Sewing With Nancy

Repetitive motion, doing the same actions over and over is part of our craft. Cutting with scissors or a rotary cutter plus the repetitive motion in hand sewing can cause sewing and quilting enthusiasts to develop carpal tunnel syndrome. I've invited Dr. Jonathan Tueting Assistant Professor of Hand and Upper Extremity Surgery at UW Hospital in Madison, Wisconsin to give us insight on the symptoms, prevention and very much, the correction of carpal tunnel. Well, welcome to Sewing with Nancy. Thank you so much for having me. You know, if I'd come to your office, Jonathan-- I'd probably say "Dr. Tueting" but I would say, I'm having difficulty. My hand is going to sleep, I have pain. What would you say to me as a sewer or quilter how to correct this? We'd first talk about how much sewing and quilting that you're doing. We'd look at ways to either modify the length of time give you breaks during periods when you're sewing or find different ways for you to help hold your tools when you're sewing that might give you symptomatic relief. It's pretty common in our industry for those in the craft to have that discomfort. One of the things that I have done which corrected it, was to use a splint. Wearing a splint particularly at night allows the hand and the wrist to be held in the appropriate posture so that the median nerve, which is responsible for causing carpal tunnel syndrome gets the appropriate nutrition. And it allows you to be able to do more during the day before you start having symptoms. So, splint at night. And I would imagine to take breaks when you're doing repetitive motions as I mentioned hand sewing, hand quilting, or working with a rotary cutter. Frequent breaks are important, sometimes longer breaks. If you sew for a longer period of time you might want to take a slightly longer break during the middle of the day before you get back to it. Is there anything as far as massaging or working in that area that is helpful? There are some myofascial release techniques that therapists use. There are also steroid injections that can sometimes provide relief for periods of time. And there are also different pads that you can use to help not put quite so much pressure on the wrist and injure the median nerve. Then, seek help so you don't wait until it's too late. Absolutely. The longer you wait, the more damage you can do to the nerve. And sometimes, if you wait too long you can start having weakness in the hand which is difficult to make better. Now, the purpose of working on Sewing with Nancy to have a guests like Dr. Tueting is to help us enjoy our craft longer. And being very visual people, I'm really pleased that you were able to bring with you this diagram that shows the area of the wrist and hand that are affected by repetitive motions. I just wanted to show that when we're grabbing tools or bending our wrists repetitively that the median nerve is the structure that runs right underneath this tight ligament. And that's the nerve that gets pinched or squeezed in the carpal tunnel and that's what causes carpal tunnel syndrome. The recovery time after? For example if I had to have surgery on my wrist which I'm not going to have, but what's the recovery time? Usually in patients that have mild carpal tunnel syndrome I try to treat them with a night splint like we talked about. And if they get relief from the night splint they can hopefully avoid surgery indefinitely. In patients that have slightly more severe symptoms or if I see injury to that motor nerve or the part of the nerve that controls the muscle then we talk about surgical treatment. And usually, the recovery from surgical treatment takes about six to eight weeks. Sure. And then afterwards, I would imagine after that six- to eight-week period you'd have them take breaks so that it doesn't occur? Exactly. We have them gradually return to the activities that they love. So, the message to sewers and quilters out there is to take it a little bit easy when you're doing some repetitive motion? If you start noticing that you're having your hands go numb take a break and try to rest it and talk to your primary care doctor or a hand specialist about getting a night splint. Thank you for being our guest on Sewing with Nancy. I'm certain that many of our viewers will take your advice and take some breaks now and then. I appreciate it so much. Thanks so much for having me. You're very welcome. You'll find information on this Nancy's Corner guest at nancyzieman.com and you'll find links to the other Nancy's Corner guests plus you'll be able to watch current Sewing with Nancy &nbspprograms online at your convenience. You'll also be able to read my blog and you'll be directed to all things Sewing with Nancy. Thanks for joining us, we'll see you next time. Bye for now.