Avoiding Text Message Injuries
A recent study by Ergonomist Ewa Gustafsson studied the mobile phone habits of 56 young adults who text message on a regular basis (several times daily). Her findings showed that half of the students reported problems with neck, arms or hands while the other half had no such symptoms.
Gustafsson states, “Considering how much we use the small mobile phone keypads, it is important that we learn how they affect our bodies. We need to identify factors related to mobile phone usage that may affect our health and ability to work”.
Her thesis shows that many mobile phone users have arm, neck or hand systems that indicate they are using the phones differently than the control group.
She says that often the people with the symptoms text on their mobile phones hunched over similar to how they also sit at their computers. Most of the mobile phone users with the symptoms texted with one thumb instead of two. This meant that the one thumb was used with a higher speed and was rested less frequently.
Gustafasson concluded that there are obvious physical risks to texting with a bad posture and using only one thumb and strongly advises texters to pay attention to both.
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