The Importance of Taking Hand Breaks While Knitting

Hi everyone! As I write this, I am feeling the effects of knitting too much. Along with my shoulders hurting, my hands are hurting pretty badly. Many years ago, I used to feel hand pain a lot. Since it was so normal, I would push through the pain. Today, I understand the cause of the pain (Inflammation from underlining health issues (Not arthritis) and neurological problems I struggled with my whole life) so I know that I will need to take a break. If a break is something I cannot do (Usually due to work deadlines), I take breaks throughout the day and rest my hands.

Right now I have hand pain due to knitting so much. I am a stress knitter, so whenever I’m under a lot of stress, I knit. It calms me down and usually makes me focus on my work. I used to do this a lot when I was a teenager and under a lot of stress from school. Back then, I hand sewed, but today I knit.

For the past few months, I have struggled with a very stressful time in my life. A lot of changes has happened and I was very afraid of what the future may be. Because of this, I knitted everything from dish cloths to a throw pillow panel to a new sweater. It helped calm me down, but it also made my joints hurt and demand a break.

And that brings me to the point of this post. I love knitting, but in order to be the best knitter I possibly can be, I know I need to take hand breaks. Knitting is a healthy stress relieving hobby for me, but I need to slow down my knitting! That way, my hands can heal and recover from all the knitting I did for the past few months.

If you are suffering from hand pain due to knitting, please seriously consider taking a knitting break. If you are like me and have an underling health issue, then it is even more important to take a knitting break. Doing this will allow your hands to make a full recovery and will allow you to work on other things that requires your hands. Also, pushing yourself can cause major damage to your muscles, tendons, and ligaments in your hands. In order to avoid this, please take regular knitting breaks.

If you cannot take a knitting break, then take care of your hands! Use gloves created for people who suffer with tendonitis or will support your hands and joints. Make sure to either apply heat or cold to your hands to reduce swelling. (Sometimes I use an ice pack to reduce swelling. Other times, I use a heading pad to relieve stiffness in my joints and muscles.) Also, schedule a five to ten minute break every 20 minutes of knitting. This will give your hands time to have a small break from knitting before working again.

Well, that’s all for now! Thank you for reading!