ergonomics

Wellness and the loom: Taking care of our bodies

Wellness and the loom: Taking care of our bodies

Many of you know that I am an occupational therapist. I used to teach a class at conferences called Creating Without Pain which was about ergonomics for fiber creatives. It has been a long time since I offered that class but a wonderful wellness practitioner reminded me of the importance of that knowledge recently.

Missy Graff Ballone runs a business called Wellness for Makers. Missy is a yoga instructor and massage therapist along with a maker. She has a lot of wisdom about how we use our bodies and how we can keep ourselves healthy and pain-free as we make, whatever our creative field is. She works with all kinds of people who work with their hands and bodies to create art and I have found her workshops and podcast so valuable in my own work and life.

Missy interviewed me for her podcast, Wellness for Makers, and that episode went live this week. You can listen to it wherever you get your podcasts, or if you’re not a podcast listener, you can just listen online by clicking the button below. It is episode 51 and is called “Weaving Occupational Therapy Into Art with Rebecca Mezoff.”

Frequency, duration, intensity... Knitting Comfortably with Carson Demers

Frequency, duration, intensity... Knitting Comfortably with Carson Demers

As many of you know, I was an occupational therapist for 17 years and still hold state and national licenses. I have seen so many fiber artists and crafters with injuries that meant they had to scale back or stop their beloved fiber activities that I have used my therapist expertise to address these issues in the tapestry workshops I teach. So I was completely thrilled to see the book I'm reviewing here hit the shelves. I did a little dance when I saw it at my LYS last week (Shuttles, Spindles, and Skeins in Boulder has some copies--go get one or ask your local yarn store to carry it).

Ergonomics is just a fancy word for how we interact with the environment. It addresses how we use our bodies for safety, comfort, health, and productivity. And as a fiber artist, how I use my body is of paramount importance especially given all I know about what can happen when we don't take care of our most important equipment. I spend a lot of time every day in activities that are very repetitive (including typing this) and I bet you do too.