Has your smartphone given you ‘smartphone pinky’?

No one wants to hear that their smartphone might be bad for their health.

We would like to think that they don’t do anything worse than help us to annoy thousands of people via food Instagrams.

But we already know that our addiction to our smartphones could be disrupting our sleep, wrecking our eye sight and giving us neck wrinkles, as well as contributing to a more anti-social society.

And now apparently, there’s more.

Hundreds of smartphone users have been tweeting pictures of their hands, focusing mainly on their pinky finger, which they claim has been bent by the amount of time they spend holding their phones.

One Twitter user posted a picture of both hands, to compare the hand she uses to hold her phone to the hand she doesn’t use. 

While another claims to have an actual crook in her little finger because of the way she holds her phone

And it seems the influx of pictures is scaring others into discovering their own, similarly bent fingers. 

Others are using the discovery in preparation for talks with their future grandchildren. How ashamed we should all be. 

The discoveries came about after a Japanese cell phone provider, NTT Docomo, released a warning to Twitter, seemingly demonstrating what could happen if you consistently use your little finger to support the weight of your phone.

The company advised users to adjust the phone accordingly so that it is not too much of a burden on a particular finger.

Nice that they care. However, it’s kind of not true. At all.

We looked at our little fingers and the fingers of those around us and they all had that small bump on both hands, regardless of which hand was the phone hand – because it’s simply the joint as seen from behind.

Which means all those people posting photos of their ‘bent’ fingers?

They are actually just completely normal photos of a knuckle from behind.

Show us the other one for comparison at the same angle and let us judge again, but we can pretty much assure you it will have the same bump.

Here’s a photo as proof:

So, let’s not get too excited that the way we hold our phones is deforming our fingers.

The main issue that heavy users of smart phones could face is not a bump caused by the way the phone is held, but rather RSI or joint issues from overuse.

Tim Allardyce, Chartered Physiotherapist and Registered Osteopath from Surrey Physio, told MailOnline: ‘Regular use of phones, especially using the phone for text messages or to type emails, can cause repetitive movements of the thumb and fingers, with the thumbs being most over-used. 

‘In the short term, this can cause hypermobility of the small joints around the fingers and thumbs as the ligaments can be come slightly stretched.

‘Longer term, over a period of decades, overuse of the fingers and thumbs can cause osteo-arthritis as the cartilage degenerates between the joints.

‘When the fingers become arthritic, they tend to form excess bone around the joints which can enlarge and deform the fingers and thumb joints.’

So while he confirmed that ‘smartphone pinky’ isn’t something to fear particularly in itself, he did concede that other things such as diet, family history and underlying health conditions can contribute to problems with joints if they are overused.

So, in short, if you want to keep your fingers in pristine condition over the decades, you could avoid using your phones to send very long emails and texts – but in all likelihood, there’s not much cause for concern.

As you were.

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