Do you feel a nagging pain in your thumb?
If so, it could be related to excessive use of your smartphone, which encourages too much swiping and typing. Our fingers are not adapted to perform these with the frequency and duration that uncontrolled use of the touch screen demands.
If you spend more than 4 hours a day on your phone, it may be a sign of phone addiction.
Some key indicators that link hand pain (thumb, finger and wrist) to smartphone usage:
• Pain greater in dominant hand;
• Throbbing pain in your thumb;
• Clicking noise when you move your thumb;
• Stiffness in the fleshy part between thumb and index finger;
• Pain greater in dominant wrist.
Any of these symptoms linked to more than 3 to 4 hours of smartphone usage can indicate “texting thumb”. Overuse of the tendons in your fingers, more specifically the thumb, causes inflammation and pain. Your wrist tendons are gradually affected, too.
Alleviate or avoid texting thumb:
• Try to keep your phone usage to under 4 hours (including talk time);
• Use voice messaging instead of long texting conversations;
• Long emails, documents and presentations are better composed on a laptop than a smartphone;
• Try a mobile phone stand instead of holding your phone up;
• Focus on reducing thumb swiping action, i.e., social apps;
• If you phone permits, use a stylus instead of fingers for typing and swiping;
• Turn off unnecessary notifications from apps.
For pain relief :
• Rest your hand. Cut down use of smartphone;
• Apply hot and cold treatment, ice pack or warm compress, on the affected area, for 15 minutes every 2 hours;
• Over-the-counter pain relief medication can also be used with the above measures for a few days.
If the pain continues, seek medical advice.
Finger Exercises
• Finger pressure: Join the tips of your fingers making your hand cup-shaped. Apply pressure on your fingertips by pressing in your hands. Hold the pressure for 20 seconds
and repeat.
• Finger clenching: Stretch your arms in front with palms facing the wall and fingers spread out. Clench and flex the fingers 10 times, keeping the thumb in when fingers are clenched.
• Reverse stretch: Interlock your fingers and stretch your hand out, palm facing the wall. Keep your elbows straight and feel the backward stretch on your fingers. Hold for 20 seconds and repeat. For a great resource, you can look up https://www.webmd.com/
osteoarthritis/ss/slideshow-hand-finger-exercises
Wrist exercises:
• Wrist bending: Stretch the arms out in front with the fingers pressed together and palms facing downwards. Bend the hands upwards and downwards. Repeat 10 times.
• Wrist rotation: Keeping the same arm position, close the hands into a fist with thumb inside. Rotate the wrist outwards 10 times and inwards 10 times.
Try and use the less dominant hand .Always consult a professional before starting on a workout.
The writer, a martial arts and fitness coach, is the founder of Mike’s Martial Arts, a Calcutta-based martial arts and advanced functional fitness studio. Contact: mayukhpb@yahoo.co.in