Docs warn of rise in ‘iPhone hands’ as people are left blighted by painful joints from using touchscreens
EVER noticed your hand hurting after a particularly vicious Facebook or Instagram scroll? If so, you're far from being alone.
Doctors are now warning that our obsession with our phones is leading to an epidemic of so-called "iPhone hands".
More and more people are turning up to their GPs complaining of "iPhone tendonitis", a form of repetitive strain injury that causes pain to develop at the base of our thumbs.
Our thumbs aren't working as much as they used to.
To hold a pen, you need to grip with your thumb; today, we just use them to tap.
Experts have warned that if things continue and we evolve a new handshape, our brain function could be reduced - as it has with other primates.
"We wonder if the passage of time will not be such a milestone nowadays due to this change in the use of the thumb, the key finger involved in the pressure and functionality of the human hand."
"Several tendons of the thumb pass through a compartment in the wrist that serves to keep the tendons in place as they are used. "
Continually sweeping the thumb across the screen can cause irritation in that compartment - a condition called De Quervain’s Tenosynovitis.
Dan claims that it's an issue which is way more common today than it was a decade ago, and that it's more common among young people.
The cure? Reduce the number of hours you spend scrolling, change hands to text and pick up a pen once in a while.
What about 'text neck'?
Experts have previously spoken about how smartphones wreck havoc with your posture.
Bob Chatterjee, a surgeon at Harley Street Spine and Highgate Private Hospital, warned there has been a rise in the number of people experiencing migraines and blurred vision due to "text neck".
"Text neck" is a repetitive stress injury or overuse of the neck, caused when a person has their head flexed in a forward position and is bent down looking at their mobile phone for long periods of time.
Of course, it is not just phones that are to blame for this phenomenon.
Laptops, iPads and all other forms of personal electronic devices cause people to hold their head and neck in the same way.
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