Can the way you hold your phone affect your joints?

Can the way you hold your phone affect your joints? When was the last time you went somewhere totally tech-free?

Like it or not, most of us rely on technology to work, play, and stay in contact with the people around us.

But take a look at your body: are there signs your devices are making themselves a little too at home?

Skip to: 

• What is smartphone pinky?
• Poor posture while WFH
• Poor tech posture symptoms
• Tips for safer scrolling
• The final say

"Smartphone pinky”: is it just the beginning?

Spread out your hand: do you see a dent in your little finger? This is common enough to have its own name (“smartphone pinky”)… but what actually is it?

This isn’t an official medical diagnosis! It’s just a name for the indent you see. This dent happens when we hold our phone in a certain way over time. Thankfully, it’s not dangerous or a permanent alteration to your body. You’re not reshaping the bones in your finger; just squashing down the skin.

While “smartphone pinky” might not pose a threat to your immediate health, it’s certainly worth considering some of the other ways technology might affect us.

Poor posture while working

It’s thought that the average office worker spends 1700 hours in front of a computer each year. ⁵

In an ideal world, we’d all have perfect posture. But, for many of us, the way we sit at work could be damaging our joints, bones, and muscles.

Sustaining the same position for a long time is an easy recipe for pain and stiffness. Plus, keeping our hands or neck in unnatural positions may place pressure on the joints and cause damage over time.

“Nerd neck” (also known as “tech neck” or “gamer neck”) is when we lean our heads forward to look at a screen. This puts our neck and shoulders out of line with the rest of our body, overly tightening our upper back muscles and weakening the front of the neck.

Signs you might need a break

A lot of the time, we don’t even realise our posture is poor. Like we discussed before, positions that harm our joints, bones, and muscles can easily feel comfortable once we spend enough time in them.

And it’s even easier when we’re engrossed in a TV show or focusing on work.

But your body should give you some signs that it’s time to stop scrolling or take a stretch break. Look for:

• Twinges in your neck, back, and shoulders
• Soreness in your fingers, thumbs, hands, and wrists 
• Hips that feel tight 
• General joint pain and stiffness 
• Blurry or strained vision
• Headaches 
• Brain fog

It’s important to consider the mental effect, too. Do you feel nervous without your phone or find yourself waking up in the night to check notifications? If so, the impact could be more than skin (and bone) deep.

Tech check: tips for safer scrolling

The main physical danger of excessive device use is that it overworks certain muscles, while weakening the ones that aren’t being used.

Reducing your phone and computer time is ideal, but it’s certainly not realistic to expect a fully screen-free life. Here are some steps you can take to help keep your tech time as kind to your body as possible:

1. Neck, back, & shoulders

• Place your computer screen at eye level – looking down is the main culprit for “nerd neck”.
• Take care not to lean to one side or on your hand while you’re working! Keep the back and shoulders even and open and look directly ahead. As well as helping to minimise pain in the neck joint, this will help you keep the rest of your body aligned. 
• Take deep breaths and let go of tension in your shoulders; make sure they’re not raised towards your ears.
• Make sure you have a proper chair for support: sofas, stools, and beds aren’t an ideal setup if you’re working there for hours at a time!
• Stand up and move regularly throughout your day. Opinions vary on how often and how long you should stand for as a minimum, but the general consensus is that more movement is better. Try to get up and shake around, do a lap of the office, or work standing up for at least 10 minutes per hour to begin with and work your way up if you can.

2. Eyes

• Follow the 20:20:20 rule when using a screen: look away from it at least every 20 minutes. Look at something 20 feet away, for at least 20 seconds. This can help relax the eye muscles during intense screen time and can help to reduce the risk of many symptoms of digital eye strain. ⁴ 
• Another rule you can follow is the 1-2-10 rule. Mobile phones should ideally be one foot away from you. Laptops and computer screens should be two feet away, and TVs should be 10 feet away. This helps the eyes to focus at the correct distance. ⁴
• Drink plenty of water. This benefits the whole body, but it’s worth a mention here as many of us forget our eyes can become dehydrated, too. When you stare at a screen, you blink two thirds less on average. ⁶
• As well as keeping your computer screen at the correct height, make sure your monitor doesn’t reflect any glare or sunlight.

2. Hands, fingers & wrists

• Try scrolling with your finger sometimes, rather than always your thumb.
• Use a phone grip (like a PopSocket) to reduce tight, claw-like hand position.
• Switch to a mouse instead of your laptop trackpad to improve your shoulder and arm position – and make sure you choose one that’s supportive of your wrists.

Last updated: 31 March 2023