In an attempt to take my mind off aches and pains in my body I set about a bit crochet therapy and cotton stash busting while watching Wimbledon. While Federer was taking a bit of a bashing in the final by Djokovich, my tired hands and right thumb in particular started to play up. In fact I have been having strange symptoms for a while starting rather unusually in my middle fingers. Both feeling inflexible and stiff, especially on waking or, as I first noticed, trying to trill quickly on my clarinet during an orchestra rehearsal.
Crochet facts I saw this lovely post on crochet history. It is a lovely and inspiring update but it just rubbed salt into the wound as I glumly looked at my idle hook and new project forced on hold. It mentioned also about many crocheters using a “knife” grip to avoid repetitive injury. The old-fashioned way is to hold the hook like a pencil – the method I use as it is how I learned to do it. I am having a rethink on this method and wondering if I should change my holding position, even perhaps alternating with my usual way. I am using ergonomic hooks and they do feel comfortable but I fear that my material has added strain. Cotton is not as forgiving as wool as it is stiffer. Also the Drops Paris and Drops ❤ 5 cotton types are lovely colours but the strands are not twisted so separate threads can catch. I have had to redo stitches and I have had a few tangled moments adding to the pull on my hands when the hook gets stuck.
Exercises here are good to aid repetitive strains from crafting.
I am unfortunately matching a hell of a lot of symptoms to this: scary repetitive strain
As yet, not checked by the doctor who has probably had enough of my many visits for multitude of complex health issues of late. I have got two hand/wrist support thingy wotsits which are depressingly restrictive. Though I guess that is the point.
As a trained musician I know the perils of repetition. Typically my strained right thumb can also be problematic for clarinettists like me because the weight of the instrument is carried there. I have very small hands and tiny thumbs so I can be prone to “clarinet thumb” so I am thankful not to have gigs in the summer holiday diary. That said, I will need to practise! There are periods when I play a lot as well as knit/crochet so I am careful to take care of my hands. Well, usually!
Take care out there!
garnharmoni 
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