From eight-month-old babies to eighty-year-olds, everyone knows how to strike a pose for a selfie. Gone are the days when children would only be immersed in their toy trains and cars. It’s the age when five-year-olds exchange their WhatsApp numbers and have favorite SnapChat filters. Today, everyone is connected in the form of messages, emails or even voice notes. Nobody is too far away courtesy our advancing technology.
The past few decades have, indeed, revolutionized technology. There are televisions which have curved perimeters, phones which have lost their headphone jacks and cars which have flying wings. But, then with great power comes great crippling pain! We know the run-down details of the adverse effects of acquiring a pair of glasses if we use our phones too much. We also know about those mighty headaches that you can gain from using your laptop too much. But a nagging backache and a radiating pain in your dominant arm are also due to overuse of laptop and mobile.
The perils of technology- 4 types repetitive motion injuries that you need to watch out
It’s understandable that poor posture can give you aches and pains in the body; however, how does repetitive motion create this hindrance? It’s simple. By doing excessive texting and typing, you overstrain your ligaments and tendons creating hand pain and numbness. Nowadays, repetitive motion injuries, which have long afflicted desktop and laptop computer users, are invading the mobile handheld world.
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Hand pain
The repetitive motion of texting and typing worsens osteoarthritis – an age-related bone disorder. No, it won’t give you the disease, but if your cartilage has started to wear down, the repetitive motion can aggravate the pain and give you stiff joints.
2. Thumb pain
Officially, it’s called De Quervain’s tenosynovitis- a condition that makes your thumb ache. It starts as a dull pain and the culprit is texting furiously and usually a lot. If you push keyboard too hard, it can lead to inflammation around the tendons that enable the finger to bend. The initial signs are pain and a feeling the locking of the thumb.
3. Neck and back pain
Looking down at your computer or phone for long periods can lead to neck and back pain. Hard to believe, but the fact is when you stare at your phone all day, you put a pressure of about sixty pounds on your neck. Imagine the wreck you could be causing to your spine. Moreover, the strain caused by stretching your muscles, ligaments, and tendons in your neck and upper back can irritate the occipital nerve – the nerve connecting your spine to the base of the skull – provoking those mind-numbing headaches.
4. Neck and back pain
People as young as 18- 24-year-olds are getting it and the culprit is bad posture slouching, slumping and hunching over handheld devices and laptops.
What are your options?
Obviously, you can’t do away with a phone or laptop. No longer a mobile phone is just a mobile, rather it is an extension of umbilical cord for harried moms, a radar for the wives and bosses to track their husbands and employees respectively, and a moving database of all our contacts.
You should start exploring the effects of ergonomics – a long word with a lasting effect on your neck, wrist and spine health. For healthy back and neck, you should not sit in the same position for more than 30 minutes. Take frequent stretch breaks. If you have a desk job, follow these rules:
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Your ankles should be in line with your knees
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Your shoulders should be back and down and positioned directly over your hips
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The crown of your head should point towards the sky
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Your computer screen should be at eye level
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Use an ergonomically designed mouse
Also, you should text only when necessary. If you have to speak on the phone for a long period, use headphones. Deep belly breathing can also help improve your posture. Know about perils of technology to take timely corrective action.
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