Can’t Explain The Pain? It May Be Cell Phone Elbow

by Rane

Constantly talking in this position may cause cell phone elbow.

These days talking on a cell phone is pretty common. Take a look around and you will most likely find at least five people with their cell phone practically glued to their ear. But can constantly talking on your cell phone have its disadvantages? Researchers are now saying that some people may be suffering from cell phone elbow.

Cell phone elbow, also called cubital tunnel syndrome, can be diagnosed by numbness, tingling and pain in the forearm and hand. This is most likely caused by compression on the ulnar nerve, which means that talking on a cell phone repeatedly puts pressure on this nerve.

Tension on the ulnar nerve occurs when a person bends their elbows for too long, such as when holding a cell phone up to their ear.

“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.”

The first symptoms people notice are a tingling or aching in the forearm or hand, which is a pain often described as similar to hitting the “funny bone”. As symptoms get worse, they can progress to loss of muscle strength and coordination, which can make writing a difficult task. If left untreated, the ring finger and pinky can become clawed.

Small changes can be made to help fix some of the symptoms, such as using a Bluetooth earpiece or a hands-free headset while talking on the phone.

The doctors best advice to avoid this type of injury? Switch hands before the symptoms get worse.

This study was included in the May issue of the Cleveland Clinic Journal of Medicine.

Source: yahoo

Rane
Health Innovations
InventorSpot.com

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How about "TWITTER ELBOW" ! 8/22/09 @bgminc

Submitted on August 22nd, 2009 by Anonymous

New medical condition on the world scene, lol, most likely affecting the 55+ over "Boomer" crowd and/or those who already have disabilities:

New Dis-ease Title: "TWITTER ELBOW" with associated upper left back "angel wing" pain...

How this Condition Develops: Get a new iPhone (which I did on 7/3/09). Sign up for Twitter 12 days later (which I did beginning 7/15/09; first of six Twitter accts.). Do nothing but Twitter for the next month. If you're already bedbound with a disability (as I am), all tweeting is done in bed by leaning on your left elbow, holding iPhone in left hand, typing with right pinky.

Resulting Symptoms: Left elbow becomes very sore and practically raw with thick dry skin. No amount of lotion helps. :-/ Upper left backpain develops a month later (8/21/09 for me), right under that bone in upper left back known as your "angel wing" bone. All I can figure is the backpain is associated with spending too much time tweeting while propped up via left elbow.

One would think getting off the elbow would solve the back pain. But it is the exact opposite. The backpain is unnoticeable while tweeting on left elbow (but left elbow hurts all the time).

But when lying flat on back or sitting up straight or even standing up, this is when the back pain kicks in. How odd. Even so, there must be a connection between left elbow pressure and upper left back "angel wing"... I don't have an anatomy chart handy but it only makes sense they are connected.

Cures: (1) Tweet while lying flat on back? Problem is, it is very hard to hold up iPhone with left hand for any length of time. Cuts down on tweet-ability though it eases pain of very sore left elbow. ;) (2) Quit tweeting altogether until elbow heals and backpain disappears. :-/ (That #2 "cure" may be more painful than the dis-ease itself!)

Double-Blind Demographic Study currently taking place for anyone with Twitter Elbow: Chime in if you have the same problem: @bgminc :) http://www.twitlonger.com/show/dsud