Carpal Tunnel And Cross Stitching – Are They Related?

As an avid cross stitcher I’ve spent countless hours over the last decade cross stitching every chance I could get. Is it any wonder that I developed carpal tunnel syndrome in 2015 severe enough to require surgery on both of my hands? To be honest, I don’t think the two are that related. Let’s dig deeper…

What Is Carpal Tunnel Syndrome?

The Carpel Tunnel is the area inside your wrist where all the blood vessels, nerves, etc go from your lower arm to your hand. There’s some pretty big bones in the area, and there’s just not a lot of space in this tunnel. Imagine if there were less space because of swelling.

Specifically, carpal tunnel syndrome is when the median nerve becomes inflamed. There are many theories as to why this happens: obesity; other medical conditions that can affect the nerves like diabetes; inflammatory conditions like rheumatoid arthritis; hormonal alterations with estrogen and thyroid hormones; and prior trauma to the wrist.

However, there is no direct evidence that points to why carpal tunnel happens in one person and not another. There’s no direct evidence that working on a computer for long stretches predisposes someone to carpal tunnel. Women are more likely than men to develop carpal tunnel but that’s most likely due to the smaller anatomic size of women’s wrists versus men’s.

My Story

When I was going through the diagnostic and treatment phases of dealing with my carpal tunnel issue, I was told frequently by many people that my cross stitching was the culprit.  However, I never believed that (and not just because I was in denial).  I never felt the symptoms (tingling, numbness in my hands and fingers) while I was stitching. My issues almost always occurred during the night. I would frequently wake up because my hands were so numb they hurt (if that makes sense). I tried braces at night (my preferred brace from Amazon). I tried stretching. Icing. Nothing helped.

Eventually the causal factor became evident to me. I use my hands both in my daily job, but I used to be quite the avid DIYer. I’ve done all kinds of remodeling in my home; not the least of which was painting every single ceiling and room in my home. In fact, when the carpal tunnel symptoms were at their worst, I was in the middle of a major bathroom remodel that included laying a new tile floor and shower.  One would think I should have been able to put two and two together, but sometimes we are blind to the most obvious thing right in front of us. I would paint or drywall for an hour or so and my hands would be so painful with numbness later that sleep was very difficult.

Surgery Was Urgent

By the time my symptoms were completely unbearable, I was told I had to have surgery immediately or face permanent neurological damage. I had some co-existing neck issues at the time and my neurologist wanted to make sure that my neck issues weren’t the source of my hand problems so he had me undergo nerve velocity/conduction tests. Basically they stuck little needles into my arms and hands, sent little electrical zaps from my arm to my hand and measured how fast those zaps traveled. My test results were so bad that my neurologist asked me how fast I could arrange my schedule to undergo the surgery.

Surgery was done on my right wrist first, with the second surgery on the left wrist occurring ten days later. The initial post-surgery phase is tough enough with one hand fully bandaged. Both hands being fully bandaged at the same time is possible to live with, but not recommended. The goal of the surgery was to cut open the carpal tunnel, giving my nerves more room to “breathe.” If you’d like to get more info on the surgery, go here.

I still remember how strange my hands felt for a few weeks after each surgery. Do you remember the last time you went outside when it was super cold and your hands froze because you forgot (again) to bring gloves? Remember how your hands felt when they got back into a warmer environment? Numb, swollen, and tingly? That’s how my hands felt for two weeks straight. Once the nerves calmed down, my hands and fingers felt so much better. I was very happy that I had gotten the surgery done when I did.

What To Do If You Cross Stitch And Have Carpal Tunnel Syndrome

First of all, make sure you talk to a doctor about your symptoms. If your symptoms don’t resolve with the normal basic symptomatic treatment (rest, anti-inflammatory medicine, ice, braces), then surgery may be the only way to alleviate your symptoms. If you’re going through this initial symptomatic phase and still want to cross stitch, I believe you still can. IF you can stitch without pain/tingling. If your cross stitching aggravates your symptoms, then you need to stop for a while.

However, if your stitching does NOT cause a flare of your symptoms, there are some modifications you can make to your cross stitching so that you can continue.

• If you use a Q-snap or a hoop, use the lightest one you can find. Personally I now prefer using the smallest hoop that is comfortable for me with any project. The less I have to hold in one hand, the less stress on my wrists.
• The best way to hold a pattern would actually be to use a standing frame, such as this Lowery Workstand or this Edmunds Universal Craft Stand. Using one of these stands means you aren’t holding the fabric at all. This would require getting better with two-handed stitching (where you keep one hand on each side of the fabric and pass the needle and floss from one hand to the other through the pattern). But you’ll stress out your hands and wrists so much less using this frame.
• Take more frequent breaks and stress/ice your wrists. Just because cross stitching doesn’t make your symptoms appear doesn’t mean that its not a good idea to rest your wrists occasionally during a repetitive motion activity.
• Work on projects (if you can) that allow you to use a larger needle. The smaller the needle, the more your fingers and hand/wrist need to flex to hold onto that needle.

In Conclusion

It’s been over three years since my surgery, and I still have to work on the scar tissue that formed where my incisions were located. I still see that when I overuse my hands with heavy flexing/twisting stress, one of my fingers may tingle for a short period of time. It’s always possible that I may have to get the surgery again on my right hand (the one that was truly the worst affected; yes, I am right-handed).

I didn’t tell you this story to defy your doctors advice when it comes to stitching and carpal tunnel. Always listen to your doctors and do what they recommend. However, look at other areas of your life where your hands and wrists are under a lot of stress and see if you can modify your lifestyle there before you choose to stop cross stitching.