By: Diana Barnes-Brown for Medtech1Spend a lot of time sending text messages to your friends? If so, you could be at increased risk for certain finger and thumb injuries, according to healthcare experts from Great Britain, where texting is so popular that cases of repetitive stress injuries have actually increased because of it.
| Learn More |
Symptoms of RSIs
Symptoms of RSIs include pain, weakness, tingling or other discomfort that is exacerbated by repetitive motions, limited ranges of motion, or long periods of time spent without changing positions.
The sensation accompanying a mild RSI can be as slight as muscular fatigue, while more severe RSIs are proportionally more uncomfortable and may include sharp nerve pain, complete numbness and loss of use.
Treatment for RSIs can include restricting the activity that caused the injury, targeted exercises or physical therapy, pain and anti-inflammatory medication, and in severe cases, surgery.
|
An estimated 93 million text messages are sent every day, and about 3.8 million people annually complain of sore hands, thumbs or wrists as a result of the craze. A recent survey completed for Virgin Mobile, one of the largest cellular providers in the world, found that more than 12 percent of people send 20 texts per day, and 10 percent send up to 100.
As with e-mail and instant messaging, some are worried about the effects of a distance-based culture of communication, both physical and psychological.
Repetitive stress injuries, or RSIs, can be dangerous precisely because people do not take them as seriously as they should. They often seem like a mere nuisance at first, with only occasional discomfort or tingling, for example, to mark their presence. But if RSIs are not reversed with proper ergonomics and exercises, or better yet by removing the cause, they can lead to serious or chronic pain, as well as permanent nerve and tissue damage.
As the number of text-related RSIs continues to rise, others worry about the consequences of less and less face-to-face contact and more remote communication, arguing that lack of more traditional social exposure can lead to social discomfort when person-to-person activities can’t be avoided.
Some even claim that “text addiction” should join the ranks of other behavioral compulsions, such as shopping addiction, food addiction and Internet addiction.
Meanwhile, the kinetic world of consumer-based technology is running to keep up with public demand for new and better texting modalities. Now it’s possible to check movie times, track flights, and monitor bank balances silently – and from practically anywhere – with just the touch of a button or two.
Now, if only there was a way to text the physical therapist…
