I was on a bus on my way to work and was seated beside a youngster with head bent, both hands holding a cell phone and with thumbs flying over the key pad. It was an hour ride to the office. The lad never once lifted his head from his cell phone. Although the incessant rhythmic clicking of the key pad is not unpleasant to the ear it still got on my nerves because I was mentally organizing my thoughts for a presentation that I was going to make.

Texting seems to be the most popular communication tool nowadays. It is the in thing for the young generation. It is a great way to keep in touch, to disseminate information, to get weather forecasts, news alerts, and even for entertainment where a person can join contests. Through texting a parent can be notified by school administrators regarding school closings due to emergencies such as bomb threats.

Texting for over an hour though is quite a feat. But some text addicts admitted to have sent over 100 text messages in one day. Aside from eye strain that could result from the prolonged viewing of the small screen of a cell phone, upper limb disorders could also occur. This is commonly known as the text message injury (TMI). Too much texting could result to painful wrist and fingers. This is due to the enlargement or swelling of tendons in the thumb and wrists.

Since total abstinence from texting is out of the question especially for teenagers, safe texting measures should be undertaken to avoid the occurrence of TMI. First and foremost is to text in moderation. A 15 minutes texting session should be observed so as not to cause muscle fatigue. Using both hands to hold the phone and both thumbs to text would ease the muscle strain. Try to use a chair or a table to support the hands. The cell phone’s weight may be insignificant but holding it for a considerable time would cause the hand and the fore arm to feel sore. Massaging and flexing the wrist and fingers would ease the soreness and the pain.

Almost all cell phones have a predictive text messaging feature. By using this feature, repetitive pressing of keys will be avoided thus less muscle fatigue will ensue.

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