Handicrafts as hand muscle training?

Hi everyone
, I’m currently having problems with my wrist (twisting and pain extending all the way back to my elbow when I overuse it or make the wrong movements), so I’m going to physical therapy. My first appointment is this Friday. So, the doctor says my nerves are fine—it’s not a “mouse arm” issue—but he wasn’t at all happy with my grip exercises or the condition of my muscles. I’ve already met the occupational therapist briefly; I’ll probably get a functional splint (I want a blue one) for support in everyday life, as well as a nifty little rubber ball to squeeze to strengthen my hand muscles.

Anyway, I’ve heard that crocheting is supposed to be good exercise for the hands. Of course, I used Google to do some research in preparation for my occupational therapy. You don’t want to go in there completely clueless. That tip about crocheting as hand exercise was just a user comment somewhere on the internet, so I don’t know if there’s any truth to it. But I do know that knitting isn’t working out well for me right now. On the one hand, because even though I learned it in school, I’ve never been very good at it. And on the other hand, because I can’t get the needle position right right now—holding it almost perpendicular to my arm.

Crocheting works. Because I can hold the crochet hook more or less parallel to my arm. If it starts to hurt, I’ll stop, of course, but I can definitely crochet for a while without any problems.I’ve seen YouTube videos and crochet patterns where users have the crochet hook—or rather, the tip of the hook—pointing upward toward their knuckles. For me, the tip of the hook points toward the palm of my hand. I find that comfortable.

How do you do it? Are there right and wrong hand positions when crocheting?
Has anyone heard anything interesting or had personal experience with hand exercises related to handicrafts?
Hand injuries do happen quite often, after all. I can’t be the only one with this kind of problem.

I’d love it if someone could share their thoughts on this.
I’ll bring up the topic of handicrafts specifically with the occupational therapist when the opportunity arises. If anyone’s interested, I’ll post an update here.

Best regards for now

Get well soon :)

thanks, sundown

I’ve been to those “hand exercises” several times now.
Since I’ve been specifically training my right hand, I’ve seen some progress.
I’ve also developed something that feels like mild tendonitis, but the occupational therapist says it isn’t.
It’s just from practicing. It’s not a big deal or anything—I’ll stop practicing if it starts to hurt.
So I’m already noticing that my hand is getting better.

I told the occupational therapist about crocheting, and she was a little surprised because she says crocheting really takes a toll on the wrist.
We agreed that I’ll bring my crochet hook and yarn to the next session, and then she’ll give me a few tips on the best way to handle it.

I’ll let you know then :)

so yesterday I was back at occupational therapy.
I brought along a crochet hook, a circular knitting needle, a few balls of yarn, and the decorative flower I made a while back—I’ve already shown it in another thread (you can find it in the crochet section).
I also brought the thing that was supposed to become a blanket. It’s about 1.80 m long and just under 30 cm wide.
I’d used that awful acrylic yarn and spent weeks working on it until the itching went from annoying to excruciating.
I still have quite a few balls of that acrylic yarn, but I’m not touching that stuff anymore.
I ended up washing the “scarf”—or rather, the quarter-blanket—and even did it on a super-hot cycle at 90 degrees, because by then I didn’t care anymore whether it shrunk or not. The way it itches, I can’t use it anyway. Surprisingly, the scarf\/quarter-blanket _didn’t_ shrink in the wash, and the colors still look good. I combined yellow and purple. But nothing bled.
It usually sits on the windowsill now, so the cats don’t get so cold while watching the cars from the cool windowsill.
The cats don’t seem to mind the acrylic yarn.
Maybe I’ll take a picture of it sometime.

Anyway, I had all of that with me yesterday.
I got some praise for it—she said the blanket turned out very even, and I did a good job with the color gradients and transitions. She also thought the flower was nice—the colors took some getting used to, but it was nice.
We did a few other exercises yesterday, so there wasn’t much time left for the crochet exercises—specifically regarding my wrist. It’s important that I find a stable surface to work on—a desk or another table—especially given my wrist problem. I can’t just sit in an armchair without a stable surface and work like that.

For me personally, having that support is just important—but then again, that’s because of my wrist.
Not everyone has wrist problems like I do right now.
And, very important—though it goes without saying—stop if it hurts.

So, we’ll take another look at hand positioning while crocheting, and then maybe I can pass on a tip or two.

I also got homework from occupational therapy.
It goes like this:
You place your arm (in my case, the right one) parallel to your body on the tabletop, so that your hand and arm rest all the way back to the elbow.
Then turn your hand so the palm faces up.
Then bring your thumb first to your little finger, then to your ring finger, then to your middle finger, and then to your index finger
—a sort of folding motion, moving your thumb back and forth and tapping a different finger each time.
Or sometimes press your thumb against the fingertips of all four fingers.
Later, use the other hand (the left one in my case) to massage the right wrist, then the arm, and work your way up to the shoulder. And then do some shoulder stretching exercises: make circles, rotate, lower one shoulder, then raise the other side, and keep rotating like that, alternating—raising the other shoulder, and so on.
I’ve been doing this more often now. And it feels a bit strange, because I don’t usually do this kind of thing—especially with my shoulders.
But I can tell it’s doing me good. Especially when I’ve been working a lot on the computer again and my right hand has been on the mouse constantly.
It really helps to loosen up the hand, the wrist, and especially the shoulder a bit.

So, that’s pretty much what it looks like right now.

Is anyone else here currently doing occupational therapy or something like that?

Hi Mützekatze
I read your account of your occupational therapy experiences a few days ago—because that’s exactly what it is. You really write in a very vivid and detailed way (that’s a compliment). In the meantime, I also tried out the exercise you described. I spend a lot of time at the computer too, so it’s important to do something for your hands and arms before they start to hurt. I don’t have any pain or functional problems at the moment, but I don’t want it to get that far either.
I like doing needlework without any support underneath, for example while watching TV.
Of course, that has its advantages, because you’re less tied to one place. But the disadvantage is that crochet and knitting projects can get quite heavy as they get bigger. It’s a relief to be able to set the work down somewhere while you’re working.
Since I don’t always want to sit at my desk, I got myself a breakfast tray. It has little legs underneath the tray itself, so you can use it comfortably for needlework. The height is quite pleasant.

I just don’t want to get to the point where I need occupational therapy, so I’m going to give some thought to what else I can do to keep my hands, wrists, and arms healthy in the long term.

In any case, I wish you continued success with your exercises, and I’d be happy if you wrote from time to time about how things are going.