New technology often creates new problems. When Apple introduced the iPod, their scroll wheel was praised for its ease of use. Now music fans could scroll away to find just the tune they were looking for. Users loved it, and sales skyrocketed, and the rest is history.
However, folks may have scrolled too much. In what one site is dubbing “ipoditis,” doctors are seeing an increase in repetitive motion injuries involving the thumb.
“Music fans may enjoy the ability to spool through 10,000 songs on their iPods, but medical experts warn that jumping from tune to tune has its risks.
Carl Irwin, from the British Chiropractic Association, said: “This is a really serious problem. The action needed to move the wheel on an iPod is totally unnatural and effectively separates the joint in the thumb every time you use it.
“This causes inflammation in the thumb or fingers and can be very painful. We have also seen cases of iPod users where the problem has spread to their elbow and neck.”
Does this make an argument for just shuffling your tunes? I’m not sure, but this repetitive motion injury is on the rise. We’ve explored this before, here at LD, with our look at the Vertical Mouse.