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4 Reasons Your Thumb Pain Keeps Coming Back When You Knit and Crochet

Margaret Whitmore

Last Updated May 16th, 2026

Read on to find the likely culprits behind your thumb pain, and what helped me continue knitting.

1. The Splints, Gloves, and Creams You've Already Tried Were Never Designed For Knitters

It isn't that nothing works. It's that nothing you tried was made for knitters.

Compression gloves. A rigid thumb splint your doctor swore by. CBD rub. Maybe a "brace" off Amazon that broke at the seam in a week, or cortisone shots that bought you six weeks the first time.

I'd bought so many different types of braces over the years, all not designed for knitters. Every one built by someone who's never picked up a needle. None of them let me knit in them.

2. The Real Problem Is the Joint at the Base of Your Thumb

It's one joint: the CMC, at the base of your thumb, sitting on a small bone called the trapezium. Years of gripping the needle have worn it loose. Now every stitch shifts it past itself. One shift you'd never feel. But it's a thousand an hour. And as long as it keeps sliding, the pain has nowhere to settle.

That's why it flares twenty minutes in and eases the moment you set the needles down. Age doesn't come and go with the stitching. A loose joint does.

3. The Swelling Is What Keeps Bringing the Pain Back

Once the joint starts shifting, your body swells the tissue around it to protect it. But that swelling is what stiffens the joint. So the next stitch hurts more. More pain, more swelling.

That's why resting doesn't break it. Put the needles down for a week, even two, and the pain settles. Pick them back up, and within an hour it's back. Usually worse than before.

4. Every 'Solution' Doctors Offer You Makes Knitting Harder, Not Easier"

This is the part that makes most of us furious.

A cortisone shot buys a few months, then less, then the talk turns to surgery.

"Try Continental" asks you to relearn how you hold the yarn after 50, 60, sometimes 70 years.

"Just stop knitting" takes away the one thing that keeps your hands and your head working. This isn't a hobby. It's our lifeline. I'd be lost without it.

So What Can You Actually Do About It?

There's only one way to get lasting relief: support the joint that's actually sliding, the CMC at the base of your thumb, not just the swelling it causes.

That's harder than it sounds. The brace has to:
✓ Support the one joint every glove and splint leaves moving
✓ Do it without locking the thumb, so you can still work a stitch
✓ Be comfortable enough to keep on the whole time you knit, not for twenty minutes at a stretch

So a hand therapist who works with knitters and crocheters set out to build one.

The First Brace Made for the Way a Knitter's Thumb Moves

It's the first brace made around how a knitter's thumb actually moves:

A contoured pad supports the CMC joint at the base of your thumb, the exact one other braces miss
All four fingers stay free, so you grip and tension the yarn as you always have
Soft, lightweight and comfortable, so you can settle in and knit for hours

CHECK AVAILABILITY

I left the link above if you want to look.

If your hands are anything like mine were, it's worth a look.

— Margaret

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17 comments

Olivia Wilson

Can anybody vouch for these?

Emily Lewis

Yes, these braces are the only thing that helps. They're not a miracle, but definitely provide extra support. Before the pain at the base of my thumb had got so bad that I had to stop after twenty minutes. With these braces, I'm back to knitting most evenings again.

Annie Jones

Crocheting is my life line. Yes, arthritic pain. I am not stupid enough to go near a doctor. Knitting for 61 years and crocheting for 33 years.

Zoe Cummings

Mine just arrived today, thank you! I'm knitting again. I had to stop for a while but the suppopry works beautifully which is why I have ordered more. (I don't want to wear one out and have to shelve my needles again) Thank you for developing this.

Dawn Taylor

Thanks for putting this on, I am having problems with recovering from a trigger finger op , after previous successful ops on other fingers in the past. You inspired me to be proactive and have an appointment with a hand remedial clinic so hopefully this will ease my problem.

Sheila Simmons

I stopped knitting due to arthritis in my index fingers. I’ve now started felting, it’s just as satisfying.

Shirley Baker

I am 71 and in the last 2 years had both thumb joints replaced and was told by my physio that the best exercise was knitting which has helped me get the movement back in my hands.

Margaret Summers

Has anyone actually tried this? My thumbs have been getting worse for years and my doctor just keeps offering me cortisone shots. I'm 64 and frankly terrified of surgery.

Susan White

Margaret I bought one in February. Wear this every time I sit down to knit and the deep ache has definitely reduced.

Kathie Jackson

Switching from English style throwing to European style scooping helped me over a period of thumb problems, as did adopting shorter (the bit you hold) circular needles help my wrists.

Pauline Smith

Ok but is it actually different from the $30 ones on Amazon?? I've bought about five of those over the years and every single one broke at the seam within a week. Usually at night

Janet Bailey

Janet I had the exact same thought. The Amazon ones either fall apart or they're so bulky you can't actually knit while wearing them. This one is slim enough that you can still hold the needles properly. Two months in and the structure hasn't budged.

Thelma Davies

Embroiders, Crocheters, have the same, problem with Arthritis. Painful, but, what else is there, when you love it so much, plus if you’re in a group , it’s extra special. We have to keep our fingers and, brain active. I have been hand sewing for over seventy years, and, don’t intend to stop now. Just adapt.