Possible arthritis in left little finger from crochet?

[emotionwreckage]

Hi fellow crocheters. I'm wondering whether the pain in my left little finger could be to do with crochet. Does anyone else have this? My little finger is always bent right over my palm to hold the yarn and I've noticed that I get some pain in the joint here. Thanks

It's more likely repetitive strain injury. Can you give the crochet a rest?

Yes, RSI quite likely. I got this ( trigger thumb). Have had to stop crochet - took a good 6 months to get better - am wary of starting again, but I do miss crochet ing.

You could look at adjusting how you hold the yarn. I keep tension by wrapping it around my pinkie, so I don't need to hold it. I've seen others keeping tension just by holding it in between their pinkie and ring finger.

That could ease the strain.

I can't crochet because it hurts too much, but do knit.

Very likely some form of RSI. In my case, knitting the lovely Owls sweater, killed my thumbs and I haven't managed much more than the odd sock for years, now. Haven't really knitted for a year, as it hurts so much. The triger thumb got me my diagnosis of the condition that had been plaguing me in one way or another for my entire life - HMS.

I want to get back to knitting but it's going to need to be small socks (in small doses, due to tight gauge) and light, loose lacy things. No more chunky cabled sweaters in the round.

And yy to avoding tensioning with pinkie - one of the first things I learnt. I use middle two fingers for tensioning.

Thanks for the tips on different ways to hold yarn. iI did some crocheting yesterday and my finger is worse than ever. I will try out some different techniques. I'm guessing that must be due to crocheting if others have had the same. It mostly seems to be thumbs so was wondering.

I don't think I use my left little finger at all when crocheting. I think I use my first two fingers but I can never remember unless I am actually crocheting!

I also ended up with excruciating finger/knuckle pain after repetitive activities (not crochet though), but it was a hobby I was desperate to continue with. I went to a brilliant hand therapist who diagnosed hypermobility syndrome and gave me splints and exercises and so on, which really helped. I also learned to change how I did things, using less tension.

(it did, however, cost an absolute fortune, but it was worth it because of how much the hobbies meant to me).