Sunday, August 28, 2011

Knitting for relieving stress

I've been doing a bit of research the last few days about stress and it's affects on our bodies. I am especially interested in how it increases pain. I deal with fibromyalgia and arthritis and I can definitely say that it is worse when I'm stressed out.
Here are a couple links I've found that make some good reading on the topic. http://ezinearticles.com/?Knitting-For-Stress-Relief-Therapy&id=2720851
http://www.knitvana.com/node/5

The other topic I want to discuss is pain while knitting and ways to relieve it. I knit not just for fun, but also to sell and help supplement my income. Because I knit so much, I find that there are times when I need to finish a project that a customer is waiting for and I just have to knit while my hands hurt.

One way I deal with it is making sure I take my pain meds according to the doctors orders and regularly. I have made a habit of only taking them when I'm actually in pain and I had to stop that and take them regularly so I could maintain them in my system before I actually need them. I hope that makes sense. LOL

The other things I do to help are: Use a tens unit (a little machine that gives electrical impulses that relax the muscles around the sore area). Use fingerless gloves. Use a heating pad/ice pack after I'm done knitting for the day, and yes, there are times when I just have to let the customer know that the item will take a little longer and give myself a couple days to recover.

If you have other options that you know of, I would love to hear them!

Peg

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