The American Physical Therapy Association recently recognized BlackBerry Thumb as an official work place malady -- a stress-related injury due to over-use of any PDA or smartphone. Ontario-based Research IN Motion Ltd's BlackBerry became a technological must-have in the late 1990s as a tool that delivers e-mail to users on the move.
Professor Alan Hedge, an ergonomics specialist at Cornell University in New York state, said the condition is caused by "highly repetitive, forceful thumb movements with the thumbs held back from the palms." The symptoms are pain in the thumb and region around the base of the thumb and hand. Treatment typically consists of resting or strapping the thumb, anti-inflammatory medicines, cortisone injections and, as a last resort, surgery.
News source: Reuters
Do you think that industries and specialists should be focused on making healing balms, or providing better ergonomics to the BlackBerry?
Haha good one. I guess painful computing is the way of the future.
What I think is sad is that there are people on their BB so much that they get sore thumbs... I mean, Jesus H Christ. If you're emailing that much get a fcking laptop already!
* A Blackberry is way more portable than a laptop.
* A laptop cannot (for the most part) act as a phone.
* A laptop has limited wireless capabilities; a Blackberry can access the internet pretty much anywhere.
i should open up a blackberry thumb massage parlor and club everyone who comes in with a mallot, take their wallet, and give the money to starving people.
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