Text addicts risk injuring their hands and arms

Mobile phone text addicts need to be cautious, as constant messaging could damage their health.

Mobile phone text addicts need to be cautious, as constant messaging could damage their health.

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The Chartered Society of Physiotherapy (CSP) said it was concerned that the repetitive movements involved in tapping out the texts could cause injuries to hands, wrists and arms.

They have now produced a guide for mobile and gadget users to help prevent them suffering "text message injury". The warning came as health professionals marked Repetitive Strain Injury (RSI) Awareness Day.

Figures suggest that the number of text messages sent every day has risen to 100 million, with the number of mobile phones in circulation exceeding the UK's population of over 60 million.

It is because so many people using their mobiles on a daily basis that physiotherapists have become concerned about the risk of injury from repetitive movements.

"People often think that repetitive strain injuries are only associated with the workplace," Chartered physiotherapist Bronwyn Clifford, who worked on the CSP guide, was quoted by The Daily Mail, as saying.

"The small, definite, repetitive movements used to manoeuvre controls on these tiny handsets can begin to cause pain over time. The thumb, while good for gripping, is not a very dextrous digit and is particularly susceptible to injury," Clifford added.