grip style vs hand pain

[RoseRed]

Since I started using jimbo's hooks my aching hands have dissapeared almost completely! The only time they hurt is when I seriously overuse them. I added foam cushions to my aluminum hooks and it makes a huge difference.

 

Since becoming a member here I've loosened up my grip considerably and I think that has a lot to do with it also.

 

Crochet is supposed to be relaxing, right? I guess anything will hurt you if you tense/tighten up for too long.

[Lov2Crochet]

1. your grip style (pencil or steaknife)- Steaknife

 

2. if you have hand, wrist, or finger pain from crocheting. No pain anywhere

 

When I very first started crocheting, my grip was tight and I was tense. It took me a while to learn to relax and ever since I did, I haven't had any problems at all with pain even after crocheting for several hours a day and several days in a row.

[Julexia]

I use a light pencil grip.

No pain.

[Kelle]

I use a moderately-tight-pencil-flutey grip, no pain whatsoever.

 

~k

[butterfly_girl]

I use the knife grip. I do tend to grip the hook tightly, depends on my mood and how the project is going i think! lol.

 

I do get sore hands, but it's from my left hand, and the way i keep tension in the yarn. I use the wrong fingers. but trying to hold the yarn the proper way, makes me go slower. I keep the yarn tension by curling my index finger over the yarn.

[darski]

I was thinking of offering a poll but I think it would take 8 choices. We can do up to 10 so that could work.

 

I'll go post a quick poll and we can see if the results do any good for what we want to know.

[Cocoa Cream]

I use a fairly light knife grip about 99% of the time. I have no pain in my hand, and only have wrist pain when I have been crocheting ALOT more than normal...I guess more than 1 hour at a time. I actually experience more pain in my elbows from holding my arms in one position without straightening them for a long time...but that wouldn't be affected by my hooks.

[fluffypechey]

The main reason for me coming back to crochet was because I have arthritis. Recently it has got into my fingers which is very painful. I am led to believe that keeping the fingers busy is the best thing.

 

I use the loose pencil grip and prefer a biggish hook. My pain seems to have lessened since I resumed my crochet which is great news.

 

I plan to keep busy and keep doing the crochet. I think sometimes it isnt the grip as much as time spent at it. Too long sore fingers, for me anyway.

 

Its interesting to see the different ways people crochet.

[Sylviaf]

I use a light knife grip and rarely have pain.

[Kimblee]

I hold like a knife.

 

And my hands hurt badly, although apprently not enough to make me stop....

[Grandma Margie]

totally fascinating to read this interchange above posted in 2007, about hand pain with crochet, reading now 14 years later! It is sept 2020. I developed a left hand thumb pain, for the first time, from binge crocheting one evening on a new pattern a few months ago. Superimposed is also a mild carpel tunnel like wrist pain from a life time of a little too much computer use, but managed because of wrist supports, ergonometric seating and keyboards now in these modern times. Remedies for the L thumb  seem to be to rest for many months, use the elastic fingerless gloves, and hand braces at night. Thank you all, 

grandma margie

[smichael]

I use the knife grip, but it is my other hand that hurts!  I hold the hook in my right hand and my left thumb is very painful I have also woken up to the tip of one of my fingers springing up.  (it didn't hurt but was strange).  I have just begun crocheting and am really hoping that I do not have to stop as I so enjoy it.  This is one of the reasons I sought out a forum, to see if anyone else had the same experience.  I have sadly put my crocheting away for the last two weeks and given my hands a rest, but my thumb is still very sore.

[Granny Square]

Wow, this is a very old thread, and the person who started it (Jimbo)  hasn't been active here since 2016, and his blog also hasn't been active since 2016.  He was retired and used to sell hand-make crochet hooks carved with wood from trees from his property.

I'm sorry you are having hand issues, and with your non-dominant left hand no less.  I posted here when the thread was new and mentioned that I had to take it easy after a string of complications after breast cancer surgery, and STILL have to take it easy 24 years after that surgery.  I only crochet a couple of hours a day, tops, and not every day, and there's a few weeks at least between projects.

I'm having trouble imagining your left thumb doing that if you are right handed.  I know there are a lot of ways to tension yarn with the left hand, some people do stuff that make my hands hurt just thinking about it, waving their fingers high in the air and other things.  I can't even imagine how you are  holding your yarn so your thumb is involved.  About all my left hand does is help hold on to the fabric, but not with a death grip.

If your fingertips are 'springing up' in the middle of the night unbidden, I would keep your project in your work bag and make a doctor's appointment - seriously.  DO NOT assume it is carpal tunnel and buy a wrist restraint glove thing without seeing a doctor first.  My hand problem happened because my first complication after surgery required a compression sleeve which restrained my hand movement in a way that brought on de Quervain's tenosynovitis, which is still there (lurking) over 20 years later - not constant pain but if I make a false move (like opening a new jar lid) it roars back for a short while.

What is interesting is I had never encountered the word tenosynovitis until then, and then your description made me think of the 'trigger finger' condition, which I just looked up and learned that the proper name for that is stenosing tenosynovitis.

Meanwhile (sorry this post is so long), I have a suggestion - I learned to knit before crochet, and I tension my yarn in my left hand the same way for both knit and crochet.  It is kept in a very neutral position, with almost zero movement.  Here is a page which is about knitting, the narrators have rather thick accents but watch their left hands - they show you how they lay the yarn over the first finger, under the second, and back over the other 2 fingers - no wrapping, the only motion, if any, is keeping the fingers close together but to a point that the yarn can slip thru in a controlled way. (look at the 'basics of Russian technique' section, first video)

Edited November 17, 2022 by Granny Square

[smichael]

Villager,

I can't thank you enough for your advice, and the recommendations.

I'm thinking that the pain in my thumb might have been caused from holding my projects too tight.  The yarn only goes over my pointer finger, and I loosely hold it with my other three fingers.  

I am going to take your advice and make an appointment with a doctor and watch the video.  I tried a little crocheting yesterday and my thumb was swollen this morning.

Again, thank you and I apologize for latching on to an old thread, I have never used a forum before. 

[Granny Square]

Not a problem latching onto an old thread, there's a lot of good info on it; I just mentioned it because some of the commenters haven't been around in a while.

I think the originator (the hook carver) might have (sort of) been on the right track, except I don't believe overhand grip is bad and pencil grip is good, or vice versa, or inline hooks are bad and tapered hooks are good, or vice versa.  However it probably makes sense if 1 style doesn't work for you, try another.  

 

 

Edited November 18, 2022 by Granny Square