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Excessive mobile phone messaging could lead to muscle and tendon damage
The
boom business of text messaging has claimed its first victim in
Britain , where an estimated 45 million messages are sent every
day .Louise Thompson , a 32 year old clinical psychologist from
East London, is suffering from Text Message Injury , or TMI a
newly coined term to describe damaged caused to hand muscles or
tendons by texting. TMI's most common symptoms are swelling and
inflammation and it can particularly affect the thumb
"It's a sort of arthritic pain, an achey stiffness in my fingers and shooting pains up my forearm." says Louise who has been sending up to 15
messages a day to her absent boy -friend, Henry Thomas , a tour guide " Before Henry went away I might send one or two texts a day, but after he went I was sending up to 15.I have really noticed the pain . It is very disabling .It can even hamper me doing little things like making a cup of tea.''
Last year, 12.2 billion messages were sent in Britain alone - a hundred per cent increases on the previous year. An estimated ten billion messages are sent world wide each month. All the indications suggest that the craze set to get even more popular, particularly with teenagers and the 10-to-11- year -old age group -the fastest expanding sector of the UK market
Mobile phone companies, hitherto not known for their interest in health issues, are so worried by the TMI that they have issued instructions for special worried by the TMI that they have issued instructions for special exercises. Customers are now being encouraged to use abbreviated and pre-programmed messages. Virgin Mobile, as part of its '' safe text'' campaign, has even issued customers with a ''texterciser''- a foam gadget which allow users to exercise the muscles and tendons in their fingers and thumbs.
The potentially epidemic outbreak of TMI is very similar to the emergence of repetitive strain Injury RSI , which followed the rapid growth of computer use in the office. Andrew Chadwick, Chief executive of the Repetitive Strain Injury association says his organization now formally recognises the condition. We are talking about people making hundreds of tiny repeated movements as they used the mobile keyboard. That is almost a perfect recipe for causing RSI says Chadwick ''because all the movements are small, they do not cause the blood to circulate, and that means the fingers are acting like an engine without oil. If mobile phone manufacturers are becoming concerned then we should be too. Usually companies never admit any problems .The trouble is that text messaging is seen as cool and fashionable so people will continue to do it even if they start to feel pain.
The other main attraction of texting, particularly for youngsters, is its relatively low cost-some UK companies are charging as little as 2 pence a message. Initially, it was feared that younger users would be most vulnerable to TMI (nearly half of all children in the UK aged 7 to 16 own a cell phone and are sending an average of 2.5 messages a
day), but health experts are now becoming increasingly concerned about older people. Those with bad circulation, particularly smokers or any one under stress, are thought to be particularly at risk.
The risk to children, however remains the greatest threat and the problem could out to be a devastating health time bomb, with much of the real damage not surfacing until later in life. The British society of Chiropractors has warned that all though children's joints and muscles are very flexible, they are prone to injury because of the speed at which they are the next five or ten Growing .A spokes man
said: Any repetitive movement can destroy the soft tissue and can eventually lead to serious long-term
problems. Potential complications could be similar to arthritis "It is not something that will happen tomorrow or the next day but over years'' added Dr Simon Pierce, a chiropractor.
As for Louise, she has already started to receive treatment for her condition. It was diagnosed by a chipropractor and will take a number of regular sessions before she is cured. I am constantly aware of the pain,'' she says. But it gets worse when I have to type at work or after sending few messages.' The only problem is that her boy friend is not returning from his worldwide tour until June, so the text messages look set to continue to flow between them.
Messaging : Situation In India
While testing on his cell phone one day, Nitin Chandy, 26, felt an excruciating pain in his thumb. I felt like muscles in my thumb had suddenly locked, says the audio engineering student in chennai.
On an average, Nitin sends between 15-20 text messages a day, and 25 on some days. The first time I felt the pain, it lasted nearly three days says Nitin. Now the pain come and goes and has recently moved up to my palm. I can't bend my fingers or clench my fist"
Nitin consulted an orthopaedic specialist in Mumbai and told the doctor that the pain occurred first while text messaging. The orthopaedic-like most other doctor in India-had
heard about RSIand radiation, but not about the adverse effect of text messaging.
The dangerous of excessive text messaging are practically unknown in India despite their being nearly six million cell phones in
use. As in UK, text messaging is considered extremely cool and fashionable in this country
too. No surprises then that approximately ten million messages are sent every day in India.
True, text messaging makes economic sense. sending an SMS costs about Rs 1, less than half the price of a Mobile call . Besides, incoming messages are
free. Owing to its cost
Effectiveness the growth rate of text messaging is estimated at 10 percent a month.
For most users ,besides the economic factor ,speed and reliability beckon. It is the best way to get your point across without indulging in long-drawn Conversations .though SMS attracts all tech-savy people, research indicates that the highest users in India are between the age of 23-35. They are the ones at risk too
What in Text Message Injury (TMI)?
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Courtesy
The Week- Apr 21/2002
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