Doctor Warns of the Hidden Danger of Touchscreens

snydeq writes "Dr. Franklin Tessler discusses the hidden stress-related injuries of touchscreen use, and how best to use smartphones, tablets, and touch PCs to avoid them. 'Touchscreen-oriented health hazards are even more insidious because most people aren't even aware that they exist. The potential for injury from using touchscreens will only go up ... as the rise of the touchscreen means both new kinds of health hazards and more usage in risky scenarios,' Tessler writes, providing tips for properly positioning touchscreens and ways to avoid repetitive stress injuries and eyestrain."

Comments

good job they don't have pointy corners

[Anonymous Coward]

you could have your eye out

Re:good job they don't have pointy corners

[Mashiki]

I wouldn't worry about your eyes. Just think what happens when you eat the things.

Re:good job they don't have pointy corners

[Rizimar]

Wait, we're not supposed to eat them? Why wasn't there a large and blatant warning on the package?

Re:good job they don't have pointy corners

[newcastlejon]

On that note I'd like to say a word about sharp edges. Whomever it was who decided that aesthetics outweighed the practical concerns about putting a right angle at the edge of my MBP was a bloody fool. A 1mm chamfer doesn't seem too much to ask.

Before you all jump in to call me a fool for buying one, I didn't; it was an insurance replacement.

Not this again.....

[icebike]

More hype to sell the same tripe.

Seems to be simply latching onto the current fad toy and trying to saddle it with the same things they have been attributing to computers since the 80's.
There is nothing new in the article, simply attributing the same (largely imaginary) "diseases" to a different activity. But by mentioning touch screens they grab the headlines. Nothing about a touch screen forces you into the same position, viewing distance, or hand movements, in fact a tablet is probably the remedy for such complaints more than the cause.

But they trot out the same stuff they were crying about with desktop computers: Repeated motion injuries, Posture, Eyestrain.

I'm surprised they left off testicular heating.

Really? Touch screens?
This looks like building a case for more insurance fraud if you ask me.

Re:Not this again.....

[ClioCJS]

Considering I avoid touchscreens as much as possible (vastly preferring my wife's android phone with a real keyboard and trackball; also great if your touchscreen develops a deadspot), and get repetitive stress injuries easily (had to drive one-handed for 6 months once from lifting a beer keg into my car), I see no reason to dispute this article. Touchscreens absolutely put more wear and tear on parts of my body never accustomed to it. At least keyboard-strain is something I've learned to cope with -- don't sleep with my hand under the pillow anymore; drive with whatever hand is the good hand that month; mouse with my off-hand (left, cause i'm right-handed), etc etc. But yes, this is a new kind of strain. Just got my first touchscreen device this year, a GPS. I very quickly learned what the unlabeled buttons did, as my fingers are f'in sore after using it.

Re:Not this again.....

[MoonBuggy]

I...get repetitive stress injuries easily (had to drive one-handed for 6 months once from lifting a beer keg into my car)

Genuine question: how does lifting a keg equate to repetitive stress? I can understand pulling a muscle or something, but lifting something in and out of the car once or twice seems far from all but the most excessive definition of 'repetitive'.

Re:Not this again.....

[iamhassi]

More hype to sell the same tripe.

Here's the reasons listed in the article:
--Repeated motion injuries, like using your thumbs to type
--unnatural postures and forces, such as tilting their hands too far inward or outward while tapping or putting force on their wrists while typing.
--Eyestrain, either because the characters and images aren't clear or because the screen is obscured by glare or reflections

Although the article also contradicts itself: "tablets and smartphones almost guarantee such awkward use because they can be accessed almost anywhere and in any position -- most of which involve poor posture."

But doesn't that also mean people can hold the devices in more natural positions, making them far safer than PCs or laptops? Also the same argument could be made that books are dangerous because they can be accessed almost anywhere and in any position.

And that's pretty much the entire article. Nothing to see here, move along.

Re:Not this again.....

[K. S. Kyosuke]

had to drive one-handed for 6 months once from lifting a beer keg into my car

I drive one handed every time I see an attractive woman.

I'm not going to ask who drives the car when you see two attractive women...

Re:Not this again.....

[icebike]

But doesn't that also mean people can hold the devices in more natural positions, making them far safer than PCs or laptops? Also the same argument could be made that books are dangerous because they can be accessed almost anywhere and in any position.

Exactly. The remedy is built into the device.

No one is forced to sit in front of a tablet all day typing as was the case with desktop computers. Even those that do find a way to do hours of writing on a tablet have long since given up on the touch screen and have added keyboards. These are casual use devices.

You can walk around with a tablet, you move it when you become uncomfortable, you can easily seek the best lighting angle, and if your eyes bother you, you hold it at a different distance, angle, adjust the brightness, change the font size, wipe the finger prints off the screen. All of this is done naturally.

The article should be touting the tablet as the solution rather than suggesting it is the problem.

Re:Not this again.....

[khr]

It is a shame they left the testies out though, laptops can indeed kill sperm (non-permanently of course) :)

Are you kidding? As somone who hates kids and condoms, that's a selling point!

Re:Not this again.....

[AlienIntelligence]

and get repetitive stress injuries easily (had to drive one-handed for 6 months once from lifting a beer keg into my car),

Fuck man, if you got injured from repetitively lifting beer kegs into your car...
and you're not doing it for a living, you have other problems.

-AI

Re:Not this again.....

[Kelbear]

What's wrong with waving hello?

Re:Not this again.....

[stephanruby]

There is nothing new in the article, simply attributing the same (largely imaginary) "diseases" to a different activity.

I don't know anything about other diseases and I admit that the "testicular heating" you mentioned sounds made up (although, I don't know anything about that one either), but are you saying that the carpal tunnel syndrome (which is one of those "repeated motion injuries") is also one of those imaginary diseases? If you do, please provide one link from anyone who believes carpal tunnel syndrome is made up. I'm not asking you for multiple sources, or even a reliable source, I'm asking you to provide a single link to someone that even questions this (aside from yourself). It can even be a non-doctor if you like. I just did a quick search on google and didn't find anyone myself.

Fifteen years ago, I also started experiencing the beginning symptoms of carpal tunnel syndrome in my right hand, and no I didn't even have insurance or worker's comp at the time (I had just gotten out of school and I was working as a temporary admin employee), but luckily I was able to reverse the symptoms completely by changing all my habits and all my computer accessories (both at work and at home, plus I also switched to using the left hand for a few months). I've also had known several people that had been in excruciating pain because of carpal tunnel syndrome and that had to have surgery (so the fact that I saw them go through this process made me very cautious not to be caught in the same thing). And I'm not a doctor, but perhaps the inflammation created in the wrist could be verifiable by a third party through X-ray or something (may be a Doctor or a nurse on slashdot could chime in???).

In any case, right now fifteen years later, I'm an independent mobile developer, I own several phones and several tablets, and I also started getting cramps in my hands and fatigue in some of my joints because of all the touchscreens I've repeatedly been using (it didn't get as bad as fifteen years ago and it did not affect my wrist, but I could easily see how something like this could worsen). Thankfully, this was just the result of all the games I've been playing and all the manga I've been reading, not of the actual work I've been doing, so it was fairly easy for me to just quit doing those things, and all of it just went away. But please do not take my own examples the wrong way. As someone as cautious as I am and as free as I am to customize my environment the way I want (even when I was a temp), my circumstances are going to be vastly different from someone who works in a factory setting, or a low level worker who works constantly with a touchscreen for data input (with a proprietary device that can not really be changed), or even someone who doesn't know any better about modifying his/her habits as soon as potential symptoms show up.

So for me, I wholeheartedly believe that some of those diseases are not made up, and that those articles repeating the same thing can be just plain good old preventative medicine. And if you still don't believe me, try to ask a doctor, or try to speak with actual people that have been affected by this. I'll bet you anything that you'll be able to find some people that didn't have insurance or workers comp, or anything else that would help, and that really couldn't benefit from having such a condition in the first place.

Re:Not this again.....

[gl4ss]

touchscreens are shit for your wrists and fingers.

what amazes me is that they claim it as hidden risk. no it's not hidden risk, it's in plain view. it's so fucking obvious that a touchscreen is going to ruin your hands faster than touch typing. even faster than two finger typing. you can't rest your hands. the devices can't be propped up. the input device and the screen are at the same point, either your neck or your hands are going to get the shaft and quite easily both. not to mention that you'll end up holding the device too. it wouldn't be bad if you did it for 20 secs per hour, but using an ipad constantly is as tiring as the job for an old school scribe was.

for the record, reading a book in funny positions on sofa fucks your wrists too - trying to write on it even worse.. typing machines were invented for a reason and evolved the way they did into a keyboard for a reason. - then the fucking ergo-fucks started selling adjustable furniture that didn't do it's job, was flimsy as hell, and then another round of the same shit and another round and another round.....

Re:What about the hidden dangers of Siri?

[pclminion]

And if you think continuously you may burn out your brain cells, as appears to have happened with this researcher.

My wrist hurts!

[coldsalmon]

I'm wearing a wrist brace right now because I held my Nook Color one-handed for too long over the course of a couple of weeks. Obviously I can't say for sure that this was the cause of my pain, but it gets worse when when I hold it in one hand only, and better when I use both hands or support it some other way. I wish I had thought of this before I started using the Nook. Yeah it's not a problem of national concern, and the article uses absurdly alarmist rhetoric, but these are real sources of pain and it's always good to have tips on how to avoid pain.

Re:My wrist hurts!

[medv4380]

You would have had the same injury doing that with a book. This article is clearly written by the radical fringe who won't be happy unless man is back in the forests eating strait from the trees.

Diseases caused by unnatural postures and forces

I can see it now

[pak9rabid]

Apple: You're touching it wrong.

Re:Breaking news...

[The Grim Reefer]

When I was born my doctor told me that it could cause all kinds of health problems later on.

Re:Why is this crap even on Slashdot?

[Anonymous Coward]

I've already experienced mild RSI in the thumb after somewhat excessive touch screen use. Same as with mouse and keyboard use. I don't see why this would be something to write off. Rather, it is obvious that it would become a problem at some point.

Re:Also dangers of door knobs...

[ClioCJS]

Now, think about the choice of the word "expand". HAHAHA

Because it pertains to nerds

[Compaqt]

What are you talking about? Good on you for having great health.

Meanwhile plenty of geeks suffer from computer-related health problems. The most common up to now has been carpal tunnel or repetitive stress syndrome.

The advent of touchscreens means people are bending their necks downward for extended periods. For many/most it may not be a problem.

For others, it can result in cervical spondylosis, a debilitating condition of the neck.

The reason for such articles is to encourage people to take preventive measures. One of the best is Workrave, a break reminder program for Win and Lin. Click to install. (Deb/Ub/Mint)

Re:Because it pertains to nerds

[AlienIntelligence]

What are you talking about? Good on you for having great health.

Meanwhile plenty of geeks suffer from computer-related health problems. The most common up to now has been carpal tunnel or repetitive stress syndrome.

One trip to a REAL doctor and you'll find that CTS, really doesn't
exist for people that use computers, correctly.

I can give you the number to a real Dr, if you'd like to talk to him.

I'm sure he would have loved to make the money from the surgery
on my ex-wife's wrist. Instead, he said... adjust your chair height
to where your arm, at 45 degree extension, will have your radius/ulna
parallel and about an inch above the desk surface. Buy a gel pad
for the kb and the mouse and you'll be fine in a few months.

And she was.

I had the same thing... absolutely crippling pain from the base of
my palm, all the way thru my shoulder-blade. I raised my seat,
maybe an inch. Gone in months.

If you have your chair at the wrong height... put too much weight
on your wrists when you type and mouse... you will get symptoms
that appear to be CTS and RSD... but aren't. CT scan will prove it.

Myth, busted.

-AI

Re:Because it pertains to nerds

[tlhIngan]

The advent of touchscreens means people are bending their necks downward for extended periods. For many/most it may not be a problem.

I doubt that. People have been reporting problems before touch screens. Blackberry users, for example, but also people who text a lot on their non-touchscreen phones.

The medical condition is real, but the cause is not - it's not a recent thing brought on the explosion of touch screens - it's been around for years. Notably brought on because the folks with blackberries (out over a decade) tend to be older businesspeople and thus experienced it years before. Or people texting on their phones for nearly two decades now. And young kids have been glued to their Nintendo portables for nearly 2 1/2 decades.

Re:Because it pertains to nerds

[jdgeorge]

Umm.... so, your point is that you agree with the parent's advice to prevent the issues from becoming a major health problem.... Got it.

Re:Because it pertains to nerds

[geekoid]

Or you self diagnoses was wrong.
OR, here is an idea: maybe there are different severity? Shocking I know.. well, shocking to simpletons like you.

ou will get symptoms that appear to be CTS and RSD... but aren't. CT scan will prove it.

No, the symptoms are precursor to CTS and/or RSD. Like many thing, when acted upon soon, you can recover.

You did the right thing, but you inplication that it applies to every case is stupid and harmful.

And no myth is not busted, but your ignorance and arrogance has been confirmed.

"For me, it is far better to grasp the Universe as it really is than to persist in delusion"
Your post does not match your sig.
Make up your mind

Re:Because it pertains to nerds

[eulernet]

Adjusting your seat is a good advice, but you should also change your position.
When your body starts to hurt, just listen to it, and change your position by straightening your back, it's very simple and effective.

Also, I recommend using a Trackball, because it's the horizontal movements when using a mouse that hurt your wrist.
I personally use a Microsoft trackball, mine is at least 6 years old, and still working nicely.

Re:Because it pertains to nerds

[Kymermosst]

The advent of touchscreens means people are bending their necks downward for extended periods

Ever thought about, you know, holding the touch screen up, instead?

Re:Why is this crap even on Slashdot?

[Anonymous Coward]

pussy

You should try tablets

[symbolset]

You wouldn't believe the RSI potentials here. Just chiseling a single line of text gives me blisters.

Re:You should try tablets

[shutdown -p now]

If you're touching the screen while there is porn on it... I hate to break it for you, but you're doing it wrong.

Re:Why is this crap even on Slashdot?

[MrHanky]

Because loads of people here are buying into the nonsense that touchscreens are so awesome and the future of everything.

Re:Why is this crap even on Slashdot?

[ArhcAngel]

You want to talk RSI? try playing Street Fighter II on the SNES for 16 hours straight. I had to have thumb splints for months!

Typical /. defensivness

[bussdriver]

So used to defending "new" technology that you can't allow legitimate concerns to be raised?

I get it, I'm surrounded by technologically ignorant people who respond irrationally to the stuff. But it is no reason to become irrationally defensive of the technology-- for those people, it does make sense to not discuss the topic at any depth but one does not have to get down to their level either.

TFA is nothing new and seems so obvious that its hardly worth discussion. As somebody who deals with those "non-issues" and knows older people who suffer daily from them I am glad this was an issue in the 90s because it was when I became motivated enough to take precautions. This stuff can cause seriously miserable conditions later in life (do not get surgery it makes it worse.) Things like this serve a purpose:
A) inform people of the general problem who do not yet know (unless nobody has children there is always a new batch)
B) inform people who know but do not THINK about how touch screens are no different than existing tech (may be worse)

Sure, there is the anti technology types who will twist such information or those who do not properly comprehend it and go around saying "doctors say touch screens are bad for your health." Those people can be so annoying that it provides plenty of motivation for going to an irrational position on the opposite side.

Just because you believe the "disease" is imaginary.... BELIEVE being the key word. Hope you don't have to rediscover the problem with 1st hand proof; although, there would be some justice in having people dismiss your bitching as imaginary.

Re:first p

[AlienIntelligence]

damn...

Well, if it wasn't for your stress injuries from tablet use,
yes you might have been frosty piss.

Maybe this is actionable... call an ambulance chaser!

-AI

Re:Why is this crap even on Slashdot?

[bmo]

This gets a 5? Really?

I didn't believe RSI existed until I actually got it myself, with pain going from my hand, around my elbow up to my shoulder. Previously I had thought that RSI was no big deal and I thought it was psychosomatic.

I found out that RSI can be some serious friggin' pain. The hard way.

The culprit was the Logitech MX1000 that I bought. One of the early laser mice. It's a pile of shit shaped into a huge lump that makes you cock your wrist back if you let your wrist lay on the desk.

It didn't take long, actually, to get the RSI. A couple of weeks with that mouse and I was done for.

I solved the issue by going to a trackball and elevating my forearm to straighten out my wrist. With this, the pain went away - I was no longer bending my wrist back and I could keep my forearm in one place so as to keep the wrist at the same angle.

So you, OP, do not deserve the 5. You deserve a -1 because you are a dumbass troll.

--
BMO

Re:Why is this crap even on Slashdot?

[Samantha Wright]

This is the sort of thing that makes me stare at fighting game players in utter incredulity. How and why would anyone ever put up with such ridiculously tiresome finger movements for so long? It's probably healthier to get into an actual fistfight!

Re:Why is this crap even on Slashdot?

[jdgeorge]

Touchscreens are awesome, and they are the future of a lot of human-computer interaction. They're simply not a substitute for a real keyboard, or a properly arranged physical workspace.

Re:Why is this crap even on Slashdot?

[thePowerOfGrayskull]

Come on.

To piss you off.

Seriously, that's the only reason. It's posted to troll you, personally.

I'd like to take you seriously . . .

[hideouspenguinboy]

But, your use of, commas, has driven me to, bang my head, against my desk . . .

. . .resulting in CST. I got a gel pad though so I'll be fine in a few months.

Re:I'd like to take you seriously . . .

[swanzilla]

Who cares about the commas? What I hate is the constant line breaks for no apparent reason.

The web browser handles text formatting no reason for you to make it mobile sized.

Bet

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Lawsuits

[sycodon]

This Tessler guy is just doing the foundation work for future lawsuits.

Just watch, in several years someone will sue Apple or other tablet makers and Tessler will be in the expert witness seat.

Re:Why is this crap even on Slashdot?

[X0563511]

... at the end of the day, it's probably even more entertaining for everyone involved.

Talk to the computer!

[na1led]

[faced with a 20th century computer] Scotty: Computer! Computer? [He's handed a mouse, and he speaks into it] Scotty: Hello, computer. Dr. Nichols: Just use the keyboard. Scotty: Keyboard. How quaint.

Re:Why is this crap even on Slashdot?

[0123456]

Touchscreens are awesome, and they are the future of a lot of human-computer interaction.

No, touchscreens suck ass. They're only good when you're doing very basic operations which don't require much control.

The only device I use on a regular basis which might not totally suck ass with a touchscreen is my e-book reader, and even there I'd much rather press a button to go to the next page than have to make some stupid gesture.

Re:Why is this crap even on Slashdot?

[mcgrew]

Well, it's "for nerds" because we all use these devices, but it isn't "news that natters" because it's not news; we already know about RMS (repetetive motion syndrome, not Richard Stallman) etc because most of us have experienced it.

TFA is really bad, though. It claims that the danger of cell phone radiation is "inconclusive", when the facts are that not a single study has shown that cell phones or CRTs cause cancer or brain damage. It's not badly written but spans seven screens; I shouldn't have even clicked. Didn't waste my time past the second screen, if you haven't RTFA don't bother, it's a waste of time.

Re:Why is this crap even on Slashdot?

[bipbop]

They aren't necessarily tiresome. Some people can play games all day without hurting themselves.

Musicians learn to avoid building up muscle tension, both in the muscles they use, and sympathetic tension in the muscles they aren't using. They learn to keep good posture, keep their wrists relatively straight, to breathe properly and so forth, and these skills get passed down to new musicians.

The same skills apply to video games. But there's no "classical video game technique". People tense up, have terrible posture, and generally do things that will hurt themselves if they keep it up long enough. It's totally natural, and takes training for most people to avoid it.

I'm not proposing any particular solution to this, but I think some basic training might help with the sort of people who injure themselves playing video games. Certainly the ways to avoid RSI are non-obvious, whether you're playing Street Fighter or sitting in an office typing all day.

Re:Also dangers of door knobs...

[geekoid]

If you can't poop out a pickle, you have other problems.

Re:Kids, wear that helmet

[pclminion]

Weird how it's changed even since the 1980's. I was a kid then, and remember many times coming inside bleeding from something I'd just done to myself, and my mother would respond with something like "Oh, you hurt your leg? Well let me chop off the other one so it hurts the same on both sides of your body." This same woman, 25 years later, suggested to me in all seriousness that I should make my toddler wear a helmet IN THE HOUSE. At all times.

Some of that is obviously because of her age (clearly she's gone nuts), but it's also because people think that's normal. I know parents who spent an entire weekend covering every corner of every object in their house with soft foam and taping it in place. If little Jimmy falls down the stairs, richochets off the wall and smacks his head on the inner left corner of the underside of the kitchen chair, no problem, it's padded.

Other day my 4 year old took a chopstick out of a drawer to play with it. He left it sitting on the floor. I told him he'd better pick it up or at some point today his head will be striking the floor. He didn't listen, he ran, he stepped on it, he fell, he screamed. I laughed at him and said "I told you so." I received looks of shock from other adults in the room like I was psycho.

Re:Why is this crap even on Slashdot?

[jdgeorge]

Musicians learn to avoid building up muscle tension, both in the muscles they use, and sympathetic tension in the muscles they aren't using. They learn to keep good posture, keep their wrists relatively straight, to breathe properly and so forth, and these skills get passed down to new musicians.

Musicians also learn to take breaks, not to play too long at a time, or (as frequently happens) they end up with injuries that are destructive to their musical careers. They cannot play all day without hurting themselves, regardless of how awesome their form, posture, and breathing is.

Re:Why is this crap even on Slashdot?

[shutdown -p now]

They're only good when you're doing very basic operations which don't require much control.

Which covers surprisingly many activities (time-wise). You listed one yourself - book reading. Now also think newspapers, and everything else online that's "consume only" - i.e. where you don't rush to post a witty comment as soon as you read it, as is the case on Slashdot.

The perfect device would have both touchscreen and keyboard+mouse/trackpad/trackpoint, and will adjust to whatever controls you're using at the moment. We're already seeing this emerge with Asus Transformer, Lenovo Thinkpad tablet, and other similar devices on hardware side, and Win8 (and, to some extent, Android) on software side.

I can confrim ...

[kbahey]

I can confirm that ever since I switched to checking Twitter and Facebook (via TweetDeck) heavily on my Android phone (Sony Ericsson Xperia X10 then Arc), I have experienced wrist pain and numbness.

And yes, I spend a couple of hours daily, because I was following the news closely in a troubled part of the world.

Once I got those wrist cuffs that prevent the wrist joint from moving, the pain went away.

Re:Why is this crap even on Slashdot?

[Samantha Wright]

No, now you're going off topic. We're talking about Street Fighter players getting into fist fights. Brain trauma is unlikely.

Re:Why is this crap even on Slashdot?

[nedlohs]

Why? Seems pretty likely they'll fall over and crack their skills on the ground trying to throw a punch.

Re:Why is this crap even on Slashdot?

[davester666]

Um, those aren't musicians. They're noise-makers.

Biggest danger of touch screens

[Glonoinha]

Honestly the biggest danger of touch screens isn't the RSI - it's crashing your car.
Don't ask how I know this.

Will someone think of the children!? :P

[ed1park]

I've seen parents give their little kids iphones to keep them busy/distracted, and they will stare at that the phone for hours watching videos just 5-6 inches from their faces. This has got to be bad for their eyesight especially when they are 3 or 4 years old still developing...