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 Today’s world is full of people of all ages and backgrounds constantly clicking away on their iPhones and BlackBerrys taking advantage of the impressive features they provide us. But many people are oblivious of the health implications cause by excessive and incorrect use of these smartphones. They can cause pain and damage in your hands wrists and neck!
The majority of people when using their smartphones use their thumbs instead of fingers in an unnatural position. Therefore commonly feeling aches and pains in their thumbs and wrists which can also travel up throughout their forearms and neck is experienced. Injuries such as carpal tunnel, blackberry thumb and elbow pain can occur and also neck pain from looking down for a prolonged period of time.
Many people plan to spend just 5 minutes checking their email however before they realize, they have spent the last hour surfing the net. The entire time your thumbs, wrists and hands have been in an unnatural position and you begin to feel pain. Your neck begins to ache as it has been looking down at your smartphone for a long time and tendinitis can set in because your wrists have been bent over.
Central City Health Professionals can help you if you have already started to feel the effects of overusing your smartphone. In the meantime take note of your body. If it begins to ache simply rest.
Some signs you should be aware of if you use your smartphone excessively are:
- Continuous pain throughout the day if not addressed
- Tightness of muscles around the thumb, wrist or neck joints which slowly worsen over time.
- General aches and pains in the beginning stages.
 So the best solution to avoid any injury whether it is short or long term is to simply rest. If you are texting or emailing a lot take periodic breaks, let your thumbs rest and stretch your wrists and hands. Every 5 – 10 minutes rest your next by looking upwards and bending it sideways. Central City Health Professionals can advise you of the best stretches for your neck, wrists and hands.
If you already feel the effects of excessing smartphone use, in addition to pain relief Central City Health Professionals can also help you to prevent further injuries. We can teach you the correct ways to position your hands, thumbs, neck and wrists while using a smartphone.
With most things the best medicine is prevention. Some things our team recommends to do to prevent injury are:
- Send less messages and emails
- Prevent addition injuries from occurring by ensuring the position of your arms, wrists and hands are correct
- Use a portable keyboard whenever possible. Especially if you travel a lot
- When holding your smartphone with both hands attempt to keep your arms straight
- Reduce the amount of stress on your neck holding the smartphone a little bit higher so you are not constantly looking down
- Switch between using your thumbs and fingers as much as possible
- Every 10 – 15 minutes have a rest and look up allowing your neck a break
Your health and wellbeing is most important.
Call Central City Health Professionals Today on 08 9421 1733 today and let us show how we can help you.
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