During this pandemic I joined a couple of knitting groups online and one of them posted exercises for knitters. Stretches that you can use in order to work out the cramps that you get in your fingers and the center of your hand (you can find the image below, original source can be found here). This got me thinking about this week’s post, that and the fact that I have my right hand wrapped in a tensor bandage. How can you be a writer, artist, creator, and have hands that frequently drop things, with no other reason than to make your life that more difficult. I honestly don't view my hands as sentient beings; however I do frequently tell them not to drop things like mugs of tea when I am walking to my desk.
This past winter I made my epic Franken-scarf (see May 5th post) and because of this I developed what is called a trigger finger, where the joint locks – however it developed in my right thumb instead of one of my fingers. Off and on throughout my teens and 20s I have had to wrap my right hand, developing cramps, tennis elbow in both arms, hands falling asleep, possible carpal tunnel syndrome and now a brace to sleep with. All this time, I worked at a computer as a student, continued to create art and jewellery, all the while in pain. Not really knowing what to do. Now I have exercises that I do daily, stretches I do hourly at times and the pain lessens and gets greater depending on what I do and how much I use my hands.
I was told a number of years ago, by a nurse, who determined that I had tennis elbow, that in order for it to ‘go away’ I had to stop using my hands and arms so much. How was I to accomplish this? I has just started grad school, how was I to stop using my hands? I ignored her, pushed through. There were days that I wore my bandage and a make-shift sling to tutorial, amid the “what did you do’s?” from my students and fellow classmates and co-workers. I would shrug it off, say it is a repetitive stress injury – which it was. I wasn’t lying. One day I said to my students, in a mocking tone of humour (and a little ice inside) that it was making all your work that did it! And then I joked and said this happens sometimes, no worries. When you have chronic conditions, you do that, you dismiss the daily what’s wrong with you and you push down the hurt at having to do that since, well this is your lived experience, this is your life. You deal with low grade bodily pain daily; this is the norm.
How you do it, how you get through depends on quite a few things. For me, it is stretches, taking breaks, and looking into devices that can help me make my life easier. I find that the thicker the knitting needle, the easier it is to use, and I fell in love with these knitting needles from The Little Red Mitten. I found this really cool YouTube video that teaches you how to knit I-Cords – essentially little knitted tubes and she later shows how you can put these onto pencils! I am totally going to try this and see if I can make them for my pens and pencils! I recently bought a beading loom in my on-going attempt at not dropped a strand of seed beads and losing my whole creation. I will let you know how both of these things go, since I have yet to try them. However, maybe you have, and if so, feel free to comment on your experiences.
Since accessible devices are really expensive, I wrap cloths around my toothbrush and cutlery in order to be able to grip them on tough days. You do what you can to make things a little easier when you have disabilities. And the most important thing the always remember, never lose you passion and desire to create, even when you are in pain. I hope that these little types and products will help you out too if you have issues such as mine and are a crafter.
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