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Why do I keep getting tendonitis? How can I strengthen?


amo_mea_filiis.
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Knitting and crochet flares/causes (I have no idea) tendonitis in both wrists. After months of absolutely no pain or limitations, I got a small knitting loom. I'm starting to feel pain again.

 

I've been to occupational therapy and it actually made it worse. The nerve glide exercises were unbearable and after a few months, I stopped OT and successfully treated myself... As long as I don't knit!

 

I can write, type, fold laundry, wash dishes, work on my truck, and everything else using my hands, except knitting and crochet. :(

 

However, every time I try to knit/crochet, all other activities become limited for a while.

 

What is going on? How can fix this AND be able to knit?

 

I realize the most logical fix is to quit trying to knit, but I love it.

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I know that this can be a real problem for people. Just be glad that it doesn't effect your ablility to work. My cousin wasn't able to type, and therefore continue her work, because of it. Were it me, I'd be very, very careful about doing repetitive actions that cause pain and inflamation. You may need to get it looked at by a doctor to see if you're a candidate for having the area treated with surgery.

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It could be more than just tendonitis.  I had DeQuarvain's Tenosynovitis in both wrists, and it required surgery to fix.  The channels my tendons went through in  the wrist near my thumb were too small - had to be opened up.

You may want to consider a more thorough work up by a specialists.

Regular docs kept insisting it was just tendonitis, grrrr... 

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Any condition ending in "itis" means you have inflammation in your body.  You might be able to reduce that by looking at foods that cause inflammation and eliminating them from your diet for a while and see if it makes a difference.  (just google it) It doesn't cost anything to try and it can't hurt, is noninvasive, etc. It might be worth a try.

 

 Good luck to you!  I hope you find relief!

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Does your brace have a splint for the thumb area. Keeping the wrist straight helps. I've used the heating pad when pain was very bad. Anti-inflammatories help.  One thing to also try is to not use the wrist and let it rest. Sometimes it's from overuse. That is what the dr. recommended when my son had tendonitis in the ankle/heel. It worked. It lets the swelling decrease. Could you not knit/crochet for a while and see if it helps. 

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Have you tried icing? If it is simple tendonitis it's an inflammatory issue. When mine flares up I treat it aggressively - rest, ice, anti-inflammatories (ie ibuprofen). Because it's peroneal for me (outer ankle), it means wearing the brace to stabilize the joint, and carefully evaluating the condition of my work shoes (I put a lot of mileage on at work and wear out shoes). Though my activities are, in the short term, pretty restricted, the payoff is a shorter disabled period. I follow a flare up with strengthening and range of motion exercises and stretching, as well as continuing to apply ice if I suspect overuse. Also, because it's my foot, any pain is a reminder about watching my weight.

 

ETA I am wondering if it's something more complicated, since therapy was not helpful.

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Is there a definite way to diagnose it?  I was under the impression there wasn't.  I had a carpal tunnel test done to rule that out, but after they ruled that out they just said I must have tendonitis. 

 

ps...I do not recommend a test for carpal tunnel.  It's awful!!!

 

Generally, tendonitis tends to be on top of the wrist and carpal tunnel tends to be the inside of the wrist. Both are from over use. My dr. says the best way to let it heal is to let the wrist rest.

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Why did the doctor send you to OT instead of PT?  (just curious)

 

My daughter had bicep tendonitis that took 4 months of 2-3 times a week visits for an hour at a time just to get 80% of the inflammation gone.  At the end of October, the PT visits dropped to once every other week while she continued to do exercises at home - trying to get the last bit of inflammation gone.

 

For the first 6 weeks, I think the PT did deep tissue massages for 90% of the session.  DD was there for 3.5 months before she was doing more strengthening exercises than she was getting deep tissue massages (plus heat and then ice cold therapy).

 

Since my limited knowledge of tendonitis is based on my daughter's recovery, I can't help but wonder if the OT had you working through the issue too fast instead of working on the inflammation.

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I had surgery a few weeks ago for DeQuervain's tendonitis.  Mine was caused from catching myself with my left hand during a bad fall...

In my case it would NEVER have healed on its own.  If I wore a splint and did not use my left hand the pain would subside-- if I used my left hand even a tiny bit it would flare...

 

There is a 'test' to make DeQuervain's a possiblitiy.

Make a fist tucking in your thumb. Turn fist thumb-side up and then rotate thumb away from your body.

If this hurts then DeQuervains is a possiblity.

 

It got so bad that I could not pick up a simple piece of paper with my left hand...

 

3 weeks out of surgery and I can pick up items less than 2 pounds easiy--without flaring... My mobility and strength is improving each day (pain is slowly going away as well).

 

Surgery was a 30 minute out patient procedure.  I had 7 stitches but my procedure was a bit more invasive than usual because it had been so long since initial injury.  I was awake for surgery too...

 

 

 

 

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