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Tech-Induced Injuries & Maladies

EnolaGaia

I knew the job was dangerous when I took it ...
(ACCOUNT RETIRED)
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Gaming can lead to laming ... This guy ruptured a tendon playing Candy Crush.
San Diego surgeons treat man's 'Candy Crush thumb'
The man told doctors he played Candy Crush Saga "all day for 6 to 8 weeks" before rupturing a tendon in his thumb.
A team of San Diego doctors said a 29-year-old man was treated for "Candy Crush thumb" after he tore a tendon from playing the smartphone color-matching game.

The doctors, writing in medical journal JAMA Internal Medicine, said the man was found to have ruptured a tendon in his thumb and he told doctors the injury had come after he played Candy Crush Saga on his phone "all day for 6 to 8 weeks."

The tendon was fixed in surgery, the study said.

The study authors said the man did not report any pain in his thumb until the tendon actually ruptured, indicating an addiction to the game may have caused the patient to feel less pain.

"The potential for video games to reduce pain perception raises clinical and social considerations about excessive use, abuse, and addiction," they wrote. "Future research should consider whether pain reduction is a reason some individuals play video games excessively, manifest addiction, or sustain injuries associated with video gaming."

SOURCE: https://www.upi.com/Odd_News/2015/0...s-treat-mans-Candy-Crush-thumb/4471429110943/
 
This 2014 news item claims pencil-necks can make 'text neck' their ultimate pain in the neck ...

You may be ruining your back by staring at your smartphone all day
Researchers at the National Institutes of Health are worried about Americans' posture. Apparently, it's being corrupted by smartphone addiction, and may result in series spinal injuries later in life. ...

The head is heavy, roughly a dozen pounds on average, and all that weight requires the support of the neck and vertebra. The human spine, of course, is well equipped for the job when sitting or standing upright -- in other words, when we are displaying proper posture.

But the burden of our dome becomes greater as our posture becomes corrupted, as we slouch or our neck and head lean ahead. In fact, as the neck leans forward 45 degrees, the relative weight of the head more than quadruples -- from 12 to 49 pounds. At 60 degrees, its relative weight is 60 pounds.

Increasingly, smartphone users are hunched over putting undue pressure on their spines, researchers say. And the physical consequences of that pressure accumulate over time. The condition, sometimes called "text neck," can wear down the spine, eventually requiring surgery.

In a paper submitted to the National Library of Medicine, study author Kenneth Hansraj -- who serves as chief of spine surgery at New York Spine Surgery and Rehabilitation Medicine -- says text neck is now a growing epidemic. ...

SOURCE: https://www.upi.com/Health_News/201...ing-at-your-smartphone-all-day/8441416510199/
 
And in case you think vanity is a victimless sin, consider the rise and proliferation of 'selfie wrist' ...

Doctor notes rise in 'selfie wrist' cases
A Los Angeles doctor said he's seeing an increase in smartphone photo-snapping patients suffering from "selfie wrist."

Dr. Levi Harrison, an orthopedic surgeon, said patients have been coming in complaining of pain in their wrists and tingling in their fingers as a result of hyper-flexing their wrists when taking selfies with their smartphones.

"It's a form of carpal tunnel because what happens again is this hyperflexion of the wrist appears to cause median nerve neuritis, which basically, is the nerve becomes inflamed and angry," Harrison told KABC-TV.

Harrison said he has been instructing patients on how to hold their phones with less wrist strain and to do exercises that relieves the inflammation. ...

SOURCE: https://www.upi.com/Odd_News/2018/12/21/Doctor-notes-rise-in-selfie-wrist-cases/4581545414443/
 
WRULD= Work Related Upper Limb Disorders.

This kind of injury is cropping up a lot more than they used to in connection with Tech use. As the line between work and private use becomes more blurred this is becoming a work place problem. Employers have a duty of care to ensure that work practices do not cause harm or lead to a worsening of pre-existing conditions, this is very hard to do if people spend all day glued to a monitor then evenings slumped over an Ipad playing Candy Crush.
 
It turns out that "text neck" can lead to the growth of bony tissue spikes or protuberances ...
Humans Are Growing Weird, Bone Spikes on Their Skulls. Smartphones May Be the Culprit.

The hours we spend scrolling through our smartphones appear to be changing our skulls. This may be the reason why some people — especially the younger crowd — are developing a weird, bony spike just above their necks.

The bony skull bump — known as an external occipital protuberance — is sometimes so large, you can feel it by pressing your fingers on the base of your skull.

"I have been a clinician for 20 years, and only in the last decade, increasingly, I have been discovering that my patients have this growth on the skull," David Shahar, a health scientist at the University of The Sunshine Coast, Australia, told the BBC in a fascinating feature about the changing human skeleton. ...

A cause-and-effect relationship hasn't been identified, but it's possible that the spike comes from constantly bending one's neck at uncomfortable angles to look at smart devices. The human head is heavy, weighing about 10 lbs. (4.5 kilograms), and tilting it forward to look at funny cat photos (or however you spend your smartphone time) can strain the neck — hence the crick people sometimes get, known as "text neck." ...

In a 2016 study in the Journal of Anatomy, Shahar and a colleague looked at the radiographs of 218 young patients, ages 18 to 30, to determine how many had these bumps. Regular spikes had to measure at least 0.2 inches (5 millimeters), and enlarged spikes measured 0.4 inches (10 mm).

In all, 41% of the group had an enlarged spike and 10% had an especially large spike measuring at least 0.7 inches (20 mm), the doctors found. In general, enlarged spikes were more common in males than in females. The largest spike belonged to a man, sticking out at 1.4 inches (35.7 mm).

Another study of 1,200 individuals, ages 18 to 86, that Shahar and a co-researcher did revealed that these spikes are more prevalent in younger people. Enlarged spikes occurred in 33% of the group, but participants ages 18 to 30 years old were significantly more likely to have these spikes than the older generations, they found.

These bony spikes are likely here to stay, Shahar said. "Imagine if you have stalactites and stalagmites, if no one is bothering them, they will just keep growing," he told the BBC. Luckily, these spikes rarely cause medical issues. If you are experiencing discomfort, however, try improving your posture, he said.

SOURCE: https://www.livescience.com/65711-humans-growing-bony-skull-spikes.html
 
There have been problems with 'tech' - oh how I hate that word - for 40 years or more. Almost no-one knows how to correctly orient their keyboard and screen, and mobile phones are possibly - in ergonomic term - the worst thing ever invented. Even worse than laptops which are pretty bad. People who employ people to use these things better hope the ambulance chasing lawyers never latch on to the injuries (neck, wrist, fingers/thumbs, possibly eyesight) they cause.
 
Does this count as evolution?

Basically - no. Individuals' developmental quirks arising during their lifetimes don't count as part of (strictly) biological evolution until and unless they become features genetically fed forward to offspring.
 
Basically - no. Individuals' developmental quirks arising during their lifetimes don't count as part of (strictly) biological evolution until and unless they become features genetically fed forward to offspring.

I suppose we'll have to give it a few generations to see if a new bone is passed on. So to speak. Of course, mobiles and tablets may be obsolete by then.
 
I suppose we'll have to give it a few generations to see if a new bone is passed on. So to speak. Of course, mobiles and tablets may be obsolete by then.
They'll be built into our skulls by then.
 
As currently seen on Years and Years. No privacy, even if you don't have a built in head computer.
That would indeed be Hell.
 
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