Thumb knows pain of BlackBerry strain

**Joshua** · 04-27-2005, 08:03 AM

I don't have this problem.. I get hand pains from playing too much Unreal Tournament...

Thumb knows pain of BlackBerry strain
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By Amy Joyce
The Washington Post

April 25, 2005

WASHINGTON -- Sandy Boyd's BlackBerry had become her passion. Now it also
has become a source of pain.

About three months ago, the National Association of Manufacturers vice
president noticed that, as she started to type, the area between her thumb
and wrist would begin to throb.

Orthopedists say they are seeing an increasing number of patients with
similar symptoms, a condition known as "overuse syndrome" or "BlackBerry
thumb." In some patients, the disability has become severe.

Bette Keltner, dean of the Georgetown University School of Nursing and
Health Studies, has been forced to put her BlackBerry down. After two
years of constant use, her hands were in so much pain that she had to stop
typing. She remembers the trigger point: a 10-hour conference one Saturday
where she answered about 150 e-mails.

"Days later, I was in excruciating pain," she said.

The American Society of Hand Therapists issued a consumer alert in January
saying that hand-held electronics are causing an increasing number of
carpal tunnel syndrome and tendinitis cases.

Keltner recovered after 12 weeks of therapy. But three months later, even
though she has quit messaging, she said her tendinitis is back.

BlackBerry subscribers total 2.51 million, more than double the 1.07
million subscribers a year ago. Research in Motion Ltd., the maker of the
BlackBerry, declined through a spokeswoman to comment on the disability
issue. Some other hand-held devices, such as palmOne Inc.'s Treo and
T-Mobile Inc.'s Sidekick phones, use similar thumb-operated keyboards.

The pains associated with BlackBerrys and other hand-helds used to be
common among video game players, but Stuart Hirsch, clinical assistant
professor of orthopedics at St. Joseph's Hospital and Medical Center in
Paterson, N.J., believes teens who are frequent gamers are a little more
immune.

"Tendinitis won't affect your teenage son the way it will a parent,"
Hirsch said. "Children are more tolerant of overuse than adults because
they are younger."

Hirsch said he tells patients to send short answers on hand-helds.

"Thumbs were not designed for individuals to do this without certain
limits," he said. "Some people are going to be more sensitive to this
product."