You might have seen many bowlers wearing something on their wrist (wrist brace) but what are they, what do they do? and do you need it? – in this article, I will answer all these questions.
If you’re struggling with your delivery in bowling, make sure you read the article thoroughly because I am going to share some very helpful information that may make your delivery better.
So, stay tuned! (Backstory: I saw people wearing bowling wrist, I wondered why and asked a couple of those people and also applied it on myself – bought it for myself and used tape whenever I went bowling, and exactly after 2 months, I am writing this article based on my observation and research)
What Does a Bowling Wrist Brace Do?
A wrist brace helps to make our wrist straight and prevents the back of your hand from tilting while throwing a bowling ball. This lesser wrist movement helps to control the connection of your thumb which ultimately helps in the spinning of the bowl. They basically help in a better release and positioning your hands.
In short, without bowling wrist brace, there will be a lot of movement in your wrist (around 100 degree movement), this wrist supporter basically limits this movement – the lesser the movement is the lesser you’ll mess up while releasing.
There is a huge variety of wrist supporters, a lot of people use them as a training tool while a large number of people also use them in daily practices.
Another advantage of these wrist supporters is that they provide consistency to your bowling. Whenever you bowl while wearing wrist supporters, your wrist will stay at the same position which will result in strikes more often.
When I asked people why they use them, a lot of them just said that their wrist is weak which was just their mind but when I did the research I found that bowling wrist supporters are really very beneficial even when your wrist is not that weak.
Do You Need a Bowling Wrist Brace?
If you think your wrist is weak and you observe a lot of wrist movements and inconsistency in your bowling, then wrist braces (wrist supporters) can be very beneficial for you. Although they are not a necessity, you can still bowl well without them, they just help in giving a better release and sometimes in spinning the ball.
So, a lot of times for people who work on their laptops, do a lot of typing work, etc. and if you fit in this category and you plan to bowl once a week and lifting 6-12 pounds bowl will be a little tough for you, then investing a bowling wrist brace can be very helpful.
And if you just think, you’re not a strong man/woman, then wrist braces can be helpful because without them you may find yourself very inconsistent while bowling – a common problem.
Even if you don’t fit in that category, I will suggest you invest in a Bowling wrist brace in the beginning if you are going to bowl once, twice, or more often a week – you can avoid them. They really make some difference and helps in bowling.
Problems With Bowling Wrist Braces
Although wrist braces are very beneficial in the release they can do more harm than benefit in the long run – think how our wrist goes like – it goes from a loaded to an unloaded position allowing us to get our thumb out quickly finishing with your follow-through but if we’re wearing a wrist brace, it is almost impossible to unload our wrist.
But, this problem is fixed in one of the wrist brace only which is completely different which many people say ‘Positioner’ as well and it is really awesome, I will talk about it further in the article.
My Experience With Wrist Braces For Bowling
I bowled a lot – almost every day with my friends from the last few days and then I saw one of the person nearby using on wrist brace but I was a beginner at that time and I really found a good difference in the beginning but the thing is after using it for around a month I got dependent on it and one of the bowling coaches in my area recommended me to not use it because of the problems I talked about earlier in the article. But this problem could be solved with one specially designed brace which I cover later in the article.
Dependency is another problem, after the using them for more than 1 month, I found myself to be a complete loser without them which is not a good thing.
They basically makes our throws more consistent but consistency can come from more practice as well and we are basically missing a big important portion of bowling (unloading our wrists.)
Should You Use Wrist Braces?
You can use wrist braces as a training tool for bowling if you are a complete newbie to bowling, see a little discomfort in your wrists while bowling, and you do more work on the computer and you feel your wrist is not that strong and a permanent use for people with a wrist injury but make sure you don’t use them for more than 3 weeks if you’re a normal person, you may get completely dependent on them. Use them just for training.
You can also buy one if you want to do bowling for fun and impress your friends with consistent strikes.
Also, you may consider buying a wrist brace if you tend to bowl more than 2-3 times a day – it gives you support and makes your wrist feel less tired.
How to Bowl Consistently
To bowl consistently, put your index finger under your ball and you will find all that support you needed to bowl, do some practice with it, and eventually, you’ll become consistent. You can also use wrist braces or wrist supporters to bowl more consistently but you may get dependent on it and also you are not able to unload your wrist.
Best Bowling Wrist Braces
If you are in the training phase or have weaker wrists or face wrist discomfort while bowling then I would suggest you buy wrist braces. Or you can use it if you just bowl for fun and want to impress your friends.
The best bowling wrist brace in the whole world is the Storm C4, it comes with adjustability options, and in many cases that unloading problem doesn’t occur in these wrist braces which makes it a gem. You can easily find it on Amazon, it also has a bunch of reviews with hundreds of satisfied users.
