Wrist problem
 

Believe it or not, this is a quilting related question. I have been doing a bit of PP lately and woke up yesterday morning with a pain in my wrist that shoots up the outside portion of my hand, too. Has anyone else experienced this? Is it from holding the needle too tightly? What did you do for it and are you still able to do PP without pain?

Wendy, this is a common problem with any type of work done with your hands. My MIL makes surgical equipment and it's very tedious and they have special thin gloves for them to wear. It can cause a condition of your wrists, I can think of the name right now but it can be very painful. My sister had to have surgery to fix one of her hands. Do a web search and there are excercises that you can do to help you? They are kind of like stretching excercises. You might be able to find some gloves to help you. I see you live in my area there is a medical supply store on Little Cr Road and a few other sites where you can get them. They are very thin and the fingers are cut out so you can still work with them on. I think it's call corpul tunnel syndrom, this is what it can turn into, or something really close to that. It should be close enough that you can google it and get more info. If you becareful now you can keep it from getting too bad. Sometimes I get the tingling up the outside of my arm when I'm appliquing. Try taking breaks and doing excercise with your wrist and fingers and see if this helps. I use to wear a brace on my arm when I wasn't too busy during the day and at night because I'd sleep on it and wake up the next morning and my whole arm would tingle for hours.

I have the same issue. I ice my wrist when the pain starts, take asprin to reduce the inflamation. I also switched to a light weight iron. Changing irons really helped alot.

what is PP and why would it cause pain....the only hand pain I have ever had was when I spent a week cutting up ultrasuede..OY...now I know to limit how much time I spend cutting anything!

Go see a doctor.

I've just gone through a miserable month + with carpal tunnel syndrome. Similar pain to what you are experiencing. Mine started after too many hours of rotary cutting. Not the hand doing the actual cutting but the left, steadying the ruler. Horrible pain. Just this week I stopped wearing the hand splint. You can pick them up most anywhere. I got mine in WalMart. Resting your wrist and stabilizing it, taking something to relieve the inflammation and icing when necessary will all help but it takes time............lots of it. It really cramps your style, not quilting but it's worth the price if you can avoid surgery.

I have RA and have problems with my wrist when I hold my hand at an angle for to long a time. I found the gloves with the fingers cut out at Walmart and they help a lot. My Dr. told me when working or holding a book to stop and flex my wrist for awhile to relax them. He also said the mouse built on laptops were very hard on the wrist and told me to buy a portable mouse for my lap top. It has helped a lot.

could be tendonitis. I've had that from repeptitive movement.
Carpel tunnel is another possibilty.
see your DR. and find out for sure. I have CT in both hands and wear braces when I sleep. so far that has worked for me.

Everyones suggestions are wonderful. It begins to hurt instantly and swells if I continue for very long crocheting, so I gave up crocheting. My pain, corporal tunnel, is located between my thumb and first finger. I have to really watch and "listen" to my wrists/hands while I am hand sewing, embroiderying, cross stitching and cutting fabrics. Stretching my fingers and stopping for breaks really seems to help me. But, I would go and see a Doctor if your problem persists and or gets worse. There are many possabilities and it is better to know for sure what is causing your pain than guessing.

Thanks ladies! I've had carpal tunnel surgery on that hand before, so that's not the issue this time, it's not in that portion of my hand/wrist. It's probably tendonitis from overuse, as suggested. I will take your suggestions and ice it, rest it and look for the fingerless gloves. If it doesn't get better in a week or so, guess I 'll have to se the doc.

I have the same kind of pain on the outside of the hand. I was told it is tendonitis, most likely from my ulnar nerves. I had some physical therapy, but the thing that worked the best is rest. As a photographer, I spend a lot of time holding my hand a certain way to hold the camera...and it is also the same way I hold onto the computer mouse when I'm editing. I had a brace I wore, did some exercises, and then did almost NOTHING during my down time to keep it rested. Resting helps the most.

I stretch my hands and fingers every so often and no longer sleep with my fingers pointed towards my palm. I also move my shoulders around, as sleeping on it will sometimes cause my arms to go to sleep.

Carpal Tunnel, its from repetitive motion, stretches, and breaks can help. anything to break up the repetitive motion.

I have issues with tendinitis in my right arm, I have had it for years. I find that the chiropractor actually helps mine, he says it helps because the issue actually stems from issues with my neck. It is a miserable thing to have to limit something we love, hope you find something that works for you.

I am not a doctor. (Important to state that up front!)

I had issues with shoulder, arm, wrist and hand pain for years and years and years. At various times I have had tennis elbow, repetitive motion disorders, generalized inflammation, tendonitis and bursitis diagnosed. I dutifully did the physical therapy or massive doses of ibuprofen or rest-with-ice that I was told to do. Always the pain came back. It turned out all to stem from bone spurs in my shoulder joints. It took years to get an accurate diagnosis (and a treatment that worked - surgery). GO TO A DOCTOR and BE PERSISTENT.

Alison

My friend's PT doctor suggest she try 200mg vit B6 daily. It worked for her!

The gloves are available from Amazon.com I think I have also seen them in Keepsake Quilting but not in the most recent catalog.

Carpal tunnel. I wear gloves (they're kind of like support stockings for your wrists) and there is a gel you can buy called Arnica (homepathic) that helps me a lot. I'm a transcriptionist so between typing and sewing I suffer with this a lot.

I've been doing some heavy duty quilting (paper piecing) plus practicing my hand quilting and the carpal tunnel syndrome is acting up very bad in my right hand. You have my sympathy and empathy about what you are experiencing. I had surgery on my left hand almost 20 years ago. Surprisingly, the non-dominate hand is often worse because of the "supporting" actions of that hand when using your hands. I will get my right hand fixed when I return from a trip. The surgery was a snap the last time and my recovery time was very short and and this was the traditional method. Classic symptoms of carpal tunnel syndrome are the numbness in the thumb and first 3 fingers. I cannot determine the thickness of paper because my fingers are numb and feel like sandpaper. Often there are severe pains running up the top of the hand. Repetitive movements as in quilting aggravates the condition. There are wrist supports you can use, but usually surgery is the final cure. Good luck

Good luck hope your wrist is better soon

Thanks again to all of you. This is not from carpal tunnel. I had the surgery on my right hand (same one that hurts now) several years ago and the tendon was released. This is on the ulnar side of my hand and not the medial side. The discomfort is on that side and affects the area on my wrist that would be under the ring and pinky fingers. It makes the meaty part of my palm on that side a little numb, but does not make my fingers feel numb. It comes and goes, depending if I am moving it certain ways. I will ask the doc when I see her if it doesn't go away soon. She may refer me to a hand specialist again.

I go to the chiropractor and he adjusts my carpals and U am go to go for a long time.

I use to do a lot of crocheting.....which is a lot of repetitive motion....Not only my wrist, but also my elbow started to bother me so much that I had to cease......basically, I quit crocheting. After two years, if I pick up my needle to work on a project, it isn't long before my old aches start to occur. The only thing I found to ease my pain was to stop what I was doing.....not what I wanted, but......I think ANY repetitive motion will cause this.

I found a hand exercise that solves my wrist pain. Here's a description, but if I don't explain it well enough let me know and I'll post some pictures.

1. Stand facing a wall, with your palm flat on the wall. You want your thumb pointing towards the ceiling. this stretches the muscles from the elbow all the way to your fingers. You'll feel the stretch, hold it while you slowly count to 10. Repeat this 10 times.

If youve never done this before your palm might not reach the wall. This is a sign that you need to do this exercise regularly. If this is the case, do what you can, every day, and you'll get it limbered up eventually.

'Normal' is when your wrist can be held at 90 degree angle on the wall without pain.


2. Once you reach 'Normal', add one more step to this exercise:

Gently, pull your thumb towards your head. This stretches the area that causes the sharp shooting pain going up the outside of your wrist.

Try to reach the 2nd step, doing this regularly should make it possible to take up crochet again.

I had the same problem after crocheting Barbie Doll clothes for my granddaughter for a year. Every time I picked up a pencil my finger/thumb would go numb. Went to library and got book that showed exercises for carpal tunnel and they helped a lot. But my symptons lasted a year. I can only crochet for a short time now if I hold my hook like you would hold a fork but can go longer if I hold my hook like a knife but it slows me down.

Wow - we've all got lots of problems, hope the solution to yours is easier than surgery - with similar symptoms to most of those who have already posted, my solution was to change my med for osteoporosis from the once a week pill - tried 2 different brands, to now using the daily nose spray - those symptoms in my hands, wrists, arms were all side effects of the meds!

I am not a doctor, but I visit one regularly. I have very similar pain to what you describe and it stems from my neck. There is a nerve that runs from the brain and through the spinal column to the outside of your hand. If you have disc compression problems in your spine it causes pain, tingling and numbness in the ring and pinkie fingers. You think its how you hold your hands, but its actually how you hold your neck.

I have Sjogren's Syndrome which includes a form of arthritis. I would wake up with searing pain in my hand and lower arm. I started wearing a brace at night and it really helped to reduce problems with my hand. I found a really good one at Wal-Mart for around $13. It can be used on either hand. It looks like it would be bulky and uncomfortable, but it really isn't. It doesn't bother my sleep at all. It has gel packs in it so the temperate of your hand stays stable which helps arthritis suffers, if your problem turns out to be arthritic.
Kay

I agree with Suze9395 and PastorPatti, see a chiropractor. When you call for an appointment, ask if he/she can do extremities. Some will only do the neck, back and breastbone and will often do the same adjustment regardless of your painful area. It is non-invasive and would be my first choice before pills and cutting.

I had trouble/pain in my jaw/ear (and chewing) and was told it was TMJ and would require surgery. My chiro put on a finger cot and adjusted my jaw, obviously with my mouth hanging wide open. Did he fix it, yes. He is my first choice of defense.

Recently, I was experiencing pain under my left rib cage. They medicals thought it was a kidney or spleen. My chiro said (over the phone) it was a floating rib, adjusted it myself and the pain is gone.

Guess I am just shy of the "pill pushers" and "cutters". Try alternative first. A good chiro will back out when he/she cannot help you.

Suz

I'm not a doctor either. I have wrist pain from the outside wrist bone up the outside of my arm. Tingles and pain. Because it originated at work, I went to a wrist specialist for workman's comp. It wasn't carpal tunnel. After six months of trying to just treat the pain I was sent to an outside wrist specialist. He said he could feel what was wrong with my wrists but didn't know what is was.

I finally got off of workman's comp. Found the only thing to do was to avoid everything that caused the pain.

Four years later my supervisor wanted me to get my wrists checked again. (long story). This time they brought a wrist specialist up from the Big City. That wonderful doctor did all sorts of measurements, checked lots of things about my wrist.

The diagnosis (after 15 years of dealing with wrist pain) is the angle of my inner and outer wrist is off. Most people have a 30% angle between inner and outer wrist bones. This spreads the "load" on your wrist across the entire wrist.

My wrist has no angle. Because of that, all the load is on the outside wrist bone.

The interesting part is that this is a "variation of normal." Meaning that it occurs so much that it is just another way for the wrist to be structured.

Definitely see a doctor. If they're saying it's tendonitis, do the treatment. After six months and still having pain, I would request a wrist specialist. Unfortunately for me it took three specialists. If your specialist measure your wrists in several positions and angles, you've got a good one!

This is a common problem among quilters. Carpal Tunnel Syndrome can be very painful. Ice, rest and perhaps a wrist support will help. Good luck!

This happened to me quite a while ago. I had gone to a retreat and did a lot of straight seam stitching. I was constantly pushing fabric through the machine. This caused my wrist to continuously move at an angle. I went to a doctor eventually and got a straight brace for my wrist. It was the kind that goes over the thumb and keeps the wrist from bending. It eventually went away with medication too. Good luck.

I agree 100%! My chiropractor told me most carpel tunnel problems he sees in his office are started at the vertebrate between the shoulder blades. The nerve branches out to the wrist from that area of the spine, and when the vertebrate is misaligned there, you'll see the start of carpel tunnel symptoms.

I recently have been having a lot of pain in my hands from yard work. My fingers and thumb hurt when I bend my wrist. I went to the Dr. yesterday and I have arthritis in my wrist. They have become inflamed from pulling weeds and redoing my beds. He has instructed me to stabilize the wrist and no yard work. He did not say I could not sew and quilt. Rest it and stabilize it. I too had carpel tunnel surgery.

I wore braces on both wrists due to carpal tunnel and finally had surgery and it is not a problem anymore. I had broke my wrists, arms, and finger at different times and always wondered if that was part of the cause. I was a bank teller and counted money and that is really what set it off. Surgery fixed it. There could be many reasons for your problem and an orthopedic surgeon can definitely tell you what is needed to fix it. I hope you get this taken care of soon. No use in suffering.