Switch her oval fingers to pitched grips. If the pitch change helps with the changed grips, swap out the pitched grips, surface plug the fingers and drill some pitch into the holes and reinstall oval grips.

*If finger grips are worn/slick, they're not helping secure the ball (grips need to be changed, depending on wear, about every 60 to 75 games).

When dialing the Pro Release to provide the cupped wrist, it changes where she needs to come out of the ball. The combination of pitch #forward/reverse# in the fingers and thumb are crucially connected. If she has forward in the thumb but can't hold onto the ball, it's usually because there is too much forward in the fingers. In your wife's case no pitch might mean adding a little forward #not away# will secure the grip. The tight thumb hole is an indicator that she needs help to hold onto the ball. The pencil between hand and ball is an indicator that the span is close, but a small, dry/slick hand, especially with the metal backing of a Pro Release suggests shes got a little room for additional span #a LITTLE#.

Does her normal delivery land the ball? The trajectory is like a plane landing, not up, out and slamming down?

Lastly, lateral finger pitches can help her get the roll she's looking for, is getting more roll why she uses the Pro Release? How does she throw the ball without the Pro Release? Thanks for the follow up info. Don't rush to try to many things. Remove one or two things causing her to exit too fast and she should be fine. She seems to be the perfect storm of easy hand to get out of a bowling ball, then a bunch of stuff helping her get out even better/faster is causing difficulty. Thanks for the questions, please let me know how things shake out.