The Art of Crafting a Bowler’s Knee – BowlFit Tips

Common overuse injuries in bowlers occur in the knee that they slide with. In order to prevent any and all sorts of injuries in that crucial joint, actively training and stretching that joint is necessary. Practicing proper range of motion and maintaining appropriate resistance, along with relief and rehabilitation, are all key in preventing or treatment in knee injuries.

Make sure you are working both your quadriceps AND your hamstrings adequately. Having an imbalance in strength can increase risk for injury in the knee. Typically, hamstrings are weaker than quadriceps and thus already put more strain on the quadriceps naturally. Any additional increases in quadriceps strength should be accompanied by increases in hamstrings strength, otherwise injuries can occur.

Stretch, stretch, stretch. It cannot be overemphasized. Lacking the proper range of motion in the knee can lead to overcompensation and thus direct injuries (twisting, strained muscle, etc.) as well as overuse injuries (inflammation, impingements, etc.). Get your muscles strong and loose to best prevent mishaps!

Don’t be afraid to rehab, even if you’re healthy. Who says ice, heat, tape, and massage can’t be practiced when there’s no symptoms? Icing can help tame the normal soreness that comes a few days after weightlifting, but can also ease inflammation in other areas of the joint that may be developing beyond normal reactions to exercise. Heat can help loosed up muscles before a good stretch session. Tape can, theoretically,trace the direction the muscles and tendons run to maintain that during use. Massages can help stimulate muscles before or after activity in order to help get muscles warmed up or reduce exercise-induced soreness. The knee can benefit from all of these modalities even when it feels healthy. Prevention is key. You knees will thank you in the long run.

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About Heather –

Heather D’Errico MS, CSCS, CFSC, LMT

Heather began BowlFit in 2013 with the hope to provide awareness to bowlers about how crucial training off the lanes truly is. She has been an avid bowler her entire life competing as a collegiate bowler for Robert Morris University, assistant coaching at the University of Central Missouri, and now head coaches at Roberts Wesleyan College in Rochester, NY.

She obtained a master’s degree in kinesiology with an emphasis on exercise science and interned with the head strength coach at UCM. She became a certified strength and conditioning specialist (CSCS) through NSCA shortly after graduation and began coaching athletes at Next Level Strength and Conditioning in Fairport, NY.

In October 2015 she received her certified functional strength coach certification and then went back to school in July 2016 for massage therapy. She is now a licensed massage therapist and runs a business called Restorative Bodywork in Rochester, NY that specializes in movement therapy and sports massage.

Heather has also been competing on the PWBA tour the last 3 seasons and continues to use her experiences as a competitive and professional bowler to create programs for bowlers. She enjoys the challenges of making programs specific to each bowler as every person needs to focus on different areas for their performance goals. With that said her training motto is “do no harm” and believes each program should most importantly make a bowler FEEL better and play with minimal injuries/pain.