Texting Injuries

Texting is a great way to communicate - and teenagers are doing just that! Modern communication devices are associated with several painful repetitive stress injuries and nerve compression injuries. People now a days are typing and just typing whole day; be it on computer or mobiles.

Lets look into some problems caused due to excessive use of mobile and mostly due to texting:

                                               1) CELL PHONE ELBOW

CELL PHONE ELBOW

It is the cubital tunnel syndrome which has hit the news last few months. It is a condition in which there is a tingling and numbness in hands caused by compression of ulnar nerve in hands when elbow is flexed for long duration

BLACKBERRY THUMB

2) TEEN TEXTING TENDONITIS / BLACKBERRY THUMB
 It is partly a tendonitits caused by repeated pressing of buttons from texting on cell phone and partly it is irritation of finger and thumb joint depending on how much the person texts.

Mechanism:
Repetitive use of muscles put constant tension on tendon causes irritation and inflammation leading to pain and muscle tightness which causes more pain.

3) THUMB ARTHRITIS
 In most serious cases excessive wear and tear and inflammation of  basal joints at base of thumb can lead to arthritis.Thumb arthritis can cause hand pain, swelling, decrease strength and range of motion. For every pound of pressure that you push at tip of your thumb it is magnified at base of your thumb over the time this can lead to problems.

4) BONE DAMAGE

TEXT NECK

Parents are giving mobiles to 10-11 year old while their bones are still developing and then they are texting whole day leading to injuries like tendinitis and stress fractures too.


5) NECK PAIN (TEXT NECK) 
Neck and arm pain arises when person texts while hunching over and types only with one thumb.

6) MENTAL DISORDERS

a)TEXTAPHRENIA: It is thinking you've heard or felt new message vibration when there is no message.

b)TEXTIETY: Feeling anxiety from not receiving/sending messages.

c) POST TRAUMATIC TEXT DISORDER:  Injuries related to texting such as walking into a object by not paying attention to surrounding

d)BING TEXTING: sending massive amount of texts to build self esteems among peers.

e) LACK OF SLEEP: Late night texting can disrupt your sleep and will leave you tired and unfocused the next day at work or in school.



Following link will provide you ways to prevent the risk of injuries because of the excessive use of mobiles: http://fitnessphysios.blogspot.in/2012/04/electronic-ergonomics.html.