Could your phone-holding habit be all wrong?

Quick, how do you hold your phone? Is your pinkie supporting the bottom, with your index, middle, and ring fingers cradling the back, while your thumb handles all the scrolling? Unfortunately, just like many other things that seem easy and intuitive, this approach is actually flawed.

The one-handed claw may seem like the most convenient way to hold your phone, but using it for extended periods could harm your wrist and irritate your ulnar nerve—among other problems.

What exactly is a smartphone pinkie?

You might already be aware of the term 'smartphone finger,' also known as texting tendinitis, texting thumb, or gamer’s thumb. But now there's also the emerging issue of 'smartphone pinkie' (though not yet a medical term). As Healthline notes, 'The fingers most affected by holding a smartphone, tablet, or video game controller are your pinky and thumb,' which can become sore or inflamed.

Ann Lund, an occupational therapist and certified hand therapist at the Mayo Clinic, told the Washington Post that because the pinkie is smaller, it can't 'handle the pressure and positioning as well as a larger finger.' Michelle G. Carlson, a hand and upper extremity surgeon at the Hospital for Special Surgery in New York, added that using the pinkie to support the weight of your phone could strain the ligament connecting it to the hand. But that’s just the beginning.

What exactly is the ulnar nerve?

Following a viral tweet urging us to stop using our pinkie as a phone anchor, Ben Lombard, a member of the UK’s Chartered Society of Physiotherapy, told HuffPost UK, 'We often hold our phones with the little finger underneath, supporting the phone’s weight, and our wrist turns inward to keep the screen facing us. This can lead to ulnar nerve compression if maintained for prolonged periods.'

The ulnar nerve, one of the three main nerves in your arm, runs from the armpit down to the elbow, along the ulna (the long bone in your forearm), and finally to the pinkie side of your palm. According to the Cleveland Clinic, 'It controls nearly all the small muscles in the hand.' Ulnar nerve 'entrapment' occurs when the nerve is compressed, often in the elbow or wrist, causing a pinched nerve, nerve pain (neuropathic), and neuropathy (nerve damage).

And then there's the median nerve.

In a 2017 study, Peter White, an assistant professor in the Department of Health Technology and Informatics at Hong Kong Polytechnic University, looked at how excessive use of electronic devices affects the median nerve. This nerve, running alongside the ulnar nerve, plays a role in moving the forearms, wrists, hands, and fingers. White's research revealed that students who spent more than five hours a day using devices had significantly more wrist and hand pain than those who used devices for less than five hours.

In a follow-up study, White found that 'Wrist deviation from neutral [an all fingers extended position] can cause more significant deformation of the median nerve.' To reduce the risk of injury, he emphasized that 'It’s essential to keep the wrist as close to a neutral position as possible during computer work and avoid holding the thumb and fingers in a fixed flexed position when using mobile devices, especially with one hand.'

So how should we properly hold our phone?

In an interview with the National Desk, hand surgeon Dr. Steve Beldner explained that while everyone wants a small, thin device, 'Our hands weren’t made to handle small objects.' Ideally, instead of forcing the thumb onto a narrow object, which strains the joint, the thumb should be positioned in abduction, meaning it should move away from the palm.

Beldner recommends thickening the device by placing a rolled-up washcloth or t-shirt behind it to relieve pressure on the joint. (A PopSocket likely offers similar relief.) He also advises keeping the elbow and wrist as straight as possible to promote better nerve circulation.

Occupational hand therapist Dina Delopoulos suggests that smartphone users take regular breaks and stretch the flexor and extensor muscles by extending the fingers upwards and backward, away from the wrist. She also recommends using a non-restrictive but supportive CMC neoprene splint and resting the phone on a flat surface to use fingers other than the thumb when scrolling. She emphasized the importance of this advice by recalling a patient 'who was immobilized in a cast for four weeks due to severe tendinitis in his thumb. From the phone.'

In summary: Constantly staring at our phones is harmful, not just for our mental health but also for our pinkies, thumbs, and forearm nerves. So here’s your reminder: take a break from scrolling, stretch your wrists, and get some fresh air.