If you are an avid hand stitcher over many years, you have probably experienced my current dilemma.... hand pain. My hands are often tired which is not surprising given how hard I make them them work every day. But I am also having some recurrent pain in my right thumb.
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| Drive to work |
I thought it might be fun to snap photos of all the things it has to do in a regular day.
First of all, I work at a job where I hand write notes all day long. I actually hold a pen and write words for 8 hours a day. Totally old school! That might be part of the problem!
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| Preparing food |
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| Washing and drying dishes |
This time of year is also hard on the hands due to raking leaves, and soon it will be time for shovelling snow.
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| Playing piano |
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| Hand quilting |
Do you have a solution to hand pain that I haven't tried? Leave a comment below and share your tips with us.
Today I hope to finish the hand quilting on my Friendship Album quilt and maybe even get the binding on to hand stitch.
What are you working on today? Link up your hand stitching blog or instagram post (and link to me at ssskat7).
22 comments:
Sometimes my thumb locks up. I don't have a whole lot of hand pain yet. I've never seen cream like that. Hope your hands cooperate and the pain lessens soon so that you can stitch today.
Poor you Kathy it doesn't sound much fun. But you are right we expect a lot from our hands and joints! Hope you manage a little stitching today.
my thumbs too are slowing me down and I do not want to resort to surgery for them although I know one day I might need to. I have not seen the ointment you have is it a prescription cream? our insurances are so awful here it would probably cost a fortune and not be covered. I will look and see if I can find it though. I can barely write at times nor hold a pen good but still hold a needle!
Our hands are overworked aren't they. Arthritis is slowly catching up to me but as I love to hand stitch it is something I persevere with. Sometimes getting older is not much fun. I hope you enjoy your Sunday stitching.
Several years ago I hurt my wrist and purchased an over the counter wrist support which covered my whole hand and wrist. Later when my thumb was hurting, just to see what it would do, I wore the wrist support again. It helped! I wore it to bed every night and during the day when I wasn't washing dishes or would get it wet. Hope your pain eases!
I use Arnica to relieve pain in my thumbs and hands. It is a natural anti-inflammatory cream and can also be obtained as tablets. It should be available at your local Health Food store or Pharmacy.
It is excellent for bruises strains and sprains. Rub it in as soon as possible after the injury. Cannot be used if skin is broken.
I hope it helps ease your pain.
A couple of years ago I was having issues with my thumbs and wrists. Mostly on my right side, intermittent pain or tenderness, some carpal tunnel symptoms but not all of the symptoms. Found out thru a chiropractor and massage therapist that I had nerves in my neck being pinched that were the real culprit. Adjustments and massage therapy really helped lots. Just a thought to look into. putting that cream on the back of your neck and shoulders should help too.
Try a paraffin wax hand treatment at a spa. It is mostly used to exfoliate and hydrate the skin but it is know to help joints as well. Hope the pain eases.
That's too bad that you are having pain. I don't take anything for hand pain, but my wrists hurt when I overwork them, so I just try to give them a break. I can only hand quilt one piece of thread a day for example. I limit myself to that. Sometimes if I remember, I try to do some wrist exercises to let them move a different way.
I too have "hand issues" especially when knitting a lot or hand quilting. I found out there are exercises you can do to help your fingers. Check out Youtube for videos of various little exercises you can do to strengthen your fingers. There are even exercises for pianists. I do them when I'm watching tv and found them helpful.
Sorry about your hand pain. Hope you find some relief. My issue is with knee pain (I will need replacement one of these days). It keeps me from sleeping at night when I am between cortisone shots. What helps a little is Blue Emu Cream with Lidocaine.
I have arthritis in both of my thumbs, which makes knitting, crocheting and especially sewing somewhat painful. The problem in my right thumb (I am left-handed for sewing) is the pinching motion of holding the fabric. I where a specialized thumb brace at night when it is sore and a smaller thumb brace (found at Walgreens) when I am on the computer or cross-stitching and holding a hoop with that hand. I use a wine cork to hold a needle when I need to thread it. I am trying to avoid extensive surgery so I have drastically cut down my crafting. I hope you rest it now so that it doesn't get any more painful. Hugs.
Ditto what Gretchen said... try an arm brace at night.
I too am starting to experience pain in my right thumb. I am reading all the comments for tips on how to deal with that. Carpal tunnel and sciatica sometimes rear their ugly heads too. I alternate types of crafts I do and do them for shorter periods alternating with different tasks like gardening or reading or housework so I'm not doing the same motions for very long periods of time. Need to take care of our bodies with regular maintenance so they last us a long time. Our bodies are not like a car unfortunately. Cant go buy a new body when the current one starts acting up. This old jalopy needs to get through several more years!!
Goodness! Your hands sure work hard. Have you ever had them massaged by a professional? It's my favorite part of getting a massage, when they really work over my palms :)
Amazon has this cream for $14.99
I finished a lot knitting in May and I woke up one morning and I had a lot of pain in my right hand at the base of my thumb near the wrist. On a bad day I will wrap the wrist during the day. Today is one of those days since I spent over an hour using a seam ripper on a costume for an up coming show. Every night since May I use a wrist brace while I sleep. I found one that is covered in a knit fabric with a lot of cushioning and padding. It seems to have been working. Most days lately my wrist has been feeling pretty good.
Sorry about your thumb issue. This comment is another recommendation for Arnicare. Here in the States, it is available as a creme or gel at the majority of drug and big box stores. I prefer the creme. I think it is considered more of an homeopathic treatment. A wrist brace which stabilizes the thumb also is helpful when I overuse my dominant hand. Best wishes on determining what works for you.
I agree with you on hand washing dishes - I quite like it. We have a tiny Japanese dishwasher we rarely use. I wish I had tips for you on hand pain. I've been lucky as a quilter that my pain is limited to knees hips and back (ha ha). I'm so curious what your job is, that has you writing hand written notes so much. Sounds kind of old school cool!
I hate to tell you this but aging SUCKS!! We are all getting older and with that pain, immobility and stiffness. I find that if you can just keep doing what you love the working of those joints helps keep them moving and loose.When it gets beyond what you can bare...meds or compression type gloves work. I also love the heat from doing dishes in hot water.(yup I am weird)
I use the same cream, compression gloves when stitching or writing and even at night when needed because a brace often makes the thumb pain worse. I tape my thumb, sometimes just the joint and sometimes I tape the whole thumb to my hand for a few hours to give the upper joint a rest.
I am careful how I use my hands and try not to lift anything in a way that will strain the tendons. I want to keep hand stitching for many years.
I have arthritis in both of my thumbs. Not fun. I haven't discovered any relief yet. I do take frequent breaks and switch from activity to activity. Like only chain stitch for so long, then get up and iron, then cut a bit, etc. It gives everything a chance to rest.
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