Give yourself a Hand


Today's post is all about our hands......

if there is way to keep our hands nimble, I'd like to know. I shudder, literally, when I think about not being able to knit someday.....
oops, there I go again. Catastrophizing....
I'm sure all the Monopoly games I played as a child had an effect on me...
GO TO JAIL, GO DIRECTLY TO JAIL, DO NOT PASS GO, DO NOT COLLECT 200.00.
Landing anywhere near that space made me nervous.....everything could change in an instant....

Where was I ? Oh, what if we couldn't knit.
So if there's a way to keep my hands going I want to know.

I read up on hands last night. There are no muscles in your fingers. Lots of tendons, but no muscles. There are 123 ligaments however, in our hands. There are 29 major and minor bones and ...ouch
48 nerves.

By the time we get to the 75 to 79 year old age group, 90% of women will have osteoarthritis.
(this is depressing eh?)

If you want to worry about now and not later, well then 1/3 of all ER injuries involve the upper extremities. AND 2/3 of all accidents to hands occur before retirement....

I suppose we can comfort ourselves with glucosamine and chondroitin tablets and hope for the best. Then again, the cost of those babies is nearly the price of a decent skein of yarn...

I think this is where I am supposed to be living in the moment......

I read we are supposed to release our grip every 15 minutes. I do put my knitting down about every half an hour for ...well a snack of some sort......honestly...

I can say this:

My hands take a beating in the nursing profression and the winters here are enough to make your hands crack and bleed by November.....

I have some Burt's Bees Milk and Honey Body lotion. It goes on a bit watery and has a smell I can put up with but don't relish.

I also have some KISS MY FACE in lavender. It goes on watery too, but leaves you with a very light coating. I love the smell.

I find wearing gloves on the really large side helps me at work too. All that pulling on of tight gloves and pulling off literally hurts my hands.

I also find that good old Vaseline coated on my hands and covered with socks brings much needed relief to cracked skin.

Could you give me a hand? What are your secrets???

I WOULD LOVE YOU TO LEAVE A COMMENT>

Comments

SissySees said…
I am trying to be better about moisturizing my hands. I fear they show my age more than anything else does.

I heard yesterday that Glucosamine & chondrontin intensify pre-diabetic conditions. True or false?
Katherine said…
Because I am aging, and may be well ahead of many of you in that process, I try to take care of the knitting hands. Moisturizer in every room of the house and office, therapeutic gloves here and there and (here's the biggie) Salon Pas patches to stick on achy spots and/or Stop Pain roll-on for the same. Thanks for a good subject Kathy! We all need to think more about how much our hands do for us.
Nancy said…
I can tell Winter is approaching, as my hands are beginning to dry and show chapped areas. I use a lot of lotion in the winter. One of the best lotions I used is for horses' hooves - really.
Anonymous said…
Oh Lordy -- I'm only 56 and already with the osteoarthritis.

My poor hands have taken a beating including cutting through the bone on one my fingers. I know ALL about all those nerves.

My tip for keeping my hands "at their best" or the best they can be --- scrubbing well with a nailbrush at most handwashings and lots of simple handcream (no fragrance).
Beverly said…
Because I am at a keyboard all day and a frequent handwasher I keep a moisturizing lotion at my desk or in my purse. I like to use Cetaphil lotion if I'm not using Lachydrin. I suffer with allover dry skin to have to pay attention to feet and hands.

I have osteoarthritis in my knees and neck. I'm leary of these supplements due to the various medications that I take so I don't take most of them. I jsut try to weather the storms of an aging and sometimes prematurely aging body.
Patty said…
Crabtree and Evelyn Gardners Hand Therapy. Not too greasy and not too smelly. Several times a day! I call it the Irish Potato Skin!
Beth said…
I used to work in food service and so I also had to wash my hands very frequently and am familiar with the cracking and bleeding. The best lotion I have found is Neutrogena Norwegian formula hand cream (fragrance free). It is a little greasy but I just put it on right before bed and it works wonders.
Lynneb said…
My hands get so dry starting in September. I just got some of the Burts Bees, but I really don't like the smell...too sweet. I should send it to you. I swear by good old fashioned Mary Kay hand lotion. love it, it's not smelly or greasy and always works great.

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