Hey!

I was curious... Do any of you fellow decorators have problems with your hands & arms going numb when you decorate? I do all the time!

Yesterday I made around 150 royal icing roses. During the night my hands & arm, all the way to right past my elbow was numb! I was up all during the night with the burning sensation in my arm & hand. This morning it's still numb & burning! I have to make the icing today & tomorrow I'm making the wedding cake & groom's cakes. I hope I can get through this!!

The numb thing happens all the time. So I guess I could have corpal tunnel?? It could be the neuropothy I have. Or it could be from decorating cakes... I'd like to know what everyone else thinks.
Thanks!!

Sounds like carpal tunnel syndrome to me ... My sister wears a wrist brace at night to keep her hand locked into a position where it helps to keep the circulation to the hand better.. you may try this ..

but girl!! 150 roses?? no wonder your hand hurts!! lol did you do the dowel stick ones?

Not a doc here but 150 roses - Yikes! I guess your wrists would hurt.

Maybe should have that checked out. Probably could get a brace for it for support.

Hang in there. Can't wait to see pics!

bj

they make a glove thingy to keep your wrist straight. i've seen it at the Craft store in the Cake Deco section. I tried it on, though, and it won't work for me. I have tiny hands and wrists. the glove is supposed to be snug for support.

maybe that might help?

I can truly empathise with you. I have some kind of arthritis, and it makes it hard for me to do this sometimes. that many flowers would KILL my joints.

Ntertayneme... of course I used the dowel sticks! I will never go back to the wilton method. I did small w/ 103 tip, med w/ 104 tip, & large w/ 125 tip. They are pertty!!

I forgot to add that I do have a hand/arm brace. I think I had it too tight last night! My DH has corpal tunnel so I borrowed it from him. He only wore it for a week so it's mine now!

I'll take pics & post them..... hold on a sec...

The cake decorating is probably causing the neuropathy You may want to check with your doctor about some anti inflammatory meds I worked in a store bakery for about 3 mths and believe me I know my hands/ wrist would kill me! The anti inflammatory worked well for me but the one I used has been recalled! go figure! There are other methods they do in the office such has steroid injections for the wrist that is done alot with carpal tunnel. I know it does not sound pleasant but you are numbed with lidocaine at least the doctor that I worked for did ( Previous profession before staying home with kiddos)

Hey what am I missing out on what is the dowel stick method I need to learn that?!?!?!

Ok.. here are my rose pics...

i too would like to know the dowel stick method!!!

Hey tc..this may be jumping the gun a little, but...remember at your DOS I told you guys that I have rheumatoid Arthritis...my doctor is there in Shreveport. If it really starts bothering you and you would like to go to a doctor, I'll give you his name and office address, phone...he's one of the tops Rheumaitc doctors in the southeast region of the country.

I'm going to see if I can download the pics into my gallery. I'm having trouble uploading them to this post!

Misdawn, please email me the info of your doc. When your in town again give me a call so we can get together for lunch!

Momoftwogirls... we'll help you out with the dowel stick roses ok~ Glad too!

Wow! Pretty.


You could try too getting one of those squeeze balls and working those muscles a bit.

I have carpal tunnel but it hasn't really bothered me since I had the girls. I was a paralegal in my bc life, so I did a LOT of typing (briefs, motions, etc.).

Sometimes I get symptomatic from cake decorating--depends on what I'm doing. Now--if I was the one making 150 roses--I would DEFINATELY have gotten symptomatic!!! YIKES!!! That's a lot of roses!!

All I can suggest is to try and not do them all in one sitting. I know you said this was sort of a last minute gig--but that is a lot of work for one night. I have one of those "bowling braces" from the doc--it helps if I wear it but I usually find that I take it off in the night because it drives me NUTS!!

Massage therapy also really helps! Believe it or not, there are nerve endings in your neck and shoulders that, when massages propersly, can really help CTS.

Hugs, Turtle--sorry it was so hard on you. The are really very lovely, though.

Lisa

Yes, please share the dowel method for making roses.

Thanks!

Wandootie

Jackie is really really busy atm, but as soon as she gets an opportunity Wandootie, she'll post the dowel stick method for everyone to see and use

great, i can't wait to see how to do the flowers.

My 2nd and 3rd cakes I ever made, the Thomas & Percy ones in my photos, took me like 7 hours to decorate, and my hands & arms ached for a couple days, but I haven't had that happen since. Have you ever had problems before?
I went bowling last weekend and my hand & wrist were just throbbing, for several days. Now whenever I pick up anything or clench my hand a certain way, I get that same pain, so I am afraid I won't be able to do much cake decorating in the future

Not only have my hands and arms ached. One wedding I did that both cakes required tones of piping. My right hand was swollen for 2 days afterwards. But I still keep doing it. Are we crazy or what.... It is just so much fun. It is my passion.....

OH MY GOODNESS!!!!! TC...I'm so glad you posted this. YES this happens to me all the time and sometimes, my hand gets locked into that squeeze bag postition! Usually it is the pinky, ring, and half of my middle finger and then the numbness up the arm. I started having this several months back (when Shane was gone and I was having back spasms) The doctor told me it was some form or temporary neurothrapy (spelling) and that if I wanted he would hook me up with other dr.s to test for sure. He did however give me some medicine to take that did help...but I quit taking it because it made me so sick and so here I am back in your boat again...We truly are sisters!

I was having some similar symptoms, including waking up at night with my hands numb and hurting. I tried the wrist braces you can buy at the drug store and I slept with one on each hand for a couple of weeks, seems to work! (they have a metal piece that extends from the inner wrist and curves into the inner palm to keep your hand straight...I thought I had carpal tunnel, but this does help!

Oh and by the way...YES I do wake up with hands completely numb and burning. I was thinking it may be the way I was sleeping or something like a crushed nerve in my shoulders but it doesn't matter it still happens!

Thank you for posting this!!!! I thought it was just me. A few months ago I got trigger finger with my pinky. And then the numbness and burning. I figured it was the cake decorating. But now I know for sure!!!


P.S. Where is the instuctions for the dowel roses??? Have they been posted yet?

Thank you!!!

Yep, I wake up during the night & I my numb hand & arm feels like a ball of fire!!! It isn't a great feeling. I hate that other decorator's are having the same problems but now I do know what it from too MrsFish94. I have that brace & did wear it to bed last night. It didn't help BUT I'm going to wear it every night & see if it helps. I have neuropathy so I've gotta be careful with injuries, I don't ever heal from them & the pain is horrilbe!! Plus it won't go away once I get it. This was a new pain for me the place I have problems in now is in my legs & feet.

OK... I have got to get back to my icing but before I do I am going to do a crash course of dowel stick roses, here goes...

1. You can either use a dowel rod or lollipop sticks. Sharpen the end w/ a pencil sharpener. Just like you would a pencil.

Your making this next step without using that #12 tip for the tear drop ok...
You skip that part.

2. You do it just like you would do it around the tear drop (center of the rose). BUT your doing it around the dowel stick. Just wrap your first petal around the dowel stick like you would do with the wilton rose (the one that wraps around the tear drop).

4. Then you make your 3 petals. The same way as you make the wilton rose.

5. You make the 5 petals. The same way too.

6. You make the 7 petals. (I usually don't make the 7 petals because I love the look of just 5 petals)

7. Then you use your metal flower remover to lift the rose up & either place it right on to the cake or wax paper/parchment paper to let it dry.

With larger tip roses I use the dowel rods. You can do this rose w/ any rose tip.

That's it!! It's very easy!! You'll be able to figure it out after I few tries OR if your like Misdawn you'll get it on the first try!

All you do is leave out the tear drop w/ tip #12. That's all!! This rose is a lot lighter then the wilton way. I bet you won't ever do the wilton rose again!!

If anyone has any questions just post it here & we'll try to help. Ntertayneme taught me, Misdawn & Boo-boo. I taught tcrema while we were on the phone!! If she can get it that way everyone else can!! (I just had to pick on my dear sweet friend Sis Tammy!!

I've gotta get back to my icing making!!! Blessings to all~

I forgot... Sometimes the rose will start to slide down on the dowel rod. All you do is lightly push it back up. I even mold my roses w/ my finger dipped in cornstarch or powder sugar. I like making my roses w/ royal icing. I hate having to deal with crisco, everything gets greasy!

I have the exact same problem...its very painful at times while I decorate....
I am going to ask my Dr. when I so for a check up in a few months....
Let me know if you find anything to help out with the pain..
Nicole

wow!! Thanks so much!!!!

My pain has subsided...for now. But I do get it when I have been working on cakes for several days in a row.


Thanks a bunch

When I first started decorating I was working in a bakery and I had this problem after about a week. It subsided after about 5-6 months for awhile. Then It started up about 2 months later. I put off going to the doctor for awhile.

Discalaimer: This is my personal results and it works for me.

I went to doctor finally and they said when this starts to happen this doesn't mean you have Carpel or Corpel tunnel (each one depends on what fingers go numb on you) It is just the beginning stages and this is the time to try to prevent it. (I am only 23 and hadn't had problems until I started Decorating full time-so I had some advantage it hadn't been bad that long)

I started doing three things.
1) Take a few more breaks while decorating to give my wrist a little time to relax
2) I wear a brace on my right hand at night. The purpose of this is to keep the blood flowing through your wrist into your hand, supporting your hand in an open position. Most people tend to curl their wrist in at night and then it cuts off the blood flow. Because most of us have inflammed tissue/muscle in our wrist from using it all the time which constricts the blood vessels
Now even for the first month or so with the brace I would sometimes wake up with my hand up to my shoulder numb (this would actually usually wake me up from sleep)
so the next step
3) I started seeing a Chiropractor. I also get a massage before I get my adjustment. After doing some x-rays we found out that vertebrae in my neck we're pinching nerves that correlate to my wrist. So once I got my spine straightened out this helped me a lot.

Now with these things I know when to expect my wrist to be numb. When I do a LOT of decorating in one day-like you did TC. Or if I use a mini grinder at work all day (I am a welder and the tools of the trade are just not made for a woman unfortunately) Also if I sleep wrong and my neck hurts-my hand goes numb (pinched nerve). But I know if these things happen I can usually wear my brace and it will help within a few days.

This is just another account of the same problem. Just solved a different way.

Hope your hands feel better TC, you're not alone out here though, it's a very common problem for decoraters.

I am sorry you are having such problems. When I first started decorating I had a lot of pain in my fingers but I think it had a lot to do with my icing being too stiff.

Lisa is right about a lot of arm and hand problems actually coming from your neck and shoulders. I am a massage therapist and I see a lot of people that work on computers all day. A lot of them think they have carpal tunnel when that is not the real problem.

A couple of weeks ago I did the most cakes I have ever done in one week (4 cakes plus my first wedding cake). The night after the reception I kept waking up with my arms numb and aching. I am doing better but the real source of the problem was my back and neck. I have been doing streching exercises for my neck and that has helped a whole lot.

I also have had a Mortons neuroma in my foot. Probably not the same as your neuropathy but it affects the nerves. I had never believed in some of the 'alternative' treatments but after nothing else helped my foot my doctor suggested accupuncture. Just one treatment and within a week the problem went away.

Cindy

I have a lot of pain in my hand too. It is mostly in my wrist and extends up just my thumb and down half my forearm. The doctor said it is tendonitis, which can be helped by a brace and anti-inflamitories (Ibuprofin). It is in almost constant pain and when I do too much it sends shooting pain up and down. It is also painful to touch my wrist. It has gotten so bad that I can only open my thumb to half the normal rage of motion. It's not that I stop in pain, but that it just wont move any farther. I put off seeing a doctor for almost 6 months. Now I just hope I didn't cause any premanent damage by waiting so long.

Well I know I could use a Chiroprator (sp?) I have in the past. But I went to see the one I used to go to and he ripped me off. So I have been reluctant to go to one since. I wish my HMO wasn't such a miser...they won't pay unless I get a MD to refer me and MD's don't like Chiro's so...I am stuck between a rock and a hard spot.