BlackBerrys have made workers more productive. But are they a health risk?

A recent study by Microsoft found that the number of repetitive-strain injuries is on the rise. One of the culprits: The equipment that mobile workers use, which isn’t designed with ergonomics in mind. (The study looked at workers in the U.K., but we’re willing to assume that workers everywhere are anatomically similar.)

Out of the more than 1,000 office workers surveyed, 68% said they suffered from aches and pains, with back, shoulder and wrist/hand pain leading the way, Macworld UK reports. We dug up an earlier Microsoft report that says workers in the U.K. reported 115,000 cases of upper limb disorders in 2007, up from 86,000 cases in 2006.

Knowledge work isn’t as dangerous as factory work or heavy construction, but the report says it’s the leading cause of one health problem: “BlackBerry thumb,” which comes from over-typing on handheld devices.

We were a bit skeptical about BlackBerry thumb, so we went around the Web looking for evidence that it really exists. Sure enough, the American Society of Hand Therapists issued a warning way back in 2005 about the danger to our digits posed by BlackBerrys and similar devices. And Alan Hedge, director of the human factors and ergonomics research group at Cornell University, told WebMD that “if you persist in typing a lot of information with your thumbs, you risk injury.” We even came across the Xtensor, a $39.99 exercise device, which is supposed to help people recover from BlackBerry thumb.

Microsoft’s advice to mobile workers: “Don’t send long emails from BlackBerrys if avoidable” and “rest thumbs regularly.”

-Ben Worthen

June 5, 2008, 10:30 am