Bowling at a youth tournament a few years back.  There was Dead wood on the one of the lanes.  Will they had a guy working in the back.  The guy misunderstood what lane the dead wood was on and came down 2 pairs to the right of where the actually dead wood was at and was stuck by a ball in the ankle.  Shattered has ankle.  Broke his arm and leg from how he landed, and gave him a concusion from hitting his head on the sweep on the way down. One of the scaries things that I have ever seen.

Personally though I have fallen once and pulled a groin muscle and also fallen with ball in hand and pulled a muscle in my arm

Joyo just curious.. Where do you bowl at? It was probably 4 years ago or so at the bowling alley here on lane 15 when a guy suddenly had a brain aneurysm and they had to call EMS and all.. Ended up losing his life there at the lanes. I still never can bowl on that pair without remembering watching all the EMS around him.

hmmm

as much as I still strive to get my first 800 series someday hopefully...I'm not doing it to the expense of an injury like that!

This isn't too bad but once I hung up in the thumb and launched the ball about 1 ft away from the ceiling and when I came back I noticed that the callus on the outside of my thumb had been completely ripped off from the knuckle up to the middle of the nail.  This happened during a youth tournament, so I patched myself up and finished the remaining 4 games.

Back in '91 I was bowling on a Friday four man mixed church league and the nite after the first position round a guy(45ish) throwing a orig. blue hammer had it stick so bad on his thumb it tore the skin and some meat(inside near the web)completely off from the base to the cuticle. Man he bled even after being wrapped in 6 4x4 gauze pads and 2 bowling towels. The paramedic thought he would probably need tendon reattachment and a skin graft.
The following is long;
When I started the league mentioned above I was throwing a conventional grip back-up ball (averaging 139), then during winter break I learned to throw a finger tipped hook and up went my average (157). The week before the final position round during the 10th frame of the second game I feel a tightening in my lower back, of course I thought nothing of it since it was a regular occurrence close to the end of the nite and that was a big mistake. So I start third game with 6 in a row after the 6th it tightened again with some minor pain so out comes the aspirin I chew two up and drink some water, then another strike with no pain stopped thinking about it. Eighth frame at the point of release my right lower back is on fire it hurt to move, breathe, stand in place and walk. Aspirin comes out again and two more follow the first two, so I hobbled over to the lockers and leaned on the wall one of my teammates asked if I was having a heart attack(I was 20 at the time) I was breathing hard because of the pain I told her no I tweaked my back a bit and she walked away 5 minutes later my turn again I could barely lift the ball(16lbs at the time) I was shaking from the strain of holding the ball, making my approach, and breathing. I ended up with a 289, a 733, and we took all four that nite. I went home and it was ice and heating pad all weekend, on Monday I went to see my doctor and was told I had a partial tear of my lower lumbar muscle he gave me script for painkillers and told me ice, heat, and water resistance strengthening (basically get in a pool and lift my legs one at a time for a length of time short to start off and longer towards the end) for six months. I didn’t get to finish the league and had to drop out of the ball league I was signed up for and I was out for 5 years during which I revamped my game. I changed everything from the weight of the ball(15lbs) and how I hold it(from hip/lower abdominal level to chest/upper abdominal level) to my approach(five steps to four) later in the fifth year I entered my first tourney since my injury and placed 10th. Every so often in a marathon of practice frames I’ll be reminded(a twinge) to take it easy but I think w/ my better conditioning and smarter play(no more reckless spray and pray) I’ve learned to listen to my body, unfortunately it was the hard way but in the end I’m happier w/ my game.
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When the pins start throwing stuff at me is when I'll quit bowling.