Everyone who knits knows that knitting & hand pain are usually closely associated. It's a shame that hand pain can chip away at such a relaxing activity. A famous quote about it says, 

“In the rhythm of the needles there's music for the soul.” 

All people who knit, sew, crochet, etc. share this sentiment. They also understand their passion can be the source of hand pain. That’s because maintaining that musical rhythm produces “repetitive stress” on your fingers.

The human hand is not designed for repeating a huge quantity of small movements, quickly and repeatedly. As a result, it causes stress in the soft tissues, resulting in hand or finger pain.

• FIND OUT: do you have carpal tunnel? No strings attached self-test.
  

It's all about repetitive stress

Sewing, crocheting or knitting + hand pain go – well – hand in hand. Devotees know this from experience. The pain is a type of injury that results from repetitive stress or strain. That's where we get the term Repetitive Stress Injury or RSI. 

There are many types of RSIs. Generally, when it comes to the hand, the most common repetitive strain injury is tendonitis. 

Carpal tunnel syndrome is another problem, although it's not "technically" a RSI. That's because carpal tunnel is not "caused" by repetitively stressing your hand; it just happens while doing so. In fact, carpal tunnel syndrome is a form of tendonitis inside the carpal tunnel of the wrist joint.

The pain you get from all repetitive stress results from microscopic rips in the fingers’ tendons. According to the National Institutes of Health, scientists do not know for certain why this happens in some people but not in others.

But the problem occurs when the body tries to heal those rips. As a result, tiny scars or adhesions form on the tendon’s surface. With more repetitive stress, those adhesions rip apart. Then, the body tries to repair them once again. 

This microscopic "rip-and-repair" process continues over and over again as you work with your hands. Consequently, the body interprets it as irritation and tries to heal it. Therefore, the area inflames and swells with fluid as a way to protect the healing process. That inflammation is what produces the pain you feel. This is the underlying problem in all forms of tendonitis.

When the inflammation occurs inside the carpal tunnel space, something else also happens. The swelling tendons push against the adjacent median nerve. In fact, the pushing slowly crushes the nerve.

So in addition to the pain of tendon inflammation, the crushed nerve produces a host of other symptoms, like numbness and tingling in the fingers. Most often, hand weakness also occurs. These are the most common carpal tunnel symptoms.

Repetitive Strain Injury develops over long periods of time. In fact, tendonitis (and carpal tunnel syndrome) occur so slowly that they go unnoticed in the beginning. Then they continue to progress.

Usually, once you’re even aware of the symptoms, the pathology has advanced relatively far. This is especially true with carpal tunnel syndrome because it also results in damage to the median nerve.

If knitting & hand pain are causing problems, you must be sure the pain is due to a simple RSI like tendonitis and not carpal tunnel syndrome. Carpal tunnel is much more serious and requires special attention.

You can take this self-test to tell the difference between carpal tunnel & tendonitis.

If you’ve determined your knitting & hand pain issues are due to tendonitis or even carpal tunnel syndrome, what next? Actually, you can do a lot that will help you a great deal.

For example, remember the B.R.E.M. remedy, which means, Brace, Rest, Exercise, and Massage. To be effective, you must do all of them.

Wear a wrist brace at night to avoid unconscious hand bending and twisting. In fact, when your hand hyper-bends at night, the pain feels much worse in the morning. Also, make sure to wear a wrist brace made for carpal tunnel, and not a generic drug store splint which can do more harm to your wrist.

During your rest periods, take a moment and do finger stretching exercises. Wrist tendonitis exercises and carpal tunnel exercises are identical. And they only take a minute to do, so they won't interfere with your work. They’re a great investment of time because such quick exercises make a big difference in healing your painful hands. 

Finally, massage your wrist joint at least twice a day. The best massage is called  myofascial release.  But you actually need a partner to perform it on you because it requires two hands. Myofascial release massage  is highly effective against wrist tendonitis and carpal tunnel syndrome, especially when the conditions are caught early. The therapy gets blood flowing, breaks up micro-adhesions, and drains excess fluid from the wrist joint. 

It's better to prevent hand pain so you don't have to cure it. Therefore, prevent getting Repetitive Strain Injury like wrist tendonitis in the first place.

There are a few simple things you can do now to avoid suffering later.

• Make sure you take frequent breaks from knitting. (Hand pain is best avoided with rest.) Put the needles down and stretch your fingers, hands, wrists, and shoulders as often as you can. See this article about hand exercises for carpal tunnel.
  
  
• Avoid marathon knitting sessions. Prolonged hand activity is just asking for trouble. Indeed, a marathon without adequate resting and finger stretching will guarantee problems.
  
  
• Before you begin to knit, warm up your hands. Start by stretching them out. Also include your arms and shoulders – much like an athlete does before an activity. The benefits of stretching are tremendous and should be part of your knitting routing.
  
  
• To keep knitting & hand pain from ever happening, pay attention to your posture. While it may not seem related, proper sitting posture is essential for good hand health. For instance, drooping shoulders and a bowed head transfer undesirable forces to the hands. It also inhibits blood flow to the extremities. In fact, poor posture can impinge directly on nerves in the hand and arm.

In conclusion, making a few easy adjustments to your knitting routine should result in healthy hands while you work.

Most say that knitting & hand pain are like bread and butter; always occurring together. But it doesn’t have to be that way. You can avoid the most serious hand pain problems like tendonitis or carpal tunnel syndrome by taking simple precautionary measures. And if you already have one of these painful conditions, you should treat it right now before it worsens.