Excessive gadget users, beware of the risk of carpal tunnel syndrome!

How long do you usually spend using your gadget? If it’s about five hours a day, you should cut your daily usage as it can harm your health!

Nowadays, gadget use such as smartphones, tablets, computers, and laptops have become a part of the lifestyle of many people, particularly millennials. The digital market research institute, Emarketer, estimated that the number of smartphone users in Indonesia reached more than 100 million people in 2018. Sometimes, people become so engaged in using their gadgets for social media, playing games, watching videos, and browsing the internet that they forget to take a break. Nevertheless, many are still not aware that excessive use of gadgets can cause health problems, particularly on the hands and wrists.

According to a study published in the Muscle & Nerve journal, obsessive use of gadgets can cause severe pain in the hands and wrists. Recently, researchers have found that using gadgets for five hours a day can increase a person’s risk of developing carpal tunnel syndrome (CTS). More specifically, researchers from Hong Kong Polytechnic University compared 48 students who use their smartphone, tablets, computers, and video game consoles for more than five hours daily to students who use gadgets less frequently. It was found that 45% of students who frequently used their gadgets experienced pain in their hand or wrist, while less frequent users did not experience such pain.

So, what is CTS? According to the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, CTS happens when the median nerve that travels through the forearm into the palm of the hand becomes pressed at the wrist. The carpal tunnel is a narrow and rigid passageway of ligament and bones at the base of the hand; it houses the median nerve and tendons that bend the fingers. The median nerve provides sensation to the palm of the hand and fingers. When this nerve is pressed, one can feel burning, pain, numbness, and tingling on the palm of the hand and fingers, primarily in their thumbs, forefingers, middle fingers, and ring fingers. Other symptoms can include occasional shock-like sensations that radiate to the thumbs, forefingers, middle fingers, and ring fingers; pain and tingling that travel up to the arms towards the shoulders; and weakness of the hand that may cause a person to often drop things and make it difficult for them to perform fine movements such as buttoning their clothes.

How does gadget use lead to CTS? When you’re busy using your gadget for social media, sending messages, or playing games for a long time, the repetitive movement can cause the ligament or tendons in the carpal tunnel to become swollen, which presses on the median nerve. As a result, you feel a burning and tingling sensation, which are known symptoms of CTS.

However, don’t worry! CTS can be prevented by minimizing the burden on your hands and wrists. Here are some tips:

·       Take frequent rests from using your gadget to avoid repetitive movement.

·       Do frequent stretches of the fingers, wrists, and hands.

·       Hold your gadget in an ergonomically correct way, by avoiding bending your wrist when using your gadget.

·       Place your gadget on a table to text using both hands.

Then, what can be done if someone already has CTS? According to the National Health Service, you can use a wrist splint to keep the wrist straight, which will help relieve pressure on the median nerve. Then, you should stop or limit doing anything that may be the cause of CTS; in this case, you should reduce gadget use. You can also take painkillers such as paracetamol or ibuprofen to provide short-term pain relief. Finally, you can do hand exercises as evidence has shown that hand exercises can help relieve CTS symptoms. If using a wrist splint does not help, then your doctor may recommend injecting steroids into your wrist to reduce the swelling around the nerve.

But what if CTS becomes worse and other treatments fail? If so, your doctor may refer you to a specialist for surgery. Surgery is performed to free the squeezed nerve by cutting the ligament, so it no longer presses the nerve. Surgery can usually cure CTS.

In a nutshell, excessive use of gadgets can cause health problems, one of which is CTS. CTS can interfere with your daily activities; therefore, you must control yourself in using gadgets every day, because it is better to prevent CTS than treating it.