Many Young People Suffer from "Teen Texting Tendonitis"
Sending Thousands of Text Messages Per Month Can Lead to Back, Neck and Thumb Soreness
Teen Texting Tendonitis Aggravated by Poor Posture
In years past, it was pretty common for an active teenager to suffer tennis elbow, swimmer's ear or any of a number of sports-related injuries. With the explosive growth of hand-held devices and communicating on the run, teenagers now are, if you'll pardon the pun, all thumbs. While sports injuries still occur, doctors are seeing more stress injuries related to texting.
A feature story from KDAF-TV in Dallas, TX mentioned that, on the average, a teenager will send 2,000 messages per month. Young Ms. Baker, on the other hand, sent 8,000 texts last month, which led to her teen texting tendonitis. In the KDAF-TV piece, Dr. Jane Sadler said the condition, also known as TTT, even creates back soreness because of the poor posture used in texting.
Teen Texting Tendonitis the Latest Hi-Tech Injury
These days, one would be hard-pressed to find an office that didn't have at least a few desktop computers and laptops. Technology rules the workplace, but the human body can be, at times, decidedly low-tech. Office workers, especially software developers, spend several hours each day hunched over a terminal, which leads to repetitive stress disorders such as carpal tunnel syndrome.
When home video game consoles first became popular in the 1970's and early 80's, doctors also noted the stress on fingers and joints caused by holding game controllers for hours at a time. HealthDay News pointed out that video game injuries tend to increase around the holidays, a time when families buy the kids a brand-new video game console and they spend their time off from school in front of the television.
Cutting Teen Texting Down to Size
Parents should be concerned about the long-term effects of teen-texting tendonitis, which Dr. Sadler said can lead to arthritis down the road. Sadler also mentioned a potential increase in thumb-joint replacements as the current generation becomes older. Parents and guardians need to put a cap on the amount of texting each child does per day, even putting blocks on their cell phones to keep kids who text as much as Bailey Baker from getting teen texting tendonitis.
Resources:
PostChronicle.com, "Texting Teen Tendonitis?!", Mitch Marconi
KDAF-TV, "Text This: Too much texting can cause injuries," Barry Carpenter
Published by Steven Bryan - Featured Contributor in Arts & Entertainment
After writing professionally for more than 17 years, I feel lucky to be providing content for the Yahoo! Contributor Network. Y!CN allows me to explore my love for movies, TV and all things dealing with pop... View profile
- Herbal Treatments for Carpal Tunnel Syndrome (CTS) Carpal tunnel syndrome has been around for a very long time but it didn't become a household word until the 80's when personal computers became so prevalent.
- Carpal Tunnel Syndrome: The Implication of Pregnancy With the cost of workers' compensation benefits increasing, employers often seek methods for reducing costs. This is an overview of carpal tunnel syndrome and the impact on the pregnant employee.
- Alleviating Carpal Tunnel Syndrome Pain Each year, millions of American workers file claim for work related repetitive stress injuries known as Carpal Tunnel Syndrome. When suffering, seeking early treatment can alleviate pain.
- The Truth About Carpal Tunnel Syndrome Carpal tunnel syndrome is a medical condition that leads to pain in the wrist and fingers. Learn how to prevent getting this condition and your treatment options if you do happen to get it.
- Diagnosis & Treatment of Carpal Tunnel Syndrome Carpal tunnel syndrome can be difficult to diagnose and even more difficult to treat.
- Carpal Tunnel Syndrome: Home Remedies
- 10 Natural Remedies for Treating Carpal Tunnel Syndrome
- Does Cracking Your Knuckles Help Relieve Carpal Tunnel Syndrome?
- A Writer's Guide to Preventing Carpal Tunnel Syndrome
- Carpal Tunnel Syndrome Overview
- Carpal Tunnel Syndrome Causes and Treatments
- Carpal Tunnel Syndrome: How to Spot and Treat the Disease
|
|