Thumbs Down for Texting as Experts Warn of Increased Injuries & Painful Hand Conditions
A new study by Phone Tech specialist SellCell reveals that 23 BILLION text messages are sent globally per day. This equates to 8.4 trillion text messages sent every year and 270 thousand text messages sent every single second. In addition to that, 50 billion WhatsApp Messages are also sent globally. As digital communication increases this could be at the cost of our hand health as Experts Warn that the repetitive overuse of texting and messaging can lead to some painful hand related conditions.
| Number of text messages sent per year | 8.4 trillion |
| Number of text messages sent per month | 690 billion |
| Number of text messages per day | 23 billion |
| Number of text messages per hour | 958 million |
| Number of text messages per minute | 16 million |
| Number of text messages per second | 270 thousand |
What are the Commons Hand Injuries That Occur Through Texting?
A common name for thumb related pain is trigger thumb, or texters thumb. Although this is not serious it can be very painful and is associated with the overuse of tendons at the back of the thumb. The tendons become overstretched leading to inflammation.
Medical experts are now starting to see a clear link between messaging and arthritis. Indeed experts at the ULCA state that although texting is still quite new and arthritis can take a number of decades to develop, they have witnessed a connection between holding a phone & texting and the increased symptoms of arthritis in the thumbs.
Other experts say that the jury is out as to whether you will develop arthritis because of phone use. There is however opinion that these repetitive motions can aggravate arthritis. Smartphone and texting overuse in some cases can also lead to thumb inflammation and a condition called de Quervain’s tenosynovitis. This is where the pain comes from thumb movement but is localized to your wrist on one side.
It is not just thumbs that may be affected and texting can also affect your wider hand and wrist areas. Continuous and repetitive use of the phone can be linked with carpal tunnel syndrome, cubital tunnel syndrome and tendonitis. People suffering from lack of movement, joint pain and tingling or stiffness in the hands are advised to seek the advice of a local doctor or hand specialist
What Things Can Be Done To Avoid Text Related Hand Conditions?
There are some simple things that can be done to reduce inflammation and the onset of these conditions.
- Reduce the amount of texting, messaging, scrolling and swiping everyday to give hands and fingers the necessary break they need. Putting down phones in non work times and for a few hours extra a day can make a big difference.
- Finding a phone that is not too big for your hand may also be sensible, so you are not overstretching your tendons whilst texting.
- Using voice messaging and voice notes are a great way of responding to texts without typing.
- Activating predictive texting to alleviate the repetitive motion associated with texting may also help.
- Good old fashioned phone calls could also help alleviate some of these problems. With 13.5 billion phone calls still made across the world a day, try talking to someone rather than texting!
With 23 Billion Text messages sent per day phone users need to be aware of the onset of problems that can be created by constant texting. The key thing is to be aware of how many messages are being sent and if you feel tingling, aching, pain in your fingers or hands take action and speak to a medical professional.
Reference:
Source: https://www.sellcell.com/blog/how-many-text-messages-are-sent-a-day-2023-statistics/