Someone has paid me to make a blanket for them. I’m over half way through but would like some advice.
I keep having to take time off because of my wrists being sore. Is there any low to no cost ways to help . I mean besides stretching. I already had to take two days off for my wrist and don’t want to take any more.
Any advice would be appreciated.
ofc!!! always here to help!
good luck on your blanket and your order!!!
wishing you the best of the best!!
HAVE AN AMAZING DAYYYY!!!
If you don’t already have some, I really recommend getting compression gloves. Some are relatively affordable, but I’m sure there’s a way to diy it too. I also recommend on top of short breaks (a few minutes of rest every 10-15 mins), take long breaks (like 20-30 mins or longer) every hour or so. Make sure to get up and move your body during your breaks. Spend a few minutes doing some deep breathing and intentionally relaxing your body. I like to do an excercise where I slowly open my hand and extend my fingers almost all the way, then slowly close them, focusing on extending and closing my fingers evenly. I use it to do deep breaths as well, like an inhale on the opening, hold for a few seconds, exhale while closing, hold for a few seconds while my hands are in loose fists.
The break thing should really be as often as you feel you need it as well. Don’t push through discomfort or pain. The moment you feel strain, you should take a break.
Otherwise, as someone else said, good posture and support is everything. A pillow for your lower back to support your spine does wonders, and two cushions on either side of you for your arms to rest on. Sometimes if you have a pillow you can put on your lap to elevate your arms that can also help a lot.
Above all, please please please listen to your body. Sometimes a day or two’s break is necessary, so just pay attention to when you really need it.
Oh, I forgot to mention a couple things: search up median nerve glides on YouTube, and make use of ice packs for your wrists/arms every now and then to calm any inflammation and relieve pain
One thing that helped me was always keeping my elbows resting on something while crocheting like a desk to avoid extra wrist strain. Also, if your hands are hurting from the way you hold the yarn, I would recommend getting a ring (either one that is specifically made for crocheting or just a regular ring) to hold the yarn between the ring and your finger without having to hold an unnatural grip on the yarn for extended periods of time. Also, something that helped me was heat compression on my wrists and hands! I hope this helps and good luck with finishing the blanket!
This has happened to me before. My one bit of advice is DO NOT PUSH THROUGH THE PAIN. This makes it worse and makes it last longer. Because I did this instead of a few days recovery it took almost a month with a wrist brace
Try changing the way you hold your hook. I often alternate between a pencil grip and a knife grip. The pencil grip I find uses more of your wrist whereas the knife grip utilizes more of the whole arm.
You may find a wrist brace beneficial as it restricts the use of the wrist and reduces you twisting it.
You could use deep heat, or other creams and wrap your wrist in a bandage. This will help with any pain and also restrict the movement in your wrist.
I have bad tendonitis and carpal tunnel from working at Starbucks. So I’ve had it for like the last 20 years, long before I started crocheting. I use a lot of my left hand to manipulate the fabric as I’m crocheting so I can use my right hand less (it’s worse in that hand). I also use furls crochet hooks (the plastic ones not the wood not metal usually although I have them but the plastic ones are more durable than the wood and weigh less than the metal). I also cometimes hold the hook between my pointer and index finger rather than using my thumb on my right hand since my thumb can get sore.