Monday, June 22, 2009

How your mobile phone can hurt you

Welcome to the world of mobile phones and health perils. The newest affliction of wired age -- mobile phone elbow.


First it was the risk of repetitive strain injury from texting, then came the ‘recall impairment’ from ringtones followed by brain damage. And now, the latest menace of the wired age is being described as “mobile phone elbow”.

According to health experts, mobile users who hold the phone to their ear for prolonged periods are at risk of developing the painful condition in their arm. By bending their elbow too tightly, and for too long, they could overextend the ulnar nerve, which runs from the elbow to control our ring and little fingers, reports The Daily Express.

As well as being painful, this can lead to tingling or numbness from the elbow to the fingers.

Sufferers of the condition can find it difficult to perform tasks, such as opening jars, and may need anti-inflammatory injections or even surgery. Orthopaedic specialists in the US say they are seeing increasing numbers of patients with the condition.

As for advice to fight the “elbow”, experts suggest mobile users to switch the handset from hand to hand every often.

Dr Peter Evans, director of a hand clinic in ­Cleveland, US, said: “Women tend to get it more, not because they talk longer but because of hormonal fluctuations in their body.”

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