Anyone else out there suffering from a very sore thumb(s) due to quilt-making? If so, have you found anything that helps?

I damaged the tendon(s) at the base of my left thumb several years ago when I tied too many fleece blankets in a short period of time. While it has never fully healed, I find that cutting, piecing, quilting, and binding quilts exacerbate the problem. (The worst offenders are quilting and binding.)

Has anyone found a solution to this problem? Is there a way to "tape" or brace the thumb that allows it to heal? I don't want to give up quilting for months if there's another way to fix this problem.

Thanks in advance for any wisdom you can provide.

I can't wait to see the replies on this one! I did the same thing but with the Betty Cotton fold & finish quilt. I too was really pushing to get this done & both of my thumbs became so sore. It seemed like it lasted forever but it's now gone & I have yet to finish that quilt. Looking forward to the answers you get

mine came from cutting up TONS of ultrasuede! I have to wear a "hand-eze" glove now if I plan to do a lot of cutting!

Do you have a chiropractor who is also a kinesiologist in your area? My family has had so many injuries of this type in sports and life in general and we've had amazing results. I've also found that using the fingerless gloves sold at JoAnn's are wonderful if I'm going to be doing any repetitive activities. I do need new ones. Mine are very coral colored from painting the trim on my house. In your case, I might even sleep in one. Because they are lightweight, they aren't very confining. I've seen them in senior health catalogs, too. I hope you can find help. Giving up quilting is serious!

edit: That's the brand of gloves I have. Thank you, Jacquie

What is a "hand-eze" glove? How does it work? Do you recommend it?

I have Tendonitis in both elbows. There is no cure for tendonitis. Apercreame, Ben-gay, or Bio-Freeze works for me, rub on sore area and hope it feels better soon. A weather change can cause pain from tendonities as over working muscles.

I wear the hand-eze alot, hand stitching makes my fingers sore and also wear it at work - on the computer 8 hours daily and when super achy wear a craft glove at night (longer finger, tighter weave keeps the hand from swelling), I transform into the green hand lady at night but hey it works!

I don't know the brand name, but my dr. prescribed a brace that I was able to get through a medical supply store--that way my insurance paid for most of it. I had to wear it at night and eventually the pain was gone. I could wear it during the day if I was basically taking it easy and not using my hand very much.

http://www.drugstore.com/handeze-the...92?catid=60001
Click on 'thumb stabilizers' in the center column at the bottom of the page for more thumb specific supports.

A sports Dr told me to take minerals. He was a customer at work and very arrogant so he didn't explain anything to me. So I remembered my friend told me that her grandmother took Alfalfa and it helped her arthritis so I researched it and lo and behold it's loaded with minerals! Whst I did was: I took 25 (yes 25!) alfalfa pills a day for about 1 week (10 in the morn 10 in the evening 5 at dinner) then took 5-10 a day after that and my tendonitis healed. I do not need it any longer unless I spend hours typng. That was about 15 years ago.

Check out Liuxin Newman's book & DVD _Perfect Hand Quilting Without Pain_. She has done extensive research into the ergonomics of hand quilting and her methods really work.

She uses a thimble with very deep dimples, a quilt very loose in the hoop so it can be folded and distributing the task of quilting between three fingers to reduce the strength needed to push the needle to literally almost nothing. I still have problems using too much strength and I feel like I'm barely touching the needle!

No pricked fingers, no tendon pain, no need to hurt yourself. Just beautiful hand quilted stitches, up to 16 per inch counted on one side (depending on fabric and batting used).

i hadc2 have surgery on my thumb.wasn' 2 bad.hope 2 be back sewing in a litte time.the bone was worn ouy with arithrisis.

I wear a Futuro brace on my right hand. The only thing that really helps is complete rest at this point. Next week I am going to try accupuncture before going to a hand surgeon. This just started this summer and I have gotten so far behind on WIPs and things I want to do. Good luck..it is not fun!

Shaklee Alfalfa sure works in combination with Vit C for all the arthritis and tendon type problems. Shaklee.com all natural vitamins and minerals as found in nature. you are after all what you eat.

Carole LeRoy has also written on Pain Free Quilting. You can look her up on the web under 'pain free quilting.' She has a quilting B&B in Appleton, WI which is lovely. Samll groups go there for a stitchery: embroidery, knitting, crochet, or quilting vacation.

ali

Right now my index finger on my right hand is killing me. I took a class at the beginning of August on reverse fusible applique where you use a surgical seam ripper held flat on the freezer paper/fabric/fusible combo and cut out the shapes. You have to push fairly hard on the seam ripper and it made my finger really, really sore. I agravated it when I did the hand sewing on a binding a week ago at retreat. Then I hand basted a quilt and after it was quilted I worked the thread ends in and it's back to really sore.

Of course using the mouse and typing don't help it a whole lot either.

I found out mine was from all the ironing... with a heavy iron full of water .

I'm interested in what kind of arthritis problems it helps. I have advanced arthritis in my left knee, not painful but it does affect my walking.

I started having problems with tendonitis about 14 years ago -- it never really does heal. It just subsides. It's an inflamation of the tendon - so anything that will help with swelling will help - ice, advil etc. My chiropracter at the time was treating me with ultra-sound to help reduce the swelling. I rarely have troubles any more - but not sure if it's just because I've modified the way I do things so as not to aggrivate it, or if it has to do with being healthier in general.

an erognomic mouse will help on the computer, I use one at work and home - I noticed a big difference, plus an arthritis hand glove ebay less than $7 a pair and you can use them on either hand)

My mom had to have both knees replaced. In the years before the surgery, she and my dad were active travellers and she did not want to slow down just because her knees were bad.

So her doctor suggested hiking poles, which look like ski poles but with cane tips on the ends. When used one in each hand, the hiking poles take some of the weight off the legs. It was enough to let her do stuff like a walking tour of Baltimore, etc.

A word of caution: if you use a cane, consider getting a forearm crutch instead. Canes are very hard on the wrists! I wrecked one wrist and was on my way to wrecking the other before someone shoved a forearm crutch into my hands and made me promise to just give it a try for 30 minutes. After three minutes, I was hooked.

You can buy finger splints at walmart...they are really hard to find...come in a teeny little box in the section where they sell band-aids and foot cushions...if you wear them at night and whenever you can, they will help rest the tendons in your thumbs...it took a good 4 months for me, but they were the only thing that helped...they are just a piece of soft metal lined with foam, they are easy to adjust to the shape of your thrumb...I had to tape around mine because they kept slipping off...but they did work.

Seriously it does help arthritis. It gives the joints what they need to formulate the lubricant and takes the swelling away. Go to Shaklee.com and go to the alfalfa and read all the stuff there. Its amazing within several months I didn't have any signs of the arthritis pain. I'm 68 and was
a lot of pain and none now. I'm back to walking and riding my bike.

I have tendonitis in my elbow that I think started with a marathon sewing/quilting session a couple months ago. Dr. suggested a band used for tennis elbow and it helps some while I'm wearing it, but seems to make it worse if I don't wear it. Thanks for the alfalfa tip, I'm looking into that now.

Thanks to a suggestion made by Irish Rose, I bought a Futuro thumb stabilizer at my local Target this morning. It feels sooooooooo good! I'm pretty confident it's giving the thumb tendon(s) some much needed rest.

Thank you all for your suggestions. I hope others are being helped by this discussion, too!

I suffered in pain for about 5 years (thumb side of wrist, already had sucessful carpal tunnel surgery on the inside of wrist). Trip after trip to the doctors for pain management. A few shots of corticosteriod, which helped for a little while, then it would come back...I had enough and asked why/ can't it be fixed instead of treated...sent me for MRI & x-ray, and therapy. After 4 weeks of therapy & ultrasound and $$$co-payments I was better. Then of course after a quilting retreat doing a mini paperpeicing project, It flared it up again.
At therapy I found out it was called DeQuervain tenosynovitis (similar to carpal tunnel just in another area), so I started researching. I even found an actual surgery video! But I now know it's fixable. I called my surgeon and after a referral from my doctor had surgery withing a couple of weeks. The surgeon asked why I hadn't come sooner!!!! BECAUSE NO ONE told me, just shots and pain reliver that rotted my stomach. Yes I did try rest, and even had a special wrist splint that imobolized the thumb and wore it faithfully every night and all the time w/ flair ups. Surgery was a complete success, not any pain for 2 years. Well not in the wrist anyway...I now have some trouble with the opposite elbow now. Does inflamation just go somewhere else when you physically correct narrow passageways?
In summay, if it's interupting the quality of life and treatment offer no relief, look into surgery (any risk was worth it to me to get out of pain and do the things I love)

Run - do not walk - to a good physical therapist. Hopefully one who specialises. They are marvelous!! and can give you exercises that will keep it away -- I still do them when I get the slighest strain -- after 20 years. I couldn't even pick up a coffee cup-- I had torn a bunch of things in my arm and wrists putting up the wallboard for a cathedral ceiling.
Mim

try some of those stretchy gloves without finger tips in them. they fit down over the wrists and help keep your hands warm while working. I just got a catalog that had a pair with fingers in them, just no tips. the older style had most of the fingers out. either way, they should help.
they come in beige.

My doctor is recommending surgery for the trigger finger - 2 cortizone shots every 6 months in which the last one did not help for more than 6 hours, so come January facing surgery, already had the corpal tunnel suregery on this hand. Thanks for the encouragement it will get better.

I wear braces which does hinder some work - but they force my hands in the right direction. Medicin to keep the inflammation down, ice, and don't overdo it. It's a repetitive motion issue and it will probably never go away.

"A word of caution: if you use a cane, consider getting a forearm crutch instead. Canes are very hard on the wrists! I wrecked one wrist and was on my way to wrecking the other before someone shoved a forearm crutch into my hands and made me promise to just give it a try for 30 minutes. After three minutes, I was hooked."

I think I need to replace my cane with a forearm crutch not because of a problem with my wrist but my elbow. Elbow doesn't hurt until I use the cane. It's worth a try.

I also wear a "hand-eze" glove. you can find them on ebay by entering HANDEZE in category Crafts. I bought mine at JAF over two decades ago. It is like a girdle for the hand. I also have found that Biofreeze give me relief. I think I got it from doing so much machine quilting on a Bernina 1530....

Good point, May. I notice a big difference when I lean on my hands with the wrists bent. Takes longer and longer to recover. (Sad to say it's usually my own stupidity that causes it)