arm pain from crafting

hello - i crochet or knit nightly and have quite a but of pain in my wrists and shoulders. does anyone else run into this problem? what have you found that helps?

10 Likes

I usually take tylenol, stretch then put on a heated towel before I crochet. I have also bought electric hand warmers for pain in my hands. They also make shoulder heating pads too.

5 Likes

Yeah that can happen, make sure your posture is good, your tension isn’t too tight, and you can always do hand exercises before you start, along with how you hold your needle or hook could help

I can’t recall what they are exactly but if you search crochet/knit hand exercises and crochet/knit good posture it can tell you some good info, I also know how you hold the hook/needle can also effect your wrists, some more straining then others so I would search about that as well.

You can also look into more ergonomic hooks as well, something very important is not to force yourself to work while anything hurts! It’ll just make it worse

5 Likes

Hi there, I have found keeping wrists warm and reviewing my technique helped prevent pain a lot. For crochet, I switched to good ergonomic hooks. Tulic Etimo hooks work a charm for me. I used to crochet tightly and using my index to support the hook. Now and just let the hook do the work and focus in relaxing my wrist as much as possible.

For knitting, I found English style messed up my upper back badly. Switching to Continental style really changed my knitting. I can keep my arms totally static with continental, it’s amazing!

Something that helps a lot is taking breaks to stretch your hands and wrists. There are a few videos on YT focused on stretches for crocheters.

Overall, I’d recommend relaxing your style. Knitting or crocheting tightly is the most harmful long term. You can improve your experience a lot! :slightly_smiling_face:

3 Likes

Yeah, probably not good. You might want to rest for a while. I think that crochet grips may help too.

3 Likes

I heard doing yoga daily is good for your whole body to stretch and your hands, but I’ve never tried this

3 Likes

I use those huge nursing baby pillows. I place it around my waist, sit on a very comfy sofa and my arms are well supported by the pillow and I don’t have pain anymore. Give it a try, it’s so much easier than trying to hold your arms up all the time without any support. I no longer have neck n shoulder pain anymore. Here’s pics of sample nursing pillow below………

3 Likes

Don’t Crochet laying down

2 Likes