Thread: Anyone with arthtitis having trouble?

Hi, am wondering how many of you sew with very painful, arthritic wrists. Have been diagnosed with severe osteoarthitis & am not using much meds...but am NOT willing to give up quilting. Recently ordered & am using a Martelli Rotary cutter, which isn't as hard as the Olfa. Hoping I'm not alone!!

Don't know if it's in your budget but the new electric Accuquilt might be something to consider.

I too agree with the Accuquilt. Probably the electric one to save handling the crank to move the dies thru the machine. It is the perfect reason for one.

When sewing make sure your wrists are properly supported and your machine is at the correct level. I found that lowering the machine made all the difference on my hands and arms. I got the Sewezi table so I could use it at home and away. But there are many that are not portable that would work fine.

I have arthritis in my right thumb. Sometimes it is hard to quilt--cutting and sewing, especially hand sewing. I use "Australian Dream". It's an analgesic cream. It's kind of pricy, but comes with 100% guarantee. It relieves the pain for quite awhile. Sue

I mainly have degenerative osteoarthritis in my spine, but do sympathize as I also have radiculitis (pain radiating from neck to hand) and tendonitis (very minimal arthritis in wrists & knuckles).

I've found that an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure & doing my prescribed fitness activities and meal plan definitely help quite a bit. In addition to that, I use a splint when not quilting to give my joints a rest. The ergo cutters are wonderful, but the bigger cause is the height of cutting surface. When the cutting surface is too low, it forces the wrist/hand to push harder on the surface, and at an awkward angle, in order to execute the cut. OHSA has a fantastic eManual with recommendations for sewers at: https://www.osha.gov/SLTC/etools/sewing/index.html

Since I started following their recommendations (especially tilting my sewing machine toward me & stacking books under a card table to provide me a good height for a cutting surface), I have found my pain and swelling greatly reduced. For arthritis in the wrist, the best way to prevent problems is to keep the pinky side of your hand resting against a surface (or at least parallel to surface). I change out my blades every 6 hours & switch hand needles every 2-3 hours. I use Teflon coated needles & a leather needle puller for my hand work and plan my time so that I have the option to work on 2 different quilts at different stages so that if I need a break from hand work (needle turn, cutting, etc), I can switch and work on a different quilt doing machine piecing or quilting. It works out really nicely for me.

Also wanted to add that if you use a computer, that could be contributing to your wrist pain. I got a GoldTouch split keyboard and an Evoluent vertical mouse. The mouse took about 8 hours to get used to, but now I would never go back. When I don't stress my joints so much with typing, I have less inflammation to impact me when I start sewing.

Hope that helps! I'm with you. I can't imagine I'll ever give up quilting.

Bree123, thanks for the great information. I am unwilling to give up hand quilting and using the computer. This information is a great help.

Thanks Bree. Good idea re: changing the blade more often. I don't do alot of needle work, so I get a break there. I also noticed, not being stressed in general, sure alleves some pain.

I read here on the QB several years ago about Two Old Goats lotion. It was created by a quilter. I got some as a "joke" for my MIL for Christmas, not really knowing if it would help her arthritis, and it did! I'use it and I've shared this with a number of people and most have good luck with it. Not saying it will work for everyone, but you might want to give it a try. You can find it online and our Ace Hardware stores are now carrying it.