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Could Your Blackberry Be Damaging Your Thumbs?
Sammy at Palm Addict writes "According to the BBC, Regular Blackberry use 'could damage thumbs', experts warn. Trendy handheld Blackberry devices could cause damage to users' thumbs, doctors are warning. Sales of the £200 gadget, which can be used to email, page and phone, have boomed in recent years with celebrities such as David Beckham using them. But US and UK doctors said repetitive use could cause arthritis or harm tendons in the thumb. Research in Motion, which manufactures the Blackberry, said it would not comment on the claims."
And years ago I got a GyroMouse which required the right thumb to press mouse buttons and was definitely less strain that the index finger pushing down all the time. Maybe I should be glad I'm back to an old-stlye mouse. Meanwhile, how about millions of people using their thumbs on all those Game Boys and such? Are we headed for an epidemic of arthritic thumbs? It could make tobacco settlements look tame.
celebrities such as David Beckham using them.
He doesn't need his thumbs anyway.
A feeling of having made the same mistake before: Deja Foobar
How is a Blackberry any different than your average game controller? I remember the old-school Nintendo nothing (not 64, Super, etc.) had the most painful control pad i've ever used, I'd get "The Claw" from playing it for more than a couple hours.
The finding seems to be about the difference between thumbs and fingers, and the fact that thumbs are not designed to be tapping away for prolonged period.
about 6 years ago I was diagnosed with de Quervains thanks, of course, years of typing. The doctor was going to get me in surgery. A friend recommended a split keyboard and within a few weeks the pain was pretty much gone. I swear by them now, they saved me from being operated upon.
And here I just ditched my notebook to avoid possible wrist damage and crotch-burn, now you're telling me I need to dump my PDA too?!
Seriously though, it's an issue of being smart about how you use such things. Give your wrist a rest, let your thumbs hang loose every now and then, and take the notebook off your lap before it gets hot enough to impair your child-producing abilities!
I haven't heard of anyone sueing keyboard manufacturers over RSI recently, so a little "Some experts believe that regular use of this device may cause thumb strain" should likely be sufficient.
then i'm sure there would be reports of thumb problems in asia, especially japan, where people compulsively send SMS and emails using their cellphone/joystick. just take a ride in a japanese commuter train - since actually talking on the phone is considered disruptive and a public nuisance, people either text-message or play games on their cellphone.
My grandmother played her Intellivision so much that she actually had to have thumb surgery. Yes she had an Intellivision when she was 63 - cool grandma, no? She used to play Astrosmash and Advanced Dungeons and Dragons, which used the Intellivision's side buttons extensively. (She couldn't remember the name of the D&D game, and always called it 'Gorrilas and Pyramids')
Point is, it's not just the Blackberry. Any repetative thumb action will cause damage.