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“OMG my thums r killN me! MayB Im txtN 2 mch?” Darn right, you are! Painful thumbs, a result of over-texting, playing video games and working the Wii, are turning up in physiotherapists’ offices and are also beginning to show up on disability claims, say experts.
When it comes to texting, more than one trillion text messages were sent in 2008 in the U.S. alone. There are more text messages sent per phone now than there are phone calls. 57 percent of wireless users over the age of 13 are regular texters, and 70 per cent of North American users send at least one text message a day. (In Ireland, it is five per day; in Singapore, 12.)
No wonder physiotherapists are seeing more thumb injuries. “And we are seeing them show up through short term disability claims as well as through the compensation system,” says Jane Sleeth, a Toronto physiotherapist who is a spokesperson for the Canadian Physiotherapy Association.
If you wonder how and why, take the example of Sharon, an employee who requires her Blackberry when she travels. Because texting helps her to keep up with her work, and because she’s texting like crazy, therapy for her disabled thumbs are being claimed through the compensation system. “Because there’s now an impact in terms of cost to a company, employers need to pay attention,” says Sleeth whose own work as a physio is done through Toronto’s Optimal Performance Consultants.
Two groups, in particular, seem affected by thumb injuries, she says: The senior and middle execs who use a Blackberry instead of their laptops, and younger people who are so used to the technology of video games that they hit the keys faster when texting on their phones. “We call it duration of exposure – the frequency of hitting the keys and the length of time they actually spend on the device each day,” Sleeth explains.
Injuries happen because texting puts the thumb into what physios call “a non-neutral posture” – that is a cramped position in which the tendons that work the thumb are at an odd angle of pull. “When you add frequency of movement to that,” says Sleeth, “you will have injuries such as tendonitis of the thumb.”
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Research out of Cornell University indicates that some people can type as much as 40 words per minute just using their thumbs! The world record for fastest texting is held by a 21 year-old Utah college student. All this overuse points to an ergonomics nightmare: “The thumb is the least stable join in the body,” says Sleeth. “The thumb works in combination with the fingers to grasp and to grip. But when the thumb is used in any kind of work to push or activate something, that’s a big no-no in terms of ergonomic design.”
Early warning signs of overuse include fatigue, says Sleeth. “There’s a sense of the thumbs and the forearms being tired because the muscles that move the thumb are actually in the forearm. People wrongly think they have tennis elbow, but the fatigue that’s felt eventually changes to pain.”
There may be swelling in that area known as the “anatomical snuff box” (a hollow seen on the thumbside of the back of the wrist where snuff used to be placed.) “That is where people might notice swelling,” says Sleeth. “Over time, if untreated, the tendons become inflamed and lose strength; gripping a pen or holding a mug can become difficult.”
As with any type of therapy, the patient has to do most of the work. Sleeth says that people want a quick fix for their thumb pains, but they need to take it slowly and do the strengthening, stretching and icing that are prescribed by their health care providers. Chances are, Blackberry thumb may be a thing of the past as new technologies emerge over the next decade or so, she says. Until then, those who overuse should take short breaks, learn a texting shorthand, and look into Bluetooth and external keyboards to minimize the strain. Sounds lk a plan…hpE txtN!