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Hello! Allow me to introduce myself: I'm Dr. Craft, the Craft Doctor, and I'm here to answer all the questions you never knew you had about staying healthy and happy while you craft!

Today Craft Doctor question comes from Penny in Pennsylvania who writes:

People talk about repetitive strain injuries in relation to knitting all the time, but they’re always referring to the hands, wrists, or forearms. I’ve never seen or heard of anyone injuring their foot with knitting.

I work hard to make sure my hands and arms aren’t tensed while I knit because I don’t want an RSI, but I guess I never paid much attention to the fact that I constantly tense and flex my left foot while I knit. I knit most of the day, I take breaks of course but I probably knit for a combined 7-8 hours a day.

Although I've knitted some footwarmers, compression socks, and medical bandages, it's hit the point where I can barely walk and I'm starting to get a little concerned. What is your advice, Dr. Craft?

Penny, this is such a good question, and it's one that's much more common than you think! I regularly see Craft Patients in my practice complaining of lower limb pain and injuries because they refuse to sit normally while crafting, they stand on their knitting needles and crochet hooks to reach that last skein of merino in the closet, or, like you, they have mastered the art of transferring their tension to their feet instead of, say, grinding their teeth to dust like the rest of us.

My approach to helping my Craft Patients with this issue is to inspire them to follow their intuition -- just as there are no mistakes in crafting, just happy accidents, there are no mistakes in Craft Doctoring, just happy crafters. So, let me throw it back to you: Penny, take a moment to listen to your WIPs. What are they telling you to do about this foot pain you're experiencing?

If your WIPs are like most of my Craft Patients', they're probably telling you that it's not that big of a deal that you can't really walk since that just means you get to spend even more time "resting" (i.e., knitting). They might also be telling you to train a pet or small human in your home to bring you more yarn when you need it so you can turn that 7-8 hours of daily knitting into something truly respectable, like 11 or 12 hours.

You may reach the point where your WIPs tell you to cut off the offending foot* if it begins to cause you too much pain, even while rest-knitting. While that may seem like an extreme response to tendonitis, I can assure you that following your gut will only ever lead to happiness. I've worked with several Craft Patients who have used their rotary cutters for, shall we say, unintended purposes and they are some of the most infectiously joyful crafters I've ever had the opportunity to meet.

So, my advice to you, Penny, is to look inward and seek your crafting happiness to deal with this pain. Wishing you all the best from the Craft Doctor Office!

^(\If you decide to indulge your WIPs' wishes and would like pointers on dealing with your foot tendonitis once and for all, please don't hesitate to call my 24/7 live-staffed Dr. Craft hotline at 1-900-DRCRAFT.** Our trained Craft Health Technicians*** will talk you through the process and will call your local emergency services for you when things inevitably go incredibly wrong.)*

^(\*$25.99 a minute)*

^(\**These are not real medical professionals and they cannot offer real medical advice.)*