8.04.2006

knitter's elbow?

the row upon row upon row upon row of stockinette stitch, multilayerd tube shawl from alterknits probably wasn't a good idea for a gal on the brink of a nasty case of tendonitis (or at least that's what i think it is.) i got through about 30 stitches last night before i started to feel like i had a golf ball wedged inside my forearm. the thought of not being able to knit is, well, unthinkable. prior to last night, i hadn't knit for three or four days, figuring a little rest would help. but, as i discovered last night, it wasn't enough. actually, come to think of it, blogging probably isn't a great idea either. though since i write for a living, it's not like i can stop keyboarding altogether. can a pad and pencil be far behind?

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

there is an "armband" like thing with an airpillow in it by aircast that i was told to get for tendonitis. it really does work. takes the pressure off the muscle on the top of your arm.

Anonymous said...

I have an appointment with my doctor today for the very same thing. No knitting and intense pain...hope you feel better soon!!

Glaistig said...

Wow, hope you feel much better very, very soon!

Anonymous said...

OH MY GOD!!!! Don't knit another stitch...save it for maine. Rest it up!!!!!!!

Amy said...

You poor thing! Rest and ice, and whatever else the doctor tells you. Moving your mouse to your lap helps too (if that's the arm that's bugging you).

velmalikevelvet said...

oh my gawd, i had no idea it wasn't just me! i was told it was too much blogging, but didn't know my knitting was aggravating it too. damn. hope yours feels better soon.

Anonymous said...

I'm roaming around posting this, in hopes of helping other people . . . hi, I had knitter's elbow in one arm and golfer's elbow (caused by weightlifting) in the other. I tried stopping the activity, doing physical therapy at a center, icing, and cortisone shots, all of which did exactly nothing. I thought surgery was next when I stumbled on trigger point therapy, which says tendonitis is actually just referred pain from a type of constriction in the nearby muscle. I bought a book that maps the trigger point to the referred pain (in this case, elbow joint) and lo and behold, found some extremely sore spots. By pressing and massaging these points you can feel instant relief in the joint, which tells you you're on the right track. The pain comes back but if you are patient and keep massaging, you will see massive improvement. It's been a few weeks and I'd say I'm about 90% better. There are different approaches to the therapy - aggressive massaging, ischemic compression, light touching, stretching. Basically I've found that each point responds to a different type of approach, and I just go by what works best in each area. Try it! When you find the point that is causing the referred pain it's actually kind of like magic.

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