Complications of illness when addicted to smartphones

According to bone and joint specialists, smartphone addiction can cause finger muscle atrophy and pain in the shoulders, cervical spine, and lower back.

Thanks to the strong development of technology, modern digital devices such as smartphones, tablets and laptops are widely used in work, study, entertainment, etc.

According to US statistics, in 2012, 35% of adults used smartphones, after 4 years, this number increased to 65% (2016). The number of people using smartphones is increasing along with the time of use in a day.

Common medical complications when addicted to smartphones - Photo 1

However, Master, Doctor Nguyen Duc Thanh, Department of Orthopedics and Traumatology, University of Medicine and Pharmacy Hospital, Ho Chi Minh City, said that more and more patients are coming to the hospital with symptoms of pain and fatigue in the wrist, fingers, possibly accompanied by pain and fatigue in the shoulder, cervical spine, lower back, etc. The cause is due to patients using smartphones frequently.

Explaining this, Dr. Nguyen Duc Thanh said that recently, the doctor has received two cases of patients, specifically: A female office worker, 27 years old, in District 7, Ho Chi Minh City, often uses a virtual keyboard smartphone every day for work and entertainment. A male businessman, 35 years old, in District 1, Ho Chi Minh City, often uses a smartphone with a physical keyboard.

Symptoms: In recent months, the patient has had severe pain in the thumb of his right hand, and when flexing and extending, he hears a "popping" sound at the last joint of the finger.

When touching it with the hand, it feels very painful, and sometimes when bending the finger, it suddenly gets “stuck” and cannot be straightened anymore. At that time, the patient has to use the other hand to pull the finger really hard to straighten it. The patient often feels pain and sometimes gets stuck like that.

At the same time, recently, the patient has felt numbness in both hands, especially the right hand, the left hand is also numb but less. The feeling of numbness often appears when the patient works, types or holds the phone for a long time and even at night when sleeping, the patient also feels numbness in the hands.

Signs of musculoskeletal disease related to smartphones

Dr. Nguyen Duc Thanh: There are two types of smartphones: one is the type that uses a physical keyboard, the other is the type that has a virtual keyboard. For these types of phones, the large pressing force causes a direct impact on the fingertips. The harmful effects of frequent smartphone use are becoming more and more common and no one pays attention to this.

In clinical practice, these cases are increasingly encountered by doctors in the clinic, mainly office workers. In addition to using computers, people use their phones a lot for work and entertainment, causing symptoms that are mainly pain in the hands, various diseases in the hands, and also affecting the spine such as the cervical spine, lumbar spine or shoulder.

The main impact is due to long-term use in a fixed, unchanging position, which puts too much pressure on the ligaments and tendons in the neck, shoulder and lumbar regions, as well as the ligaments and tendons in the wrists and hands.

Specifically, thumb disease in people who regularly use phones with physical keyboards. In addition, virtual keyboards of other types of phones also have similar symptoms.

The first symptom is a feeling of pain at the base of the finger, when the patient moves a lot, he feels stuck and cannot stretch (trigger finger); all fingers can be affected but the thumb is most common. Mild cases can be treated with medication, in severe cases, surgery is required to release and widen the tendon sheath.

The second pathology is pain in the wrist area due to the position of using a smartphone, the wrist is often bent and rotated inward excessively, causing inflammation of the tendon sheath in the wrist tendon area. Over time, the tendon sheath narrows, causing pain and limited movement. This is also a disease that causes many patients to go to the doctor, severe cases require surgery.

The third common disease is carpal tunnel syndrome due to overuse and excessive wrist flexion, causing compression of the median nerve in the wrist. People who use smartphones a lot will stimulate the tendons to become inflamed, the tendon sheath will thicken and compress the median nerve, causing carpal tunnel syndrome, causing a tingling sensation, numbness in the hands like ants crawling, making work very difficult, sometimes having to stop and not be able to do it anymore. This disease can cause consequences such as weak fingers and dangerous sequelae such as muscle atrophy of the fingers. Severe cases require surgery. In addition, there are patients who have pain in the small joints of the hands due to overuse causing inflammation of the ligaments of the small joints of the hands, causing prolonged pain.

Sequelae

Dr. Nguyen Duc Thanh stated: Tendon and muscle diseases often leave few sequelae but cause prolonged pain, affecting work and quality of life.

For neurological diseases with symptoms of pain, numbness, and nerve compression, if not treated promptly, it will leave long-term or permanent sequelae, because the nerve is compressed for a long time, causing severe degeneration.

Therefore, timely detection and appropriate treatment are very important for hand diseases related to nerves.

Prevention and treatment

Dr. Thanh advises: If users understand and treat promptly, the disease will decrease, the symptoms will disappear and there will be no need for medication or surgery.

For those who do not pay attention, still abuse and are addicted to smartphones, the symptoms of the disease will be very severe and long-lasting. In the world, it is called damage caused by smart devices, which is caused by the effects of repetitive movements and damage caused by tension that continuously puts great pressure on the muscles of the hands, wrists, and spine when sitting for a long time or working too hard.

To prevent and treat the disease, users must reduce the total time spent using smartphones in a day, and increase the time interval between uses (about 15 - 30 minutes need to change position, take breaks and exercise to reduce stress).

According to research, using a smartphone with one hand puts more pressure on the ligaments than using two hands.

Users can distribute the force of holding and pressing the phone to both hands or place the phone on a flat surface such as a table or lap, reducing pressure on the tendons and ligaments of the hand. In addition, users should practice specialized hand exercises under the advice and guidance of orthopedic specialists or physical therapists.

These exercises help strengthen tendons, ligaments and also have disease prevention effects. When experiencing numbness in the hands, or a crawling sensation, users should see a specialist to promptly detect common diseases in frequent smartphone users such as trigger finger, tendonitis in the wrist area and carpal tunnel syndrome for timely intervention, avoiding possible sequelae./.

According to VOV