Hypothenar eminence pain caused by smart phone use with the hands resting on a table

Abstract

Smart phones have been in use since the early 90’s. The use of these gadgets has increased dramat-ically in the past ten years with an estimated 4.8 billion users as of today (statistaR statistics portal). We continue to witness and describe new patterns of medical conditions directly or indirectly asso-ciated with use of these mobile phones. Psychosocial issues, musculoskeletal problems of the neck, back and upper limbs predominate. In this case presentation, one such description is presented of a painful hand condition that is attributed to common posture while using a smart phone in the office. This posture related hypothenar muscle inflamma­tion due to smart phone use is the first to be de-scribed in literature to our knowledge. The purpose of this article is to show one way in which smartphone use can indirectly cause a disease state and pose a diagnostic challenge. Literature relat-ing to other causes of pain around this hypothenar area is reviewed.