subject: Is technology becoming a pain? [print this page] Is technology becoming a pain? Is technology becoming a pain?
Teenagers used to spend two to four hours text messaging on his/her mobile phone everyday until his/her thumbs ached. Mobile phone is very important for teenagers to catch up with their friends. Since calling on the phone is expensive. Therefore, they send text messages. When the pain refused to subside after a few weeks of rest, some teenagers realised that there was a problem and promptly consulted a local physiotherapist. There were diagnosed with a mild case of text message injury ( TMI ) . The condition is technically known as De Quer-vain's tenosynovitis. symptoms of this condition include a sharp pain at the base of the thumb. The cases of TMI- a type of repetitive strain injury ( RSI ) - are on the rise. Healthcare workers blame the increasing- and excessive- use of handheld devices including cellphones, music players, game consoles and personal digital assistances. ( PDAs ). With teenagers becoming more digital, there is the increased risk of people getting such injuries due to sustained posture and prolonged repetitive usage of handheld devices. What is more worrying is that sufferers are getting younger, too.
Teenagers in their 20s and early 30s- with neck and back pains compared with those in their 40s and early 50s. In fact, the number of these younger patients have increased by 10 to 20 percent compared with three years ago. Indeed, stranger forms of RSIs, which have emerged abroad, are cropping up here. They include iPod Fingers, cellphone elbows and even Nintendonitis. Such cases are not rampant here, but it could worsen if teenagers use handheld devices as often as their overseas counterparts. The under-reporting could also be because people are unaware of the new conditions rather than the fact they do not already suffer from them. There are perhaps many more with these problems but have not sought treatment. Given the high take-up rate of mobile devices , healthcare workers are not surprised if more of such cases crop up here soon. Also, the number of mobile and PDA phone users have shot up- by 400,000 in Dec 2006 to a record high of 5.28 million in Dec 2008, the IDA figures also showed. As for the iPod, marketing research from GFK figures, said its sales jumped by almost six times. Most people are not aware of these conditions and only seek help when the pain becoming debilitating, which may be too late by then. Even then, many will opt for a traditional massage and only seek help from a hospital as a last resort. Doctors advise mobile phone callers to invest in a headset and use handheld devices in moderation.
