Knitting Tips – Helpful Exercises for Wrist Pain

I’m still having lots of wrist pain when I knit so I’ve been doing some exercises that are helping a lot. As any knitter knows, knitting is a repetitive motion that can cause wrist and hand pain over time. Combine it with using the computer daily and other tasks that cause inflammati to eon in our wrists, and we suffer pain and numbness in the wrists, hands and even the arms.

It’s possible to prevent or minimize the damage by exercising and stretching the hands frequently. Exercises like yoga help stretch and tone, not only the arms and wrists, but the whole upper body. I take a yoga class three times a week at the local YMCA and it’s helped me tremendously. Working with weights also strengthens the wrists.

Simple wrist stretches are also helpful. Take breaks frequently to do wrist circles, first turning your hand one way, then the other.

I found this terrific wrist exercise in Donna Eden’s book Energy Medicine: Balancing Your Body’s Energies for Optimal Health, Joy, and Vitality. This exercise is based on the same principals as acupuncture. All you do is lightly pinch the skin on your inner arm, starting at the elbow and proceeding down to the wrist and back up again for 20-30 seconds. This opens the energy pathway to the wrist and hand.

I do this exercise nightly when I’m knitting and before I go to bed. I can literally feel the flush of circulation go back onto my little finger, which most often gets rather numb after a couple house of knitting.

Speaking of acupuncture, I have not tried it for wrist pain yet, but I have used it for other things and it works!

As for easing wrist pain while you knit, try switching the size of the needles and yarn you work with. Larger needles and large stitches are less apt to cause wrist pain. Observe how you misuse your wrists in other ways as well. If you use the computer a lot, make sure your keyboard is at a good height so that your arms are straight from elbow to wrist with fingers resting lightly on the keyboard. I use a Logitech stationary mouse and it’s great for the shoulder because you only move your index finger to move the mouse ball.

It’s still possible to keep knitting, even though you have wrist pain, if you do some simple exercises and take frequent breaks. I’d never give up knitting because of it, but it has slowed me down some!

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