Avoid Hand Pain Related to Texting
Did you know that one of the common causes of hand pain is related to texting with your handheld PDA device?
There are three main factors that can increase your chances of developing a painful hand condition from using your phone to send messages. We will discuss those factors as well as what you can do to greatly reduce the stress on your hands while messaging others or surfing the web.
1. Prolonged Texting: One of the greatest factors as to why you may suffer a texting related hand injury is the length of time you spend texting at once. Typing on your smartphone for more than 10-15 fifteen minutes can begin to fatigue the tiny hand muscles and begin to cause stress on the thumb joints.
Sending several texts over the course of one hour is less stressful on your hand than sending those same texts within a ten minute period. What’s more traumatic on your hand is if you engage in mass texting for short periods several times each day.
2. Single Handed Texting: Holding your smartphone in one hand while using that same thumb to type will potentially lead to overuse of your thumb joint where it connects to the wrist. The thumb has a broader range of motion and is therefore more versatile than the fingers. This gives the thumb the natural ability to type away on the touch display of your phone.
The challenge with this is that your thumb will often encounter stressed motions and positions as the movements are not natural. You’ll be inclined to stretch your thumb outward or move it into compromising positions as you employ single handed texting. A better solution is to hold your smartphone using both hands, while one or both thumbs participate in the typing process. This will alleviate much of the stress and strain on your thumb joints.
3. Size of Phone or Handheld Device: The smartphone options made available in the marketplace seem to get a little larger each year. From a hand health standpoint, bigger isn’t always better when it comes to the phone you choose.
With larger phones your thumb will be forced to stretch farther across the display, causing a greater amount of physical stress to your hand. This is especially so with single handed use as described above. When using a larger device, you definitely should consider using both hands when texting, messaging or surfing the web.
Optimal thumb function while texting requires healthy alignment of the wrist and hand bones and joints. When these bones and joints are aligned properly the connecting muscles and tendons will function harmoniously to provide proper thumb movement.
Chiropractic adjustments to the wrist and hand can alleviate the stress and dysfunction associated with thumb and other wrist/hand musculoskeletal conditions.
****Disclaimer: This content is solely for informational purposes and should not be substituted for medical or chiropractic advice. It is recommended that you seek professional advice by a licensed health care professional.
Scott Chiropractic and Wellness
Matthew Scott, DC
5080 Virginia Pkwy Ste 550
McKinney, TX 75071
(972) 540-5445
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