Phone Games and Pain

Our smart phones and ipads are notorious for triggering or aggravating repetitive stress issues.

Arts, crafts, woodworking, and other hobbies can cause repetitive stress too. But the games were on my mind because I recently had a little free time and downloaded a phone game (ack, guilty of falling for the ad).

It was one where you move ropes to untangle them, then a bit later it showed me an ad for one where you unlock arrows to clear the screen. Sure, why not? Downloaded that one too.

After playing with both for a little bit, I closed the apps, noticed my hand was a little sore, and looked at the time. 1 hour and 20 minutes went by! What?!?! I’d swear it was mayyyybe 20 minutes at most.

How many times have I told a patient to watch their time with games and take frequent breaks, etc.? And here I am doing the same thing.

Knowing these games aren’t good for me, I immediately deleted both of them from my phone. Both my time and my hands are precious.

I’m not saying you have to delete your games, a little distraction can be nice when life is stressful, but I do want you to play them with more caution and awareness.

Why does it matter?

Each movement is a very tiny swipe or tap of a finger. Doesn’t seem like much.

Now let’s say you play for 45 minutes.

Part of the problem is the time warp – “just one more level” effect.

And the slot machine-like addictive rewards of the game – getting bonus time, playing until you pass that hard level, random inconsistent surprises, etc. Little dopamine hits.

And have you noticed most games hide clocks? They do not want you to know how much time is passing.

But for my patients, I’m more concerned about the repetitive stress pain it can cause.

Because these are tiny muscles being used, we don’t pay as much attention to them until they scream at us.

Let’s imagine a big muscle like a bicep. Would you ever do bicep curls on one side only, continuously, non-stop for 45 minutes?

Never.

Sounds ridiculous, right? You do 8-12 reps, stop, stretch, switch to the other side. Maybe you repeat this for 2 or 3 sets but that’s it. Then you move on to a different muscle.

But yet we ask all our little muscles to work non-stop. Absolutely that can lead to pain.

Most commonly I see:

Thumb pain either at the joint at the base, or the fleshy muscle on the palm side, or between the thumb and index finger.

Thumb tendon pain along the thumb-side wrist (a.k.a. DeQuervains, texting thumb, mommy thumb, server’s thumb)

Carpal tunnel pain or tingling in the palm or thumb and first two fingers

But did you know your elbow and shoulder are affected too?

Outer elbow pain – affected by tapping. Take your left hand and touch the right outer elbow where the elbow crease ends. Now move your right fingers in a tapping motion – can you feel the movement at the elbow?

Inner elbow pain – affected by pinching like zooming and shrinking images. Use your left hand to touch the right inner elbow where the inner crease ends. Now make a pinching motion with your right hand. Can you feel it?

Swiping motions affect both inner and outer elbow depending on if your wrist is flexed or extended.

Shoulder pain – a common spot I see repetitive stress pain is about halfway to 2/3 up the upper arm where the brachialis muscle attaches to the bone. Also in the deltoid or rotator cuff muscles when using a bigger surface like an ipad.

Opposite hand – sometimes the hand holding the phone has more pain than the moving hand. Same concept: go back to our bicep curl example – this is like doing one curl and then holding it for 45 minutes straight.

So what do you do?

Take frequent breaks.
– Use a timer.
– Remind yourself the game isn’t going anywhere – you can come back to it later.
– Pay attention to the hooks where they try to keep you playing longer.
– Switch to games that don’t require as much repetitive motion like NYT Games or ones that have short lives that force you to stop.
– Stretch your fingers, wrist, elbow, and shoulder before and after.
– Prop the elbow of your moving hand on something so the entire shoulder and elbow aren’t holding up the arm the whole time.
– Prop your phone/ipad on something else so your other hand doesn’t grip it the whole time

If repetitive stress is the cause of your pain, your best relief is to start setting boundaries around play time (or go cold turkey and delete the app).

And, of course, I will recommend acupuncture! Click here to schedule your appointment. (Though I will still talk with you about changing the habit so the pain doesn’t keep coming back.)