One of the best things I’ve done for my hands was making sure that at night they take a proper break. Granted, I only really give them a break while I sleep, but it turns out that churning out all kinds of amigurumi while awake was contributing to tightness and clenching while I was sleeping - so they weren’t REALLY resting while I was sleeping. I would wake up and my hands would be MORE sore than they were when I finished crocheting all day.
I solved this by buying a set of wrist and hand braces for night time use. I bought THIS kind and it has served me very well. The important parts are that it stabilizes my wrist, while still being comfortable and NOT TOO TIGHT for night time use. And additionally, it has padding on the palm of the brace that does not allow me to clench my hand into a fist while I sleep. This forces my hand to stay in a relaxed position.
On top of that, I often use an athletic cream for sore muscles or a CBD cream on my hands, then I put my hands in those braces over night and by morning I always feel an improvement.
The bad news is that I, personally, have a hard time sleeping with those wrist braces on. But they’re good for me, so I grumble through it. I hope this helps!
Hand care!
I thought I would touch on hand care again because it is such an important issue for avid hookers. If you are crocheting regularly, please take breaks and stretch and rest your hand so that you don’t develop repetitive motion injuries.
And if you’re like me, and completely lose track of time when you’re crocheting and thus spend 3 hours hooking without a break and then pay for it later that night with pain, soreness and tenderness….
Here’s something you can do to help.
Treat yourself to an ergonomic crochet hook. It’s all the rage now. You can find different types of ergonomic hooks in all the big box craft stores for fairly cheap, but there are more varieties of hooks available out there now more than ever. My personal favorite that I think I’ll never ever stop using are Clover Soft Touch hooks. Their handle is actually quite small, but it fits my hand and something about it means I have far more endurance and far less pain when crocheting for long periods. The most expensive ergonomic hooks come from a company called Furls. I’ve personally found that their Odyssey line hooks (all I own from them) don’t fit well in my hand, but maybe it would be the perfect thing for yours! And the good news is their customer service is excellent, so if your hook breaks, you can contact them and they will replace it at no charge to you!