WHATSAPPITIS WOES WHEN TEXTING TURNS INTO TERROR TO THE THUMB

THE CONSTANT GRIPPING, SWIPING, AND TAPPING WE DO WITH OUR THUMBS STRAINS THE TENDONS AROUND OUR WRISTS

Let's be honest, folks, WhatsApp is basically an extension of our arms these days. With a staggering 2 billion active users worldwide, it's the undisputed king of messaging apps. We churn out a mind-blowing billion messages daily that's enough to fill a library with phone-sized novels! But here's the not-so-secret secret: all this texting love affair can lead to a very real pain in the, well, thumb - a condition us doctors like to call Whatsappitis.

Now, I know "Whatsappitis" sounds like a joke but is a documented medical diagnosis in The Lancet. As an orthopaedic surgeon practising on the IT corridor of Chennai, I get to see on a daily basis much it can disrupt people's lives. Just last week, I had a young woman named Priya come into my clinic. She's a whiz with social media, but lately, her WhatsApp habit had turned into a nightmare. Every time she tried to type a message, a sharp pain would shoot up her thumb, making even simple conversations an effort. She looked frustrated and down - WhatsApp, which used to connect her, was now isolating her.

This isn't uncommon. The constant gripping, swiping, and tapping we do with our thumbs strains the tendons around our wrists. Imagine your thumb tendons like tiny little tightropes. When you overuse them, they get inflamed and irritated, just like a tightrope walker who spends way too much time on the wire.