Please click here for some GREAT TIPS on dealing with Tendinitis.
If you don't mind, I'd like to take a moment to speak seriously with fellow stitchers about a form of Repetitive Strain Injury called 'De Quervain's Tendinitis'. If you recognize yourself in the outline below, please don't just "put up with it" anymore. The solution may not be quick, but it is effective, and will lift an enormous weight off your shoulders.
Since I often hear and read about people who are going to great lengths to work around wrist and thumb pain, I'd like to tell you a little about my past year.
As a cross-stitch designer, I find that stitching is part of the design process. This often means stitching for 8, 9 or 10 hours a day for fairly long periods of time. To relax, I enjoy carving wood and painting watercolours. This adds up to a great many hours spent with my fingers held in a pincer-like pose.
Occasionally, I'd notice a strange, tingly, pins-and-needles feeling in my left hand and just passed it off as 'one of those things'. By March of last year, my thumb would sometimes ache quite badly. Other times, it would be just fine.
In August, the ache had become a pain and had extended to my wrist. It was almost constant and was disturbing my sleep. Bending my wrist produced an odd 'clicking' sensation. However, X-rays showed that the wrist wasn't broken and that was all I needed to know to keep on going.
Wood-carving, of course, was completely out of the question. It was taking much longer to do even a small amount of any kind of work. Ordinary, everyday tasks became very difficult and I seemed to be always dropping things. Folding 3 loads of laundry resulted in hours of pain. Picking up a dropped needle between thumb and finger was impossible. My hand-writing (pretty bad at the best of times) was practically illegible and writing just a few lines was painful. The simple act of slipping a bar of soap from my hand into the soap-dish was an exercise in trial-and-error.
Several family members (including my father) have had Carpal Tunnel Syndrome. Mentioning my symptoms brought forth a frightening litany of disability, withered hands, surgery and a determination to avoid doctors at all costs!
In November, I knew that something had to be done. I'd tried anti-inflammatory pills... borrowed my Dad's wrist brace... and was now using my right hand for just about everything. The pain was growing worse and moving further up my fore-arm. Housework and gardening had been long-abandoned. I was falling way behind in my work, could no longer stitch or draw for more than 15 or so minutes and it seemed like ages since I'd had a full night's sleep.
I've tried to be as fully descriptive about this as I can and please, if you believe that you're experiencing these symtoms, go to a doctor or sports clinic, and find out whether you have 'De Quervain's Tendinitis'. There are 2 simple hand manipulations that are the definitive tests for this condition... your doctor will immediately know whether this is your problem. There's probably no need for surgery (or the awful, mind-numbing fear that you're no longer going to be able to function as before). For me, a brace that's specific to De Quervain's, several months of physio-therapy and an anti-inflammatory lotion (that didn't have all the side effects so common with anti-inflammatory pills) are restoring my wrist and putting me back to work and play.
Get going... and Good Luck.
Please click here for some GREAT TIPS on dealing with Tendinitis.