Shouldering the Burden

For the past six months, I have been bowling in pain. I was getting used to it and adjusting my backswing and hand position to minimize the discomfort. My shoulder was hurting. After 35 years of a high backswing, the wear and tear finally caught up to me. It was ironic to note that my approach looked 'more textbook' as I lowered my backswing and held a more closed hand position to alleviate the discomfort. If I had bowled the way the game is usually taught, I would have never seen a doctor, learned shoulder stretching and strengthening exercises, taken lots of anti-inflammatory pain medication and received one cortisone shot.

Shoulder Impingement Syndrome
Like most males of the species, I don't want to go to the doctor. I prefer to have some idea of why I need to visit so I am not surprised by a professional diagnosis. With the Internet, I can search on my symptoms, research possible causes and treatments, and determine if I need professional help. I am not a person who needs to visit the emergency room with a headache or nose bleed. WebMD listed this diagnosis:

Impingement syndrome is a common condition affecting the shoulder and is often seen in aging adults. This condition is closely related to shoulder bursitis and rotator cuff tendinitis. These conditions may occur alone or in combination.

Aging adults. I do note that most of my current ailments usually have those two words in the definition. It is usually an overuse injury. For my case, it was an overuse due to bowling and an aging adult. Google Health described my condition exactly as risk factors for being over age 40 and participating in sports or exercise that involves repetitive arm motion over the head.

Road to Recovery
Just taking the summer off from bowling did not make this problem go away. I still went to the gym and did strength training. However, I did diminish any exercises that resulted in shoulder stress. When my sleep patterns were affected by shoulder pain, it was time to go to the doctor. I still have doubts that most sport orthopedic doctors know the physical tolls on a body due to bowling. I was passing a lot of simple shoulder tests. I could raise my arm over my head. I could still do push-ups and chest presses. However, it hurt to raise my arm behind me. Typical shoulder impingement areas involve failing those first tests. Demonstrating a backswing that hurt was a new symptom. Luckily, the treatment is the same. The doctor started me with a conservative treatment; physical therapy and lots of anti-inflammatory medication. Even though it did not help with the pain that much, the medicine was needed to reduce the swelling.

Oral anti-inflammatory medications -- such as aspirin, naproxen, or ibuprofen, remain the most common treatment for impingement syndrome.

You must consistently take the medication for nearly eight weeks for it to be effective. You should do this under the care of a doctor because these medications can cause stomach irritation and bleeding.
Taking anti-inflammatory drugs for a short period of time may treat the symptom of pain, but it will not treat the underlying problem and symptoms will come back. There is no specific medication for this condition and response to any given medication differs from person to person. If one anti-inflammatory medication does not help within 10 to 14 days, then another one will be given until one that provides relief is found.

I was taking ibuprofen and Meloxicam for two months. In addition, I did common stretches such as trying to reach my thumb up my back. I used resistance bands to force the hand further up my back. I used a pole or towel to raise both my arms behind my back as far as comfortable. I also did a series of light weight shoulder activities known as Hughston Excercises. I used 3 and 5 pound weights. Since the muscles being worked are smaller muscles, you will find that these weights are more than sufficient, especially if you are having rotator cuff problems. After six weeks of these exercises, I was still failing one test. Holding my arms straight out from my body palms up, the doctor would push down on my hands. It was hard to resist his force with the injured arm. Every other impingement was much better except for the bicep tendon. This is the tendon that connects the shoulder and the top of the bicep muscle. My injury was specifically diagnosed as bicipital tendonitis. I received a cortisone shot at that location.

Bowling During and After Treatment
Why are you still bowling? A question that was often asked by relatives familiar with my shoulder injury. Well, the doctor didn't tell me to quit. I was going by the adage, if it hurts to do it, don't do it. It did not hurt that bad, but did get worse the more games I bowled. I had basically cut back to bowling one league a week and one tournament a month. With no practice, that meant 3 games a week with one week-end of bowling 4-8 games. As I mentioned earlier, I was doing basic adjustments that relieved the pain. The summary was that I was bowling more correct as I should have been doing. My arm was more of a pendulum with a shorter backswing. This took a lot of stress off the shoulder. The release and follow through were not forced but more natural. Forcing the downswing and follow through adds stress to the shoulder and bicep. You would only feel this extra stress if that area was injured. Letting the weight of the ball control the pendulum swing adds no extra stress to the shoulder joint. Those shots felt good and pain-free. I was disappointed if I did not strike on those deliveries. If I executed correctly and did not wince, I thought I should have struck.

I also had to quicken the steps of my approach to add ball speed. This would also alleviate my shoulder from forcing the delivery. As my ball speed is not that great anyway, I was struggling on house shots. I had to play more inside than I would have wanted for maximum scoring potential. The tournaments in which I participated were sponsored by Bowlers Advantage Pro Shop. This series of tournaments uses the Kegel Challenge series of lane patterns. These patterns are advertised as harder than house shots but easier than sport patterns. I have had the same success this year as previous years on these patterns. The slicker patterns play to my advantage with my slower, more deliberate style. I have made the qualifying rounds about the same percentage as previous years. However, the more I advanced, the less I had to give to the match. This is no excuse. I was defeated by the better bowler when I lost. I am not sure a 100% healthy me would have won. One thing that could have helped was the mental aspect. With my injury, there was no easy shot for me. While the rest of the league is shooting their normal average and honor score ratios, I am still working hard for a good set. I don't feel that I have as much area. I also feel a bad delivery will have bad results. I am prone to leave more pocket splits this year than in the past.

The Road Back
Now, I feel good. The competitive juices are coming back. I am still a little apprehensive. One inspirational story is San Diego Padres/San Francisco Giants pitcher Dave Dravecky.

The following season, a cancerous desmoid tumor was found in Dravecky's pitching arm. He underwent surgery on October 7, 1988, removing half of the deltoid muscle in his pitching arm and freezing the humerus bone in an effort to eliminate all of the cancerous cells.^[1][2] By July 1989, he was pitching in the minors, and on August 10, he made a highly publicized return to the major leagues, pitching eight innings and defeating Cincinnati 4–3.

He coauthored a book, Comeback, that chronicled his story of returning to the mound after his cancer diagnosis. The reason that I am apprehensive is that Dave's cancer came back and he broke his arm pitching during a game. His arm deteriorated and had to be amputated. Dave is now a motivational speaker after the success of his next book, When You Can't Come Back. I have this book. I think it is too early to be forced into retirement from a sport and activity that I have done for a significant majority of my life. There would be some serious emotions to handle if the decision is forced upon you. I am not ready, but am optimistic that it is not yet my time to give up the sport. I always thought my more simplistic approach would allow me to outlast and outbowl many of my competitors in the long run as we all became senior bowlers. Many of the younger bowlers apply too much stress on their bodies with their powerful deliveries. It is humbling to know that these type of injuries can plague even those who consistently exercise and stay in good shape.

There have been good signs. I have bowled a 300 game within 2 weeks of the cortisone shot, and went to the championship match of a Bowlers Advantage tournament. The good news is that I did not feel pain or sore later or the next day. I am starting to remember what I used to call 'normal.'

Do Not Stress Over Your Competition

Stan Popovich

Many athletes sometimes get anxious when they play against a tough opponent. They get nervous on who they are competing with and they get so worked up that they lose focus on playing their sport. In the end, they make mistakes and end up beating themselves up if they do not win. As a result, here is a list of techniques that an athlete can use to help manage the stress of playing against the competition.

The first step is to learn as much as you can on your opponent. Although this may seem obvious, some athletes may think they already know what they need to know. Remember there is always something to learn about your competition. Read the reports about your opponent and watch him or her performance. Try to figure out an angle on how you can beat your competition. The more you know about your competition the better your chances are you will win. This will also help to reduce your worries in the future.

Do not assume anything about your competition whether they are stronger or weaker than you. Every athlete has his good and bad times and just because you may be facing a stronger opponent does not mean that you will lose. Remember that you and your opponent both have an equal chance of winning. You are both starting from scratch. This should help you to give you confidence going into your next event.

Focus on how you can best strive for perfection in your own event instead of worrying about your opponent. For instance, you are going against the number one athlete in the tournament and you are nervous. Instead of focusing on how good your competition is, focus on your performance. Concentrate on how you can perform your event and how you can best improve on your problem areas.

Realize that you can't win all of the time and that also includes your competition. You may be the best athlete in the world, however you will still sometimes lose. No one can win all of the time. When facing a tough competitor, use this fact to your advantage. Even the best athletes will make some mistakes.

It is not uncommon to get nervous when you go against a better opponent. All you can do is to focus on your skill sets and do the best you can. This will help you in the long run.

BIOGRAPHY

Stan Popovich is the author of "A Layman's Guide to Managing Fear Using Psychology, Christianity and Non Resistant Methods" - an easy to read book that presents a general overview of techniques that are effective in managing persistent fears and anxieties. For additional information go to: http://www.managingfear.com

MANAGING YOUR ANXIETIES IN YOUR BOWLING

Stanley Popovich

At times, our worries and anxieties can overwhelm us. In addition, our worries can distort our perception of what is reality and what is not. As a result, this may interfere with your bowling. Here is a brief list of techniques that a bowler can use to help gain a better perspective on things during their anxious moments.

Sometimes we get stressed out when everything happens all at once. When this happens, a person should take a deep breath and try to find something to do for a few minutes to get their mind off of the problem. A person could read the newspaper, listen to some music or do an activity that will give them a fresh perspective on things. This is a great technique to use right before your next game.

Remember that our fearful thoughts are exaggerated and can make the problem worse. A good way to manage your worry is to challenge your negative thinking with positive statements and realistic thinking. When encountering thoughts that make you fearful or anxious, challenge those thoughts by asking yourself questions that will maintain objectivity and common sense.

Remember that all the worrying in the world will not change anything. Most of what we worry about never comes true. Instead of worrying about something that probably won’t happen, concentrate on what you are able to do.

Another technique that is very helpful is to have a small notebook of positive statements that you can carry around with you. Whenever you come across an affirmation that makes you feel good, write it down in a small notebook that you can carry around with you. Whenever you feel stressed before your event, open up your small notebook and read those statements. This will help to manage your negative thinking.

In every anxiety-related situation you experience, begin to learn what works, what doesn’t work, and what you need to improve on in managing your fears and anxieties. For instance, you have a lot of anxiety before your event and you decide to take a walk to help you feel better. The next time you feel anxious you can remind yourself that you got through it the last time by taking a walk. This will give you the confidence to manage your anxiety the next time around.

Take advantage of the help that is available around you. If possible, talk to a professional who can help you manage your fears and anxieties. They will be able to provide you with additional advice and insights on how to deal with your current problem. By talking to a professional, a person will be helping themselves in the long run because they will become better able to deal with their problems in the future. Remember that it never hurts to ask for help.

It is not easy to deal with all of our fears and worries. When your fears and anxieties have the best of you, try to calm down and then get the facts of the situation. The key is to take it slow. All you can do is to do your best each day, hope for the best, and when something does happen, take it in stride. Take it one step at a time and things will work out.

BIOGRAPHY:

Stan Popovich is the author of “A Layman’s Guide to Managing Fear Using Psychology, Christianity and Non Resistant Methods” – an easy to read book that presents a general overview of techniques that are effective in managing persistent fears and anxieties. For additional information go to: http://www.managingfear.com/

The unusual bowling in college story

Did you watch the Tennessee Volunteers upset #3 Pittsburgh in college basket ball on Saturday, December 11? It pains me as an alum of the Memphis Tigers to see Tennessee do well in basketball. One player on Tennessee's roster was not eligible for this game. He is forward Jeronne Maymon. Maymon transferred to Tennessee from Marquette. Maymon is ready to join the team after sitting out his NCAA mandated year due to transfer. However, he was not cleared to play because he was still waiting on one class to post his grade. That class was bowling.

Maymon took and says he passed five classes in the fall semester; the final grade he's waiting to get posted and make his eligibility official is a bowling class that ended in October.

Please, no jock jokes on types of classes. I took bowling as a PE class at Memphis State in 1983. Yes, it was an easy A. I knew how to keep score. I knew the history of the American Bowling Congress. I was already a 185-190 average bowler, so averaging a 130 in class for an A was a piece of cake. Besides trying to boost my GPA with an already loaded engineering curriculum, I now had practice time. The Tennessee state tournament was going to be held in Memphis that year. One of the houses hosting the tournament was also the house hosting the bowling PE class. I had a whole semester of practice at the tournament host site for no charge. Well, there was a charge. It was buried in my tuition.

That kind of rationalization can still work today. I see businesses doing corporate outings for team building exercises. Maybe I can organize a team building event at the local bowling center hosting the city tournament this year.

They moved the fences in.

Jason Thomas had an excellent article on pba.com concerning the changes he has noticed in softball as the seasons roll on over time. As it was on a bowling web site, reading the story had me thinking of the current softball season as an allegory to the current state of bowling leagues. I'm pretty sure that was the author's intention.

It was not a great game to play or to watch being played, one team getting mauled and the other circling the bases regularly with no real effort. How fun was it on the other side? No strategy, no base running, only which guy can jack the ball over the fence the farthest seemed to matter. Is that really why we play the game now?

I've been 'retired' from softball for ten years now. We were all growing older and our kids were now starting their activities. Softball became a lower priority. However, I remember the waning days of my softball career. Our team was composed of primarily engineers by trade. We were a bunch of desk jockeys or meeting attendees. The teams we played were sponsored by air conditioning companies or plumbing companies. These guys did manual labor. Their forearms were bigger than my thighs.

I have played for Coach on Monday nights for 31 years now, from wood bats to aluminum bats to carbon bats to exotic composite material bats.

Yep, these huge guys were swinging the newest technology also. The newest softball bats now cost as much as your high-end reactive resin bowling ball. An extra $250 in my pocket is going for a new bowling ball, not a new bat. With livelier softballs, I started to fear for my life when I had to pitch. Bowling gave me some slow pitch softball skills as I could put some serious arc on a pitch. The pitch may be called illegal for how high it went, but I could drop it in for a strike. No one else wanted to pitch as a flat pitch was going to be hit solidly....HARD...turning it into a lethal projectile.

If we went back to wood bats and didn’t do anything to the ball, the game would be much more fun to watch and much more fun to play. Singles and doubles would matter again, off center swats would be ground balls or pop flies instead of gappers or home runs. Good pitching, timely hitting and tight defense would settle ball games, not a tape measure.

Aren't we really discussing tougher lane conditions, spare shooting, timely adjustments, and a solid mental game? If we go the extreme, this could be a discussion on more rigid equipment specifications. Since I have already written on that subject, I won't rehash it here.

The question you have to ask yourself is do you want to be competitive in every bowling center, or just string strikes with no real measure of your true ability? If the latter, the proprietors have a bat, ball, and short fences for your enjoyment.