3Qs: Two thumbs down

How serious of an injury is texting thumb? Have other cases of physical injuries related to smartphone use been reported?

To date most of the injuries have been pain, sore­ness, and dis­com­fort reported with thumbs, wrists, shoul­ders and the neck. The most serious cases reported are severe ten­dinitis, with pain some­times reaching levels that pre­vent people from main­taining thumb-​​intensive tasks. Most cases, how­ever, report low levels of pain symp­toms. The best study exam­ining such injuries com­pleted in Canada sug­gests that longer dura­tion of tex­ting increases the like­li­ness of reporting pain at the base of the thumb.

Children have embraced technology at a younger age than even before. What physical effect can long-term smartphone use have later in life or on future generations?

We don't yet know the long-​​term effects. Based on other types of injuries to the mus­cu­loskeletal system, how­ever, there is a chance that symp­toms from acute expo­sures can lead to chronic issues, such as pre­ma­ture arthritis. To date, though, there has yet to be a prospec­tive study to thor­oughly answer this question.

What are some ways to prevent or alleviate finger and wrist pain associated with excessive smartphone usage?

There are sev­eral things you could do:

• Take breaks. Increasing the frequency of breaks helps even if they are short.
• Switch up how you text. If you often use your thumbs, switch to using your fingers to share the load.
• Use different devices to text, such as a desktop or notebook computer.
• Use preprogrammed responses in your smartphone.
• Use voice controls or speech recognition if possible.

Provided by Northeastern University