What Years of Typing and Texting Do to Your Hands

"Holding a phone or hovering over a keyboard puts your fingers, hand and wrist in an unnatural position for a long period of time. We all know we spend too much time on our devices - nearly a third of our waking hours, on average - and often for stretches where we forget to stand, look away or even breathe (a phenomenon called "screen apnea.")"

"Your hand's flexor tendon system connects the fibrous cords in your palm to the muscles in your forearm. It's an intricate little network of pulleys and sheaths that enable us to perform any number of tasks: pick up an orange, open a drawer, flip off a driver. But we didn't evolve to keep that system at constant work and attention."

Frequent phone and keyboard use places the fingers, hand, and wrist in unnatural positions for extended periods, often occupying nearly a third of waking hours and producing shallow breathing known as screen apnea. The hand's flexor tendon system links fibrous cords in the palm to forearm muscles through pulleys and sheaths that enable gripping and fine motor tasks. Constant repetitive use can overload that system because it did not evolve for continuous activity. Depending on typing style and wrist posture, decades of typing can increase risk of carpal tunnel syndrome, causing median nerve compression, numbness, and weakened pinch strength.

Read at InsideHook