People spend so much time looking down at smartphones and tablets they are growing bony 'spikes' on the backs of their heads, scientists say. Researchers said growing numbers of people have growths called enlarged external occipital protuberances at the base of their skull.
Considered rare when they were first discussed in the 1800s, we may now be able to feel the bony lumps with our fingers or see them on bald people. And younger people are developing them faster, with research showing the bumps are most common among 18 to 30-year-olds.
Scientists at the University of the Sunshine Coast in Queensland, Australia, have done detailed research into the phenomenon. They scanned more than a thousand skulls belonging to people ranging in age from 18 to 86, BBC Future reports.
The lead researcher, Dr Shahar suggests the reason for the bony spike becoming more common is the amount of time people – particularly the young – spend looking down.
Hours spent scrolling on smartphones, tablets and laptops could be putting so much strain on lesser used parts of the body that the body parts actually change.
Specifically, the muscles which connect the neck to the back of the head are overused as they try to hold still the skull – an average adult head can weigh around 5kg (11lbs).
According to research revealed last year, the average person in the UK spent 24 hours per week – about three-and-a-half per day – on their smartphones in 2017.
On average, people check their phones every 12 minutes, disturbing stats from communications regulator Ofcom revealed.
Some 78 per cent of Britons own a smartphone and one in five adults spend 40 hours or more online every week.
Dr Shahar and colleagues wrote in their study that 'repetitive and sustained mechanical load' leads to adaptation of the tendons and connective tissues. And Dr Shahar said that, although the bony lumps are unlikely to cause any damaging effects themselves, they may never go away.
Meanwhile doctors have warned our obsession with checking our smartphones could lead to an epidemic of 'iPhone hands'. More and more patients are reportedly developing 'iPhone tendonitis' as swapping writing for touchscreens causes pain to develop at the base of our thumbs.
People's thumbs are becoming less muscular as our need for grip strength reduces because tapping screens is replacing gripping pencils, the researchers claim.
Scientists from the University of Malaga even questioned whether the demise of pens could eventually leave our thumbs redundant. And if we then evolve a new hand shape, humans could have a 'reduction in brain function', which has occurred in other primates, they said.
Synovitis occurs when a joint's soft tissue, known as synovium, becomes inflamed. The base of each finger is formed by five carpometacarpal joints which could be affected.
The scientists worry the wide use of touchscreens, even in schools, means less of us are forming a pinch grip with our hands. And with writing becoming increasingly rare, we could eventually 'lose' our thumbs.
