More Readers Share About Their RSI
Dateline: 10/25/97Sharing to help others ... crafters share their experiences with Repetitive Stress Injury:
CTS
10/25/97 Email from IQUILTNJ:
"To all crocheters:
I, too am experiencing CTS. I am going to a chiropractor for another
situation, and happened to mention it to her...that my hand goes numb and
tingely when I crochet for a while. She explained it to me and also said
there is another syndrome that affects the pinkey and part of the 4th finger
: ulnar nerve tunnel synd.
What she has been doing to help me is this:
she puts four contact pads with leads to a machine that sends a very gentle electrical pulsating current to four parts of the hand, top of wrist, top of hand, underneath wrist, palm of hand. This stays on for 5 minutes. Then she massages the hand (this feels so good) and it loosens up the hand and it feels so free. She adjusts the wrist and has you just shake the hand for a few seconds when she is done.
Besides the stretches previously mentioned,
there is another stretch which works:
Take the hand and spread out all the fingers; now take your other hand and with your thumb and first finger, put your thumb on your other thumb, and your first finger on your other first finger and push the affected hands fingers outward until you feel a gentle stretch. Now do this with the thumb and the third finger, and fourth finger and then the pinkey. Reverse hands and do the same stretch to the other hand,
When done, massage the palms of the hand with the thumb of the opposite hand is a pushing out from the center motion. Rest the hands after this. It is helping me and I am sure it will help others"....IQUILTNJ
RSI
JRoseknit writes:
October 15,1997
I am a 47 year old forced to retire knitting & crocheting teacher. I was
also a computer draftperson. I spent 8-10 hrs a day on the computer and then
4-5 in the evenings doing all types of crafts. In Oct. 95 I found that my
hands didn't work right anymore. I could not feel my thumb, first and middle
fingers of both my hands. I was waking up in the middle of the night with
totally numb hands. I went to see my doctor and he sent me to a hand
specialist. Now here we are in Oct 97, 3 years and 3 surgerys later. I have
the feeling back in my right hand and the left (I am left handed) will never
be the same again. What I had was bilateral carpal tunnel syndrome w/ radial
nerve damage. This was caused by to much computing & knitting. For the year
before being diagnosed I had to stop knitting altogether. This was a hardship
but one I was willing to do to save my career.
The first surgery was a breeze and everything healed just fine. (right hand & forearm) The second surgery was good for about 3 weeks and then the pain and numbness was back. The nerve healed in the scar. The third surgery was the killer. The doctor had to peel the nerve out of the scar. He pulled the fat tissue in my hand over the nerve and attached to the other side. Now here we are 3 years later and the left hand has healed but the feeling is really not all that great. I need help lifting grocery bags, I have diffulty cutting up food and can not do any of the crafts that I loved to do. I spend my time reading. I can't work at my chosen career. I think that this applys under your repetetive stress injury catagory. Even typing this letter is hard.
Please don't let yours get to the stage that mine is at. It will affect me
for the rest of my life.
Jroseknit
Thank you for sharing with us.
9-20-97 - More Crocheter Mail on Carpal Tunnel Syndrome.
2-21-98 - More Reader Experiences in Coping With Repetitive Stress Injuries
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!
