Spending hours on Whatsapp or chatting on Facebook or texting can lead to wrist and finger joint pain, arthritis and repetitive stress injuries, according to experts. Doctors said usually people ignore the pain; however, later it causes soft-tissue rheumatic disorder.
Health experts have witnessed increase in the number of patients, especially youths, addicted to the social media, visiting them and complaining of arthritis.
(Prof) Dr Uma Kumar, who heads the Rheumatology department at AIIMS, told The Pioneer, “Yes, excessive use of social media leads to disorders in joints, muscles, and ligaments. These are called soft-tissue rheumatic disorders, which are mostly a result of bending over tablets, mobile phones in wrong postures for hours while working or texting.”
“We advise patients to modify their lifestyle as there are no drugs to cure soft-tissue rheumatic disorders. In most severe cases, we advise patients to undergo physiotherapy
treatment.”
Dr Rahul Gupta, Senior Neuro and Spine Surgeon at Fortis Hospital said repetitive stress injuries can result from recurrent large or small movements that affect joints, muscles, tendons, and nerves.
“People who frequently use their thumbs to type text messages on cell phones sometimes develop radial styloid tenosynovitis (also called De Quervain syndrome, BlackBerry thumb or texting thumb), a painful affliction that involves the tendons that move the thumb,” said Dr Gupta.
In young children, longer use of gaming devices is associated with more pain, said Dr Ashwani Maichand, Director of Institute of Bone and Joint at MGS Hospital.