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Knitting for the Soul

Monday, February 21, 2005

Knitter's Elbow?

Please tell me it isn't so... I've been struggling with a weird pain in my right forearm for about 6 weeks now. I do a lot of computer work, and as weird as it sounds, I'm finally convinced that it's some sort of repetitive stress issue. At my DH's suggestion, I did some research online and it sounds like "tennis elbow", or in my case "non-tennis elbow".

I've been looking for any info on a link with knitting. My guess is that knitting probably makes it worse, or at the very least, doesn't help. I'm willing to do a lot of things to help ease the pain, but stopping knitting is not one of them. How sick is that?

If anyone has any suggestions on what might help (other than no knitting), please post a comment. Thanks!

7 Comments:

  • Hi,
    A friend of mine is a Massage Tech. and I have the same problem! It is due to typing, and knitting both. Try this: Get some S.Foam cups put water in them freeze them take out of freezer and roll it down your neck ,down the arm and roll it pretty good. Not just Ice, Heat is a good one as well. The ice helps me because i get swollen and hurt REAL bad. So try the ice thing see if it works, if not try the heat. I use Icey hot at times and it helps as well .

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 7:26 PM  

  • Hi,
    A friend of mine is a Massage Tech. and I have the same problem! It is due to typing, and knitting both. Try this: Get some S.Foam cups put water in them freeze them take out of freezer and roll it down your neck ,down the arm and roll it pretty good. Not just Ice, Heat is a good one as well. The ice helps me because i get swollen and hurt REAL bad. So try the ice thing see if it works, if not try the heat. I use Icey hot at times and it helps as well .

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 7:28 PM  

  • Change your position once in awhile of your knitting stytle. Put a pillow under arm, take it out, etc. I had some exercises to do with my wrists from knitters elbow. Stretch your palm facing down then twist your arm so palm faces up like you are bending your arm the wrong way....hold and release. Put your arm at a right angle and pull your fingers back towards you like bending wrong way.
    Try putting your thumbe to your arm with your other hand....
    I hope I wrote those understandably. LOL

    By Blogger Unknown, at 6:04 PM  

  • forcing myself to get up, walk around, stretch and drink water seems to help me. I end up all crippled otherwise! Good luck!

    By Blogger Christine, at 12:26 AM  

  • hi, I had knitter's elbow in one arm and golfer's elbow (caused by weightlifting) in the other. I tried stopping the activity, doing physical therapy at a center, icing, and cortisone shots, all of which did exactly nothing. I thought surgery was next when I stumbled on trigger point therapy, which says tendonitis is actually just referred pain from a type of constriction in the nearby muscle. I bought a book that maps the trigger point to the referred pain (in this case, elbow joint) and lo and behold, found some extremely sore spots. By pressing and massaging these points you can feel instant relief in the joint, which tells you you're on the right track. The pain comes back but if you are patient and keep massaging, you will see massive improvement. It's been a few weeks and I'd say I'm about 90% better. There are different approaches to the therapy - aggressive massaging, ischemic compression, light touching, stretching. Basically I've found that each point responds to a different type of approach, and I just go by what works best in each area. Try it! When you find the point that is causing the referred pain it's actually kind of like magic.

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 5:34 PM  

  • I'm going through this right now, my arm is killing me, I was knitting 1 mitten per inning of every Cubs game. My doc made me stop knitting mittens for a MONTH. then when I told him I couldn't do it, he referred me for obcessive compulsive disorder. When I went the the psych, he said I probably was OCD but he couldn't think of a better compuslion!!! Now I elevate my arm and try holding my needles with my knee and anything else that will take the stress off of my arm. the pain never did really stop, but it is livable now
    teri
    mittenlady.com

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 6:31 PM  

  • Hi gals: I've had the elbow and shoulder pain for
    3 yrs. now, in the right arm. I knit Continental, and first noticed the pain some time after I took up knitting. This was on top of typing for extended periods on a computer keyboard. Most recently, I've been doing copious amounts of peeling, slicing, chopping fresh fruits & vegetables in order to eat well. All of this has stressed my elbow/shoulder/wrist. The pain had gotten so bad that I woke up at night just from changing position. It's tennis elbow, and rest is mandatory! I'm trying acupuncture, too.

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 3:07 AM  

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