Did you know excessive SMS-ing and gaming lead to Repetitive Strain Injuries?
Texting time Too many SMSes can tax those digits
How many text messages do you send in a day? Varun, an engineering student, averages a modest 50. “On days when I’m particularly jobless, I’ve sent more than a hundred,” he says with a grin.
And do his fingers ever complain? “Sometimes they definitely hurt, especially the thumbs,” Varun admits. “Then I know I have to stop.” When it comes to his beloved Nintendo DS and computer games, though, there’s no question of stopping.
“There have been times when my whole arm hurts and feels numb,” he says candidly. “But I don’t care. It’s too much fun!”
Food for thought
If you’re like Varun and have ever massaged your aching digits after a particularly prolonged session of SMS-ing or gaming, here’s some food for thought. There is increasing concern in the West that these activities can actually cause Repetitive Strain Injuries (RSIs) in young adults and children.
RSIs have risen to prominence of late as the bugbear of long time IT professionals. We’ve all heard of the importance of good posture and ergonomics in avoiding injuries to the hand, arm or neck due to constantly sitting at a computer. But now there are reports of RSIs affecting children as young as seven in the U.K. and the U.S. due to excessive SMS-ing and gaming.
“Repetitive movements of the fingers on keypads can cause RSIs, especially when combined with other computer activities,” says Dr. S. Sunder, physical medicine and ergonomics consultant to several software companies.
A survey by the Virgin Mobile in the U.K. has found that 3.8 million British cell phone users suffer from SMS-related injuries, and 38 per cent suffer from sore wrists and thumbs from too much texting. And a recent survey in Canada found that 30 per cent of kids who played computer games on a regular basis had wrist pain.
“The principle is the same, whether you’re a programmer or a gamer or a violinist,” explains Dr. Sunder. “RSIs are cumulative injuries that develop over a period of time, starting from stage one, where pain vanishes shortly after you stop the activity to stage three, where you are in constant pain.”
Abroad, catchy names are being coined for these injuries from Text Message Injuries (TMIs) to Nintendonitis to Blackberry Thumb (perhaps the trendiest injury a young adult can acquire!). Most often, it is the less flexible thumb joint that is abused with these gadgets, causing tenosynovitis (inflammation of the tendon sheath), according to physiotherapist N. Thulasi Ram.
“What happens is that a constriction is formed in the sheath surrounding the tendon that enables the thumb to flex,” he says.
“This causes a condition called trigger thumb where individuals experience pain and find it hard to extend the digit freely.”
Flexion exercises, massages and physiotherapy can help relieve pain, reduce stiffness and strengthen the joint, he says. However, nothing can be better than cutting down on usage and preventing these injuries in the first place. One positive is that children are generally more flexible than adults making them less prone to such injury, says Dr. Sunder.So the next time you find yourself or your kid rubbing that hand or wrist after a session on the cell phone or video game console, it might be a good idea to consult an orthopaedist or ergonomics specialist.
All that slaying of dragons, and ‘gr8s’ and ‘lols’ typed out to friends may have taken quite a toll on those digits.
DIVYA KUMAR
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