Doctor notes rise in 'selfie wrist' cases

Dec. 21 (UPI) -- A Los Angeles doctor said he's seeing an increase in smartphone photo-snapping patients suffering from "selfie wrist."

Dr. Levi Harrison, an orthopedic surgeon, said patients have been coming in complaining of pain in their wrists and tingling in their fingers as a result of hyper-flexing their wrists when taking selfies with their smartphones.

"It's a form of carpal tunnel because what happens again is this hyperflexion of the wrist appears to cause median nerve neuritis, which basically, is the nerve becomes inflamed and angry," Harrison told KABC-TV.

Harrison said he has been instructing patients on how to hold their phones with less wrist strain and to do exercises that relieves the inflamation.

Selfie wrist is not the first unusual medical condition to rise in the smart phone age -- doctors in San Diego said in 2015 they repaired a ruptured tendon resulting from a patient's "Candy Crush thumb."

The doctors said the 29-year-old man had experienced pain after playing the popular game nearly all day for six to eight weeks.