The reverse side of modern technology: how gadgets can hurt you

Modern technologies have made life easier for most of us, but perhaps it is more difficult for those who are really unlucky. Injuries related to computers and telephones, from neck irritation and shoulder pain to fatal crashes, are the flip side of using gadgets that are generally useful. Some injuries happen suddenly, while others develop over time, especially those associated with repetitive tasks.

The number of such accidents is increasing. The results of the national study, published in 2009 in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine, showed that sudden computer-related injuries are increasingly occurring in the United States, and that in most cases, young children are affected.

Here are the most common injuries caused by gadgets.

Lightning strikes

Lightning strike can not be called a happy event, but you will not be lucky twice if at this time in your hands will be any gadgets. During one such incident, a 15-year-old girl was struck by lightning when she used her phone while in a large park in London. The girl needed resuscitation, because she had a heart attack. In addition, she lost her hearing in the ear near which the phone was held, due to damage to the tympanic membrane.

When a lightning strikes a person, the electric current, as a rule, flows through the skin, not entering the body, due to its high electrical resistance. Nevertheless, if you keep a metal object, it will lead to a violation of the "circular defense", the current will enter the body, and can cause damage to the internal organs.

Palmar Hydradenitis PlayStation

This newly identified skin disease, named after the PlayStation, develops when a person holds the console in his hands for a long time.

Palmar Hydradenitis PlayStation and (or rash PlayStation) was first diagnosed in a 12-year-old girl from Switzerland. She had painful lesions on her hands, but the rest of the body was clean. After the survey, the doctors revealed that just before the appearance of the rash the girl played a game on the PlayStation for a few hours a day.

Closely and continuously clamping the object with hands together with repeated pressing of the button results in a slight, but permanent injury to the surface of the skin. Representative Sony Computer Entertainment Europe Ltd, manufacturer of PlayStation, in defense of its product said that one person was injured, while hundreds of millions of other people safely use these devices.

Photosensitive seizures

Almost all gamers, probably repeatedly, have seen on the screen a warning that a small percentage of people may experience seizures or loss of consciousness when viewing certain light patterns on a TV screen or in computer games.

Approximately every one hundredth person suffers from epilepsy, and from 3 to 5 percent have a photosensitive form of this disease. Scientists do not know what causes epilepsy, but it is assumed that inadequate brain signals or an imbalance of signaling chemicals in it plays a role.

For most types of epilepsy, there are no medications. People who have photosensitive epilepsy should avoid any regular moving objects or flickering lights that can cause this condition.

Hand Injuries

When people perform often repetitive movements by their hands, for example, when using gadgets, they can gradually injure their muscles, tendons and nerves. The resulting painful condition is known as repeated deformation trauma (RSI).

One of the most severe forms of RSI is carpal tunnel syndrome, during which there is excessive pressure on the nerve in the wrist. Symptoms of the disease are pain, numbness and damage to the muscles of the hand and fingers. People with severe cases of the syndrome require surgical intervention to solve this problem. In another form, the RSI tendons become inflamed, and the fingers remain in a bent position.

Syndrome of computer vision

People who use the computer for more than two hours a day may develop a computer vision syndrome (CVS). CVS refers to a group of vision problems that arise as a result of prolonged use of the computer. Most often, people experience eye fatigue, headaches, blurred vision and dryness in the body. Unfortunately, for most people these symptoms can be very disturbing, especially if they appear every day.

CVS appears because of the high visual requirements for viewing the computer. The eyes are forced to work more strenuously, at closer distances from the computer screen and from a different viewing angle. CVS affects 70 percent of those who work for computers at least two hours each day. Non-glare screens and proper lighting can be useful for reducing vision problems.

Death from counterfeit chargers

Despite the simple appearance, the power adapter inside is quite complicated. Although most chargers are probably safe, there have recently been reports of people who have suffered from electric shock caused by malfunctions of counterfeit chargers.

According to news agencies, recently a woman died in China, which used a fake charger to charge the phone.

It is likely that some manufacturers of counterfeit products do not comply with all the security measures used in branded chargers in order to reduce costs.

Tinnitus

People who use mobile phones for a long time are at a higher risk of developing persistent ringing in the ears. In one study, the results of which were published in 2010 in the journal "Occupational and Environmental Medicine", scientists examined 100 people with chronic tinnitus and 100 people without this problem. Researchers asked respondents various questions about their use of a mobile phone.
They found that people who used mobile phones extensively for more than four years had twice the chance of developing tinnitus.

Nevertheless, two earlier studies did not find a connection between the use of the phone and this symptom. Another study led to the conclusion that people who feel that they are sensitive to electromagnetic fields are more prone to developing tinnitus, and the duration of their use of the phone does not matter.

People with noise in the ears often hear meaningless sounds in the absence of external influence. It is not yet clear what causes tinnitus, but the disorder is very difficult to treat.

From 10 to 20 percent of people experience some degree of noise in the ears, according to epidemiological studies. Although many have learned to ignore these sounds, about one hundred and one-hundredths of the adult noise becomes so strong that it interferes with daily life.

Silent death

Headphones can be one of the few means of guarding against noise around us, but they do not save from accidents. Studies have shown that the number of road accidents involving pedestrians in headphones is increasing.

An overview of accidents, named in national news reports, news, and injury databases, in the period from 2004 to 2011 in America showed that during this time there were 116 accidents in which pedestrians were injured while using headphones. In 70 percent of these accidents, pedestrians died.