Changes

Many bowlers take the summer off before they start getting ready for the new league season. It’s during that break that many things change with the bowling environment – newer bowling balls, lane oils, or lane machines, for example. There are also changes the body has gone through during that break, even though we may not be aware of them.

Your hand, thumb, and fingers

Let’s begin with your hand. The change that is most common is the loss of calluses on the thumb. Once these calluses go down or away, they are replaced with “soft spots” in the skin that can easily create blisters or even tear the skin on the thumb. Here are some preventive things you can do the first few times you are back on the lanes.

The first thing you will need is what is commonly known as skin “patch.” There are different brands available from your pro shop. There are strategic places you can put the patch to prevent blistering or tearing the skin.

When you look at the thumb patch photo, you will see a white circle on the thumb. This is the area of the thumb that is most susceptible to being the first place that will either blister or have a tear in the skin. Putting a patch on that area is a good preventive until the callus on that part of the thumb starts to develop again.

The other part of the thumb that tends to be a bit sensitive and susceptible to blistering or tearing is on the base of the thumb as indicated by the red dot and red arrow. The drawback with putting a patch on this part of the thumb before the skin toughens up a bit is that it can cause you to ...