Update on De Quervain's Tenosynovitis

I'm knitting again but I'm choosing my projects very carefully. I seem to do better with yarns with good elasticity. In retrospect I had been working on a cotton top when the De Quervain's Tenosynovitis kicked in again. I've been doing the massage, stretching and rubber ball exercises that I mentioned in my last post on this topic. I think cables may be out for a while. At the moment I'm working on items with knit-purl texture stitches and I might be forced to try some plain old boring stocking stitch. I'll have to add stripes or something to keep me interested. I tried swatching a bulky yarn on a 10 mm. I was thinking a large needle might be easier but the pain started up by Row 8. If you want to know more about De Quervain's, there's more info on Pinterest here.

Many thanks to all of you who sympathized with my frustration. Since I started knitting again I'm feeling much more normal.

De Quervain's Tenosynovitis

 

http://blog.lionbrand.com/2015/01/14/hand-therapy-for-knitters-tips-and-techniques-for-hand-health/

I'm currently somewhere between angry, frustrated and depressed. I'd been knitting at almost my normal production rate when my De Quervain's tenosynovitis started up again. I had continued doing the exercises physio gave me and added in the rubber ball rolling method. I stopped doing the massage on the tendon some months ago. Last Thursday, after no knitting for five days (while feeling very sorry for myself and bored) I started using heat and massage again. I had a very noticeable hard knot on the top of my arm just below the bend. My physiotherapist says the knots are similar to an internal scarring and the massage breaks it up. When I was seeing her regularly it took several weeks but the knot did completely disappear. When I compare to my right arm there is no knot on that tendon. Friday morning I got up and had to ice it due to noticeable swelling. I'm trying to scratch the knitting itch by reading knitting blogs and books, however I'm feeling anxious and jittery! This is total proof to me about the calming nature of knitting. 

If you want to read more about the benefits of knitting, here's a recent article from the Globe and Mail