60 May 2014 www.womanthismonth.com There’s a new kind of addiction that’s gripped the world — that of gadgets and staying connected 24x7. Doctors have noticed an alarming number of people who seek medical help for problems caused by the constant use of electronic devices. Technology is meant to help and not harm us physically or mentally. If we looked away from our glowing screens just enough, we would hear our bodies telling us to get off the grid. Heed the advice of our experts to keep your body and mind happy. Gadget Grumble Our expert: Dr Abdul Kareem Al Azzawi, medical director and consultant orthopaedic at Bahrain Specialist Hospital Dr Al Azzawi has recently seen more patients walking in to his clinic with painful stress injuries caused by the wrong use of machines and devices. Chronic back pain caused by sitting for long periods of time without any movement is one of the most common complaints he encounters. “Stress injuries are caused by using laptops, mobiles and tablets over several hours every day,” says Dr Al Azzawi. “Sitting continuously leads to the weakening of the lumbar muscle, which is the guide for the movement of the spine. Years of bad sitting posture leads to an unstable spine and problems, like discal prolapse and sciatica.” Placing the computer screen at the wrong height makes people crane the neck, using more of the flexor muscles rather than the extensor muscles of the spine. This leads to instability of the cervical spine, ending with weakness of inter-vertebral muscles and discal problems. Use of the computer mouse over extended periods of time puts direct pressure on the anterior part of the wrist, leading to carpal tunnel syndrome. This is an extremely painful disorder that causes numbness and the weakening of the three radial fingers, which often requires surgery. Fashionably called Blackberry thumb, tendonitis is another painful fallout of incessantly using your digits to play games or communicate. It starts with inflamed tendons of the fingers. It then affects ligaments and eventually leads to ‘locking’ of the fingers, LIFESTYLE | wellbeing All Teched Out by BEHNAZ SANJANA In this era of instant communication through emails and various messaging applications, people go out of their way to keep a green icon glowing alongside their name. But there comes a time when your body needs you to unplug.
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