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Friday July 02, 2010

Tools for knitters with Carpal Tunnel Syndrome

We've had a query from a reader with Carpal Tunnel Syndrome: "Carpal tunnel syndrome has made it extremely hard to knit to gauge. There are supposed to be gadgets to help with this. I have tried smaller needles and English style to no avail."

My guess would be to try successively smaller needles to get the correct tension, but if the needles get too small they won't be very good for the lady's hands so that's not always going to be practical. Do you have any suggestions? Do you know of tools that help with tension?

Posted by Miriam McDonald
Friday July 02, 2010

Ask the Simply Knitters | Permalink | Comments [5]

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Comments:

My suggestion would be to check her posture. I have found that, if I ignore good posture, I get alll kinds of wrist, hand, arm pain. But, if I sit up straight with vertebrae nicely stacke3d, shoulders down & relaxed, forearms at a 90 degree angle to uppers arms (or greater), I can knit for hours on end without the least bit of pain. Holding your knitting elevated (as I & I think many other knitters am inclined to do) is perhaps the biggest source of pain. I think it puts pressure on the nerves that pass thru the elbow crook. Rekaxing with your knitting in your lap or just above it, is so much kinder to your forearms. I suppose that one of those tensioners that you can slip over your fingers might help.

Posted by mwknitter (127.0.0.1) on July 03, 2010 at 07:58 PM BST #

I've heard mention that Portuguese Knitting can help - this style of knitting involves holding the yarn around the neck or around a "hook" pinned near the shoulder. As the yarn is therefore readily available and the needles need less movement the stresses on the wrists and hands are greatly reduced.

Posted by Ruth Chester (127.0.0.1) on July 08, 2010 at 11:35 AM BST
Website: http://www.thelittleknittingcompany.co.uk #

Your reader might be thinking of the item that used to be called helping hands but has been renamed 'Stitch Simply'.

I think it was originally aimed at knitters with arthritis but it should help with carpal tunnel syndrome equally well because the hands and wrists no longer have to support the needles. I have added a link to the item below.

Posted by Liz (127.0.0.1) on July 10, 2010 at 08:04 PM BST
Website: http://www.knittingaid.com/uk/knitting_aid_overview.php #

http://www.nflfansjersey.com nfl jerseys

Posted by nfl jerseys (127.0.0.1) on July 13, 2010 at 08:33 AM BST
Website: http://www.nflfansjersey.com #

You may be interested in the knitting aid originally designed for people with arthritis I believe. It can be seen on the web site www.knittingaid.com.

Posted by Jean (127.0.0.1) on July 18, 2010 at 11:51 AM BST #

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