Effects of smartphones on your hands & fingers: Tapping, swiping & typing

Modern touchscreen smartphone was a groundbreaking innovation in the late 2000s which resulted in a shift as people turned to these stylish gadgets, ditching tiny keys and the use of stylus.

The innovation made life easier in many ways but also came with its effects particularly to hands and fingers.

During public service commute, at social events and even on queues, it is almost impossible not to get several people glued to their phones and scrolling through.

While smartphones have revolutionised how we work, communicate, access information and interact with entertaining content, fingers and hands have ben on the receiving end.

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The typing, swiping and tapping with the hand holding the device in a desirable position could from prolonged use of smartphones.

Repetitive hand movement and awkward positioning of the hand when using smartphones for prolonged periods of time result in a number issues commonly characterized by pain, stiffness, numbness, cramping and aching of fingers and muscles and reduced dexterity for hands and fingers.

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• Smartphone finger pain: When a swelling develops in the finger after extensive use, resulting in pain, stiffness, clicking and locking of the finger.

• Smartphone Hand Pain which occurs when the hand tendons, muscles, and ligaments are repetitively used for a prolonged period of time, often in the same position rand is characterized by pain, stiffness, and weakness in the affected hand.

• Wrist pain

• Thumb pain

Notably, these are not directly associated with the smartphone usage but are a result of the positioning of the hand, repetitive motions of fingers as you tap, swipe and type.

Mitigating issues

While the impact of prolonged smartphones on your hand and fingers is often not serious, recognizing these issues in time and mitigating them is a crucial step in having your hands and fingers performing at optimum while still using this essential gadget with some level of comfort and ease.

Below are a few strategies that are helpful.

• Take regular breaks

• Massage your hands and fingers to relieve the pain and relax the muscles

• Do some stretching exercises when taking a break from smartphone usage

• Having a smart phone in a size that you can comfortably grip: A phone with a large screen could be difficult to grip and see you stretch your fingers as you tap, swipe, scroll and type. On the contrary, a very small phone will see the thumb used most of the time.

• Switch hands and practice different smartphone holding techniques, allowing one hand to recover as the other holds the phone.

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The number of those owning or with access to smartphones has increased over the years and the trend expected to continue with people spending more time on their devices.