Mundelein, Illinois: Carpal tunnel syndrome was once largely the domain of middle-aged secretaries who spent all day typing. Now we are starting to see people develop the debilitating condition from other finger-based activities, like texting. Take the example of 16-year-old Annie Levitz, who sent more than 100 text messages a day.
After experiencing “shooting pains and tingly, numb sensations in her hand” Levitz’s condition started to affect her ability to hold everyday objects.
In her own words:
Enough dishes were broken that my parents and I really started to notice and decided to see a doctor.
The doctor in question, Dr. Sofia Aksentijevich broke the news to the Levitz’s that young Annie had developed carpal tunnel syndrome from sending text messages. Her condition is bad enough that she must wear a brace on each hand; later, she will have to undergo surgery.
Annie told the ABC that she regretted her frequent texting:
I definitely regret it. It’s painful, first of all. It’s embarrassing wearing the braces, and having people know – it’s not the greatest.
She takes the nickname that people in her science class have given her in good humor; they call her carpal tunnel girl.
Annie hasn’t stopped the activity that landed her in the hand braces, but she has scaled back. In her heyday she was sending more than 100 messages a day, for total of more than 4,000 messages a month. She now sends about 2,000, her parents hope that she will send less. As for Annie, she is hoping to upgrade to an iPhone.
I do think that since it’s touch it won’t be as rough on my hands.
As extreme as Annie’s texting activity sounds, research firm Nielsen Research suggests that the average teenager sends 3,146 text messages per month, more than enough to place them at risk of carpal tunnel syndrome.
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