All these new gadgets may make life easier but, as Gillian Shaw explains, there is a digital downside. Doctors are seeing an increasing number of medical complaints directly related to our tech toys. Below, she takes a look at some of the most common ailments.
Chicken Neck, a.k.a. Geek Neck
Just look around your office at all those heads jutting forward. Yes, we look like a bunch of chickens as we peer at our computers. A killer for your neck, it's a cash cow for chiropractors and other medical service providers who try to undo the damage that we inflict on ourselves.
iPosture
The increasing use of tablets and smartphones is causing an increase in back pain, according to a recent study released by BackCare, a U.K. back pain charity. The study found 84 per cent of 18-to 24-year-olds suffered back pain the past 12 months, with slumping and hunching over computers and hand held devices seen as the culprit. Outside of traditional TV viewing, the study of 3,000 adults found that people over the age of 55 spend on average 6.64 hours a day in front of a screen, compared with 8.83 hours for a typical 18-to 24-year-old.
The vertigo's not virtual
Apple recently had to release an update for its new mobile operating system, iOS 7, after people reported nausea and dizziness from the system's zoom animation. Apps zoom in and out in the new operating system and the update allows users to turn that off. Under accessibility in the settings, there's now an on/offbutton for "reduce motion."
Hearing loss
Those earbuds could be causing hearing loss. While playing music too loudly on headphones can also hurt your hearing, earbuds can be worse because they increase sound by several decibels. According to the American Osteopathic Association, one in five teens has some form of hearing loss, up 30 per cent compared to the 1980s and 1990s.
FoMO: Fear of Missing Out
Fuelled by Facebook and other social networks, this is the anxiety that comes from a fear that we are missing some opportunity, event or interaction - the ones that everyone else on your social networks seem to be enjoying.
My phone the poltergeist If you find yourself reaching for your phone because you think it's vibrating - and then you find it's not - you're not alone. Another unintended consequence of the digital age, it's part of what Dr. Larry Rosen would term iDisorder. A professor at California State University, Rosen studies the impact of technology on our brains. He has found that our constant use of technology and media is producing changes in our brain's ability to process information and our ability to relate to the world.
BlackBerry Thumb
A repetitive strain injury in the same class as texting thumb, nintendinitis, wiiitus and PlayStation Thumb. Our thumbs were not made to punch out text messages or push game controllers day in and day out. Tendons get inflamed and you'll be reaching for the ibuprofen.
Toasted skin syndrome, a.k.a. Erythema ab igne
Toasted skin, Chicken Neck - it's beginning to sound like the menu for a zombie apocalypse. This is what the heat from a laptop can do to your legs. It could also be a hot water bottle or a heating pad, so the fairly simple prevention for this condition is not to leave anything on your skin that is burning it. The youngest person known to have this syndrome was a 12-year-old boy whose use of a laptop computer left him with a web-like pattern of hyperpigmentation on his left thigh.
iPad Hand
If you thought trading in your keyboard for a touch screen tablet would solve all those problems, it's just created new ones. Doctors have reported patients complaining of sore muscles and repetitive strain from holding their tablet in one hand and scrolling and tapping with the other.
Source:The Vancouver Sun
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