“iHurt Era”

Tuesday, 02 February 2010 | by Pat's Picks

Call it the “iHurt” era. The San Francisco Chronicle says our obsession with technology has created scores of new injuries from “texting thumb” to “Blackberry neck.” According to experts, the neck and the upper back seem to take the most abuse because many devices encourage bad posture. The paper offers the tips below to help avoid technology-related injuries:

Limit texting: Don’t send too many text messages. If your thumbs or wrists hurt from texting, cut back.

Rest: Every five or 10 minutes, take a brief break to listen to your body and move around if you’re uncomfortable.

Move: When sitting at a laptop or desktop computer, take a break at least once an hour and stand up and walk around.

Look away: When looking at a small screen - watching a movie on an iPod, for example, or reading e-mails on a PDA - look up frequently and focus your eyes on something far away to help prevent eyestrain.

Support elbows: Rest your elbows on an armrest or tuck them into your sides to support your arms and shoulders when using a handheld device. This also raises the screen closer to eye level, which alleviates neck stress.

Call a doctor: If you feel sharp pain, pain shooting down your arms, or tingling in your hands and fingers, see a doctor.