Feeling slight finger pain when using touch screen? Ask yourself this : How many time does your finger touch or swipe the screen on your smart devices in a day? Probably more than 2,000 times a day. Hard core users could press their touch screen up to 5,400 times a day. You might have thought that with a device so common nowadays, it could not have cause any harm to you. Right?
Not so. Touch screen may cause strain to your finger through continuous use. It is the new version of texting thumb syndrome.
According to Dr. Franklin Tessler, professor in the Department of Radiology at the University of Alabama at Birmingham, the use of smartphones, tablets and touch screen PCs can lead to stress-related injuries. This is because due to their portability, these devices often does not encourage the users to apply right ergonomics when using them. He has identified 3 major injuries related to using these computer devices :
- Repetitive stress injuries (RSI)
- Unnatural postures and forces
- Eyestrain
There are several remedies you can apply to reduce the risk and lessen the stress on your fingers while using touch screens.
First, learn to apply the right force when pressing the touch screen. Due to lack of tactical feedback on touch screens, user tend to use excessive force when pressing and when the phone is not responding as fast, we tend to press harder.
We tend to use one finger (usually the index finger) especially for typing on the small touchscreen. For a heavy Whatsapp user, this could mean hundreds of presses using one finger for each message sent. Therefore, try to distribute the stress by using two thumbs or other fingers to press and occassionally interchanging them.
Finally, if you are already suffering from finger pain from overuse of touch screen, put on a brace and give your fingers as much rest as possible. We recommend one of these tried and tested braces below.
