Healthy, happy crochet

Keep your hands and body supple with our guide to comfortable crafting!

Crochet is a fairly low-impact activity - but even with the calmest of hobbies, it can help to give your hands, back and other body parts some extra TLC. Keeping your body happy and healthy when crafting is key to staying passionate about your hobbies, so we put together this guide to keep you comfy as you stitch away.

Expert Advice

Movement therapist Jeannie Di Bon uses her knowledge of pilates, neuroscience and biomechanics to keep her clients limber and feeling good while participating in everyday activities. We asked her for her top tips on staying comfortable while indulging in our crafty passions.

"The body loves to move," says Jeannie, who founded the Integral Movement Method of physical therapy and also runs the Zebra Club, a wonderful resource for people living with Ehlers-Danlos syndrome, hypermobility and chronic pain. "If we sit for many hours without the opportunity to move around or stretch regularly, our tissues become dehydrated. This makes us feel stiff, which can lead to pain."

So how can we keep our bodies happy during marathon hooking sessions? "By incorporating regular breaks, stretches and small movements into your crafting time, you can compensate for the micro-movements you're otherwise missing out on," says Jeannie. "Practise small hand and forearm exercises such as wrist circles, finger flexes and arm circles to really move and hydrate those tissues. Soft hand therapy balls can really strengthen your fingers, too, and give them a break from the repetitive motion of crocheting for long periods."