Hand Health For Knitting And CrochetPosted by Mouridsen Rosales on April 1st, 2021 You could give a tip that helps allow someone to crochet again! You might also be able to better connect with crocheters like you who have suffered from pain related to crocheting. I follow several crochet designers who swear by Clover hooks- one of whom has a great post about her crochet health problems, too. RSI from crocheting, tends to manifest itself with pain in the fingers, wrists, elbow, shoulders and neck. I have the same pain in my thumb and was going crazy trying to get a answer. crochet arthritis I am going to try that trigger massage because nothing else helped. I even rested my hands for a month and the moment I start crocheting the pain will be back in about 10 minutes. One that I do all of the time is to touch each of your fingertips to your thumb one by one. Your doctor may also prescribe nerve gliding exercises. These exercises are performed under the guidance of your doctor or physical therapist. Gliding exercises help your median nerve move more freely within the carpal tunnel. Have you felt the pain of needlework with arthritis? Helpful tricks can help you meld arthritis, knitting, cross-stitch and crocheting. You’ll not only create sweaters and afghans, you also might increase hand dexterity, says Theresa Leto, an occupational therapist and instructor at the University of Findlay in Ohio. Though not caused by knitting and crochet, these yarn crafts can exacerbate arthritis in your hands or other joints (for example if you sit too long. A good pair of compression gloves can help improve circulation and support your hands. I prefer the completely finger-less compression gloves for knitting, as I like to be able to feel the yarn running through my fingers. Here are more smart needlework tricks from experts. Most say that knitting & hand pain are like bread and butter; always occurring together. You can avoid the most serious hand pain problems like tendonitis or carpal tunnel syndrome by taking simple precautionary measures. And if you already have one of these painful conditions, you should treat it right now before it worsens. Another really popular tip was to purchase a wrist support brace or a hand compression sleeve for carpal tunnel relief. There are a TON of different options, so you should shop around to see which one provides the level of support you need. Another recommendation I found online was to apply a cold pack to your wrists when you are experiencing carpal tunnel pain. Beth, another Crochet Circle group member, shared this fantastic tip! I stave it off by limiting my crochet time (gasp!). The physiotherapist also put strong adhesive bandages around my shoulders to help keep my shoulders pulled back. She told me about some great back supports that I could also buy online which I bought and have never had this problem return since. They can be extremely painful and as they can also transfer the pain to nearby joints you may feel quite fatigued with having to cope with the constant pain. It’s possible that they are swollen and can lead to other problems, such as headaches, difficulty sleeping, stress or anxiety. It’s even more of one when it comes to knitting and crochet. No maker wants to put down their latest hat, shawl, or mitten WIP because of sore hands! Many knitters don’t realize that your hands are your most important knitting tools, so it's important to look after them. As knitting and crochet fanatics, a number of us have chronic hand pain to deal with when we make so we’re always on the hunt for the best hand pain treatment. However, with circular knitting needles, the majority of the project is hanging from a flexible cable, which allows the project to rest in your lap without weighing your hands down. These are my favorite circular knitting needles, and I use them for almost every knitting project. While it may be tempting to knit for several hours straight, that may not be good for your hands. I recommend knitting in a few smaller sessions throughout the day. You’ll also want to warm up your hands before beginning, by gently stretching the hands and wrists. If you damage or injure your hands and wrists too much, you may have to stop knitting altogether! You want to sit up straight or lean into the back of the chair comfortably, without slouching or bending your neck forward too far. This hook is gorgeous, and feels very similar to the Furls streamline in weight and smoothness. I used the Addi Swing to crochet my Venus Shell Shawl in just 2-3 sittings. But finally, you notice a cramp, or a twinge in your wrist. Maybe you get the classic numbness and tingling, or maybe your muscles ache from the strain. She also will alternate between a project that requires tight stitching, such as her amigurumi creatures, and something looser, like a crocheted afghan. With the right approach, you can keep knitting and crocheting with rheumatoid arthritis. In fact, your hobbies can even serve as exercises for stiffness. I wonder how many of my fellow crafters do this on a regular basis. This is when I decide to reach out to one of my favorite yarn companies and offer some of my expertise. I have learned that the best way to avoid RSI injuries is to take a short break every so often. That is about 1 second every 20 or 5 seconds every minute, and the longer you wait between the short breaks the longer the breaks need to be. In crochetting from a pattern you might read the next set of instructions in one break, take a sip of tea in the next, look up and chat with someone for a few lines, and so on. So I'm a big knitter and crocheter and a musician with tendinitis for the past 20 years. Read more about it in our Knitting for mindfulness guide! For now, keep your mind calm with the best mindful knitting and crochet patterns. Take regular breaks if you are working on large sections of knitting, or switch from one crochet project to another to keep moving to give your hands a rest. If you suffer from hand pain caused by arthritis or carpal tunnel strain, there are needle options that might help. Some of the LoveCrafts team have had carpal tunnel problems and found that shorter needles greatly reduced the hand pain. It’s so important that we care for the tools that allow us to crochet…our hands. Once you find the right crochet hook for your hands, your crochet will look and feel so much better. I have had carpal tunnel problems resulting in surgery on one hand. I found that stretching my hands and forearms before and during crochet sessions really helped me out. I paid special attention to my forearms as that seemed to help the most. There are several things you can do to prevent the pain associated with carpal tunnel syndrome.Like it? Share it! More by this author |