Have I injured myself out of a fun hobby?

Post date: 2020-11-21 06:09:01

I think I've asked about various parts of this before. Months and months ago, I decided to relieve lockdown tedium with a new hobby, which was model ship building. I found it...not that much less tedious than lockdown, but it led me to wood carving, which I now LOVE. My hands, however, do not love it.

After my first carving project, my left wrist was hurting. I kept carving little birds and stuff, figuring in some twee Marine way that pain was weakness leaving my wrist, like I honestly would just keep at it despite it hurting some and then hurting a lot later on, because I thought it was my hands/wrists getting stronger.

I asked around here and some other places, got some good tips about using different tools and giving it a rest, did all of this to some extent. No more pain radiating up toward my elbow, but I seemed to have a solid case of De Quervain's Tenosynovitis/trigger thumb/blackberry thumb/whatever. A little pain at the base of my thumb, a little just below on the wrist, and a very very clicky thumb. I started noticing this when typing and texting and stuff.

A few weeks ago I was like "this is not getting worse but it isn't getting better" and emailed my MD could I talk to a physical therapist. He said it sounds like you need a cortisone shot, and made a referral. I got the cortisone shot, which made my thumb feel entirely better for a day.

It's two days later and it feels maybe slightly better but no longer BETTER better. As before, it comes and goes, but I woke up with a stiff and clicky thumb and a bit of pain in my wrist.

YANMD but does this sound like something I can get past? I miss carving little animals, but I'm also 47 and in that stage where it feels like warranties are expiring on various parts. The doctor who did the cortisone shot jokily said as much, though he did not suggest giving up carving, merely marveled at how much fluid there was in the pad below my thumb where I'd been gripping blocks of wood. Is there a point at which an injury like this means I have to abandon the thing that led to it?

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