Crafters Share Their Personal Experiences
With Carpal Tunnel Syndrome and Tendonitis
Dateline: 2/21/98
Sharing to help others ... crafters share their experiences with Repetitive Stress Injury:
carpal tunnel syndrome
P. Mullins writes:
I successfully overcame this problem with very high dosages of vitamin
B complex. Natural vitamins,such as from a health food store, not a
chemically based compound, should be used. I was taking approximately 6000
times the MDR. All the vitamin B's must be in the formula as centering on
one alone will create an imbalance in the others. One must also take a
considerable amount of Vitamin C with this, especially if you smoke, as the
body needs to have C to effectively utilize the B's.
This "cure" I did not come up with on my own, but was from a book on natural cures which I read years ago and no longer remember the name. They stated that tests showed 80% of the people trying this received benefit. The article further stated that this syndrome was not heard of until the 50's and attributed it to the fact that people's diet had changed, therefore not receiving the amount of vegetables, etc., which they used to do, plus the type of work had changed.
The condition I had was quite acute with pain and numbness, not wanting to seek surgery, I tried this. I did not have results until about 2 weeks after starting; it seemed to be a little bit better. After a month, there was considerable relief from the pain, and after several months, it was gone completely. I have continued B supplements since, although reducing the dosage, and have not had a return of the problem.
The body just flushes out the B it can't use, so as long as a natural
suppplement is used, there is no harm in large doses. My thoughts are,
can't hurt, might help, why not. It worked for me, and I hope it will help
you.
P. Mullins
carpal tunnel and tendonitis
Dcrystal writes:
i was heartbroken when i was told i had both carpal tunnel and tendonitis. i
love to crochet everything from doilies to afghans for queen size beds. my
daughters miss the teddy bears i used to make. i thought getting into doing
other crafts would fulfill my desire to create, but these other crafts make my
hands even more tired than the crocheting!!!
i finally stopped typing 100 words per minute for a living, which has helped my hands tremendously, and i have just started to crochet again. i can't wait until all of my other craft projects are done for christmas gifts and then i can get back to my favorite pineapple doily patterns.
remind everyone of the importance of icing and
heating in times of injury and health, respectively. good luck to all!!! ;)
Dcrystal
carpal tunnel
Kathryn H. wrote:
I am a quilter who has had cts symptoms off and on for five years. It
flared up again while we were painting our house this summer (all that
scraping!). I use a wrist brace which seems to help a lot. I also take
extra vitamin B6.
A study mentioned in a Prevention Magazine mentioned a possible link between cts and B6 deficiency. The RDA for B6 is very low (perhaps too low) but you can take 50 or 100 milligrams a day.
When I had very bad cts symptoms five years ago, the B6 plus rest got
rid of it completely!! Thanks for the recomendations on excersize that
have been posted!
Kathy
carpal tunnel syndrome
Susan L. wrote:
I have crocheted for over 30 years, and about 5 years ago I started having
pain so bad that I couldn't crochet or type, both of which I love doing.
My whole arm would go numb, and the pain would wake me up in the middle of
the night. I couldn't pick up a crochet hook for over a year without
enough pain to bring tears to my eyes. Then my father's friend gave me
this exercise. It was given to him by a specialist. He told him that if
he would do this faithfully he wouldn't have to have carpal tunnel surgery.
Stand beside the table and place your hand sideways on a hard surface
(kitchen tables work well) that doesn't bend your elbow very much. Let
your whole thumb hang over the edge. Press firmly down on your hand. You
should move your body weight back and forth from the fingers to the wrist.
If done correctly you will feel the pressure move from your fingers to your
wrist. Repeat for several times and do as many times a day as you can
stand it. The first time I did this the pain was unbelievable. But I
stuck with it because I was willing to do anything to be able to crochet
again. I couldn't afford surgery. After a few days it didn't hurt as much
to do it, and I could crochet for a few minutes. For several months I had
to do the exercise many times a day. Now I only do it when the pain or
tingling starts up. Usually it only takes a few days before it goes away.
It has worked now for over 3 years, and I crochet 3-4 hours a day plus type
on a computer 1 or 2 more hours. I hope this helps somebody.
Susan
More crocheter mail on carpal tunnel syndrome.
How do you cope with RSI? Send your comments to crochet.guide@about.com and I will post them on this site so that we can learn from each other's experiences. All comments on this subject will be posted unless you indicate that you do not want them to be. Thanks!
