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Member since 1/31/04
Posts: 360
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Posted on: 2/24/06 9:10 PM ET
I have to ask because my thumb has been numb for 2 weeks after using sissors for a couple hours. Does anyone else experience numbness after using sissors? The injury seems to be from opening the sissors and leaves the whole thumb numb. Normally I cut with a rotary blade but sometimes only a sissor will do.
Alice
  
Member since 5/1/03
Posts: 396
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Posted on: 2/24/06 9:41 PM ET
This is probably due to compression and possible inflammation of the median nerve or some of its small branches.. This is a common problem in occupations where repetitive small movements of the hands are necessary. Hairstylists are very prone to this condition and there are some good online resources about how to change the cutting 'posture' to reduce nerve compression. Here is one such Link.

I am not a hairstylist - but I am an anatomist and dissection using small instruments for hours on end and two or three days at a time has previously resulted in up to three months of numbness. I am far more careful now.
Janine
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Live each day as if it is your last.
  
Member since 1/26/03
Posts: 3678
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Posted on: 2/24/06 9:43 PM ET
In reply to AliceB
Try scissors like these, that distribute the pressure better and spring back open on their own.

Fiskars Soft Touch scissors
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Buy the best and you only cry once.

  
Member since 3/21/04
Posts: 266
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Posted on: 2/24/06 10:11 PM ET
In reply to Stitchology
In the mid-nineties I developed a nasty case of tendonitis using my old orange-handled Fiskars. (And braking hard on my mountain bike.) I switched to the soft-touch Fiskars and the problem went away. I wasn't doing huge amounts of sewing at the time, but that little change really made an enormous difference in how much cutting I could do in an evening. (I, too, use a rotary cutter for most things in the meantime.)
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zzz...
  
Member since 1/24/06
Posts: 98
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Posted on: 2/24/06 11:54 PM ET
I LOVE my Fiskars Soft Touch. I recommend them over any other scissors -- even Gingher.
-- Edited on 2/24/06 11:54 PM --
  
Member since 7/2/04
Posts: 1725
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Posted on: 2/25/06 0:57 AM ET
I love Fiskars soft touch, too, but I also just bought the new Black and Decker electric scissors and I'm in love. I plan to do a review soon.

I could not find them in the stores and ordered from amazon.com

Black and Decker scissors

They are better than other electric scissors I have used because they have a little foot that rests flat on my cutting board. NAYY
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Mary Lynn (Who's finally sitting up and taking nourishment)

Design Degree??? I prefer my artistic license

"A woman who works with her hands is a laborer; a woman who works with her hands and her mind is a craftsman; but a woman who works with her hands and her brain and her heart is an artist." (St. Thomas Aquinas, modified)

  
Member since 11/9/02
Posts: 171
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Posted on: 2/25/06 10:05 AM ET
I've found my Fiskar Soft Touch don't work well on heavy or thick fabrics. For those instances, I ordered a pair of Heritage Ergonomic Self Opening Scissors. So far, so good. They are a very large scissor, so if you are incredibly petite they will overwhelm you.

I do still have a solid metal pair of Gingher's, but I find they fatigue my hand very quickly ... so I rarely use them.

Kira
  
Member since 4/4/02
Posts: 7876
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Posted on: 2/25/06 10:31 AM ET
I find that the Ginghers are the worst. I love the Fiskars SofTouch but any lightweight scissor works well for me. I think that, with the Ginghers, the weight is what has caused the problem for me in the past. Last month I finally gave them all away because I hated using them so much.
  
Member since 1/31/04
Posts: 360
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Posted on: 2/25/06 1:49 PM ET
Thank you everyone for your suggestions. I initially irritated my thumb using a tiny pair of Kai embroidery sissors to separate cords on my dog Chachi. Cording a dog involves letting hair mat or felt and then sort of sawing from the skin out to create little felted bundles of fur. I know, not really sewing related My thumb is worse between the 1st and 2nd joints. Then last week as part of cutting texture weft to interface a coat I'm making I ended up using my Gingher pinkers alot. I just can't seem to get a good clean cut with my rotary blade. The heavy Ginghers really cinched the irritation, I was so happy to purchase the Ginghers a couple years ago because I always considered them the gold standard, oh well. I have an older pair of Fiskar pinkers I could try. I generally struggle when using pinking shears because they don't want to cut cleanly unless I sort of twist my hand to create some tension. Hobby hazard. Does anyone have suggestions for conquoring that texture weft with a rotary, it never cuts cleanly and frustrates me horribly, to say nothing of my poor thumb.
Thanks again everyone,
Alice
edited to spell Ginghers
-- Edited on 2/25/06 1:55 PM --
  
Member since 8/6/03
Posts: 1490
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Posted on: 2/25/06 2:06 PM ET
In reply to Gigi Louis
Quote: Gigi Louis
Last month I finally gave them all away because I hated using them so much.

Hey Gigi, next time you feel a bout of Ergonomics-inspired-generosity, drop me a line
  
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