From Selfie Elbow To Texting Thumb, Smartphone Can Cause Weird Injuries & Doctor Are Concerned

Smartphones have become a way of life and a must- have for most, from senior citizens to children, these devices aid people with learning, gaming , quick acess to banking and news reports amongs other things.

These gadgets have become a medium of immediate communication and technology has enchanced the way we stay in touch with love ones through vidio calls, voice chats and of course traditional text messaging.

With the boon of social media spending long hours on ours handsets, from getting the perfect selfie to constantly texting your clique, even though smartphone have made our lives simpler, increase number of people have complained of having some kind of figure, head and elbow pain as a result of frequent use of devices, refferring it to the 'selfie elbow'  , 'texting thumb ' or even the 'Smartphone pinky'.

If you are a fervent smartphone user, here's how you may reduce these types of injuries;

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. Keeping your arm in the smae stiff position for the picture- perfect shot is not appropriate, use a selfie stick or place your elbow on something that offers support.

. Alternate between using your thumbs and other fingers whenever possible, use your finger to type and scroll as a substitute for your thumbs.

. Limit your device use 20 - Minutes and take a short 'device free-break' in between use.

Here Are A Free Exercise You Could Include:

. Twist your fingers and thumb into a firm fist then straighten your fingers as far as you can go without experience pain.

. Start with your fingers completely extended and together , now spread your fingers apart as far as you can go.

For Wrist : 

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. Hold your arm in front of you with your elbow extended, flex the wrist frontward. Do it again with the wrist extended ( Hold for a 20  second on each side)

. Folding your fingers into your wrist, gently rotate each wrist clockwise for 15 sec. Then Move the wrist anticlockwise for another 15 secs.

For Neck: 

. Use your hand to gently pull your head to the side and rotate your nose towards same shoulder . ( Hold for 20 seconds on each side).

. Lift your head towards the sky gently, and breathe in, While releaseing your breath, Move your head and neck downwords, repeat your exercise 10 times.

For Shoulder:

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. Turn your shoulder blade 10 times inwards and 10 times backwards.

. Raise your left hand upwards and rotate in forwards 5 times , Repeat the same backwards. Do the same motion with your right hand.