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Too much cell phone use may lead to cell phone elbow

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2009-06-03 19:32

LOS ANGELES -- Cell phone use has become more popular in the world, and almost anywhere there are people holding their cell phones to talk. But American orthopedic specialists have found that talking too much holding a cell phone can lead to "cell phone elbow."

Donna Malloy, a 66-year-old American lady, said she noticed the numbness in her hands when she spoke on her cell phone for hours. She started dropping things in her left hand and it was hard for her to do any needlework. She thought she was turning old and falling apart.

But when she went to see a doctor, she was told she had a "cell phone elbow," also called cubital tunnel syndrome, and the doctor suggested a surgery.

After the surgery, Malloy said her hands "are fine now, It doesn't bother me." She still talks on her cell phone, but she uses a bluetooth headset.

Constant cell phone use could stress out the ulnar nerves, which travels through the forearm and branches into the hand, said Dr. Leon Benson, an orthopedic surgeon and spokesman for the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons, according to the HealthDay News.

"Repetitive, sustained stretching of the nerve is like stepping on a garden hose," said Dr. Peter J. Evans, director of the Cleveland Clinic's Hand and Upper Extremity Center.

"With the hose, you're blocking the flow of water. With the elbow, you're blocking the blood flow to the nerve, which causes it to misfire and short circuit," said Evans.

"The more you bend it, the more it stretches. It diminishes the blood supply, and the blood is not flowing through the nerves," he said.

While the nerves are designed for stretching, "it's not normal to be in a position to be stretched for an hour," Benson added.

The first symptoms patients often notice include numbness, tingling or aching in the forearm and hand, a pain similar to hitting the "funny bone."

As symptoms progress, they can include a loss of muscle strength, coordination and mobility that can make writing and typing difficult. In chronic, untreated cases, the ring finger and pinky can become clawed, Evans and colleagues note in a report in the May issue of the Cleveland Clinic Journal of Medicine.

Doctors said people who have the cell phone elbow can feel weakness in their hands and have difficulty opening jars or playing musical instruments.

"It could impede your typing ability, your writing ability," Evans said. "People get very unintelligible writing if it gets severe."

Though there are no solid figures on how many people have cell phone elbow, hand specialists say the incidence is increasing along with the 3.3 billion cell phone service contracts active worldwide, Evans said.

"Cubital tunnel is the second most common compression syndrome we see," said Heather Turkopp, an occupational therapist and certified hand specialist at William Beaumont Hospital in Royal Oak, Michigan.

Tukopp said most people who get cubital tunnel syndrome are middle-aged or older. Women get cubital tunnel syndrome more often than men.

Although the precise reasons are unknown, women may be more susceptible due to hormonal fluctuations or their anatomy, Evans said.

However, too much cell phone use isn't the only cause of cubital tunnel syndrome, according to doctors. Other causes may include sleeping with the elbows bent and tucked up into the chest, sitting at a desk with the elbows flexed at an angle greater than 90 degrees and driving with your elbow propped on the window for extended periods.

In most cases, minor lifestyle changes can help alleviate symptoms, including using a hands-free headset for the cell phone. If sleep position is the problem, an elbow pad to keep the arm straighter at night can help, doctors said.