It seems a lot longer than a months since I left my hand therapist’s office feeling pleased with myself, my hands almost completely back to normal. Surely if I stuck to the stretches and didn’t overdo anything it would stay that way.

Then that female unpleasantness happened and some time during my week on progesterone every muscle/tendon/joint problem I’ve ever had flared. Neck, shoulders, small of back, hips, knees, wrists and ankles. Most of it went away once I was off progesterone again. All but the RSI in my wrists. I kept doing my stretches, started wearing a brace at night again, applied Voltaren and Neurofen, stopped my hour long evening ‘fix’ of knitting and pared back on writing time. But it kept getting worse. Eventually I had to stop the stretches and start wearing the brace during the day, and started having a serious case of WTF!!!

Trying to work out why is a big guessing game. Have I been doing anything to aggravate it? Maybe. Avoiding one things means I do another. Weaving always seemed a safe alternative to knitting, because it doesn’t involve much in the way of fiddly finger movements. When I’m not writing I tend to get stuck on the internet, but that usually makes my back hurt more, not my wrists. Not this time. And this time it’s flexing my wrist that’s bothering me the most, rather than finger movements.

I’m trying something different this week. In the Carpel Tunnel group on Ravelry there’s a physical therapist who recommends ‘ice dipping’. You dip your hand and forearm in a sink or bucket of ice water for five seconds several times over a couple of hours, once a day for ten days. Sounds unpleasant? Well, five seconds is easily bearable and it is rather soothing. Whether it makes a difference in the long run remains to be seen.