January 31, 2005
Blackberry e-mailing potentially more harmful than text messaging
US and UK doctors use of a Blackberry device could cause arthritis or harm tendons in the thumb. The trendy handheld is potentially more harmful to the tendons that cell phone texting, because people type out longer texts by emails, reports the BBC via Gizmodo.
"[...] US experts have also raised concerns about repetitive Blackberry use. Professor Alan Hedge, director of the human factors and ergonomics research group at Cornell University in New York, said in the early 1990s people had complained of sore thumbs from playing computer games too much.
"It is the same principle. The thumb is not very flexible and repetitive use of it can lead to damage to the tendon on the outside of the thumb.
"The Blackberry is much more demanding than texting on phones because users tend to use them to type out emails. Maybe they should be limited to 50 words or so.
People who use them a lot could suffer from osteoarthritis
There have been no cases reporte to date however.
Click here for a roundup of related stories on how text messaging causes repetitive strain injury.
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