Arm/Hand Pain

[Hecksgirl]

I've been cross stitching for a couple months now, occasionally mixed with days of winding bobbins as my thread collection grows. A couple weeks back, I started getting this pain in my forearm, up by the elbow. It hurts to lift things, even just my coffee cup gives me twinges. And it's now in the back of my right hand and my knuckles. I decided to take a couple days off from stitching, so we will see if that helps. After speaking with a few friends who knit, they have experienced it too. Do any of you ever get this? How long do you craft vs length of break, and do you do any stretches?

[SofaraStarfyre]

I get this sometimes, and have lately had my arm start tingling and falling asleep on me as I sit and stitch at my computer so I can listen to a story or music while I do so. I usually end up still working, but more slowly and for shorter periods of time. Sometimes if the pain is really bad, I might stop for upwards of a month, which thus far has only happened once so far. Short of taking breaks and stitching more slowly and for shorter periods, I don't really know what else to do for it.

[concraftidor]

There's a few tips I learned from my wood-carving teacher in university about reducing hand and arm strain that I've adapted for my stitching.

1: Take breaks at least every half hour. Shake out your arm, stretch, rest your eyes, whatever.
2. Stretch your arm by straightening your arm forward and using your other hand to pull your fingers back towards you. You can also stretch your fingers this way by doing one finger at a time. Flip your arm over and do the same thing with the hand facing palm up. If this is confusing I can post pictures, but these stretches really really help.
3: Wear arthritis gloves or sleeves. These can actually take the pain away, but they are also great for preventative care. I also have really sweaty palms, so wearing gloves helps my work stay cleaner.
4: Try and keep your arms/body in good shape overall. Seems silly since stitching is such a sedentary activity, but the more in shape your arms are, the better they will hold up to strain.

Hope that helps a bit!

[Eliste]

For me the best thing I did was stop having to hold the hoop/frame in my hand. Once I didn't have to hold the weight- either through using a hoop stand or using a frame in the crook of my arm, my wrist pain dramatically reduced.

For me, it was the weight, not the motion, though, so this will only work if it's a similar issue.

[Hecksgirl]

I'm going to look into the gloves, I have sweaty palms too, lol.

These are all good tips! I wish I could get a hoop stand, those seem really neat. Maybe once I don't have a little one running about!

[Eliste]

You can get hoop stands that you sit on that won't get interfered with by little ones.

[stitchingmama]

I have tennis elbow so using a brace really helps. Also not holding a hoop as previously stated really helps (a frame is too fancy for me so I just stitch with nothing to hold my fabric). Also if you have swelling you can ice/heat as needed. I went to physio & massage which really helped but more for gaming since it is way worse on my tendonitis.

[TigerLily]

I sometimes get pain in my hands and shoulders if I crochet or knit for too long. Sometimes, if I spend a large part of the day knitting, I will wake up the next morning with stiff tingly hands. To help, I try to stop after after 10-15 rows and rotate my wrists and stretch my fingers and neck. You could use the same idea and just adapt it to whatever craft you're working on at the time. It helps me a bit.

[funkymonkey]

I don't typically have arm pain, but I usually stitch with a frame that I don't have to hold. Once when I was stitching a smaller project on plastic canvas, I found myself turning it over to look at the back frequently, and had pretty severe wrist/arm pain for several days after. My takeaway: avoid twisting your wrist! lots of extra strain.

[Yurtle]

If I craft for a long period of time, it's almost like exercise and I get pain in my forearm muscles that ache for a couple days and then goes away. With cross-stitching, if I'm using a hoop, which I still do, it's a matter of finding the right size hoop. The 8" hoop was too big and torqued my hand in the wrong way. The weight was hard. Once I moved down to a 6" hoop, I had significantly fewer problems.