Can Quilting Help Caregivers Manage Stress & Pain?
February 10, 2008 by Mary Emma Allen
Filed under Diseases & Conditions
Marijke Durning, blogger at Help My Hurt wrote about quilts and how making and quilting them seems to ease her pain, Pamper Yourself and Maybe Ease the Pain. She discovered that when she’s too busy to do her quilting, her pain seemed worse.
One thing I noticed is that since I’ve slacked off on my quilting and began to work more, my pain level has increased. Whether it’s the relaxation of quilting (I hand quilt), the creativity that goes into the design, or the fun of choosing the colors and all that, I don’t know. But, maybe the message is, it’s time to get back to my quilts.
If you want to see some exquisite quilts, check out the many quilt photos Marijke has posted of her work at Marijke’s Quilts.
By last count, my family thinks I’ve made well over 100 hand-quilted quilts. I’m able to do this because most of my quilts are lap-sized ones, although there are some really large ones.
Do you find that quilting, or a similar project, relaxes you, relieves stress, and eases pain? Perhaps quilting also will help your Alzheimer’s patients. My mother could no longer quilt by the time she was living with me. However, she enjoyed looking at quilts, touching them, and reminiscing about them.
(c)2008 Mary Emma Allen
I agree that quilting or any other hobby can help cargivers manage stress. I volunteer at an adult day care center. The caregivers that seem to handle stress the best partake of a hobby on a regular basis. My Mother had Alzhemier’s and I know sewing or cross stitch helped me keep in touch with life other than care giving.
Thanks for sharing, Betsy, about how hobbies can help caregivers manage stress. With me it often was writing, too, since I’m a writer and generally have deadlines. Mother had been one of my encouragers in my writing career so seemed calmed when I’d chat about my writing. She also had always been interested in my quilting and seemed calmed, as well, if I was working on some hand stitching as I sat with her.
So it has a two-way effect!