Your smartphone may be dangerous to your health, but for a number of surprising reasons that have nothing to do with the cancer buzz that makes rounds in the media from time to time. While some studies have claimed a link between smartphone use and certain types of cancers - in particular, brain tumors - organizations like the American Cancer Society, the National Cancer Institute at the National Institutes of Health, and the Mayo Clinic have come to the conclusion that studies to date have not shown a consistent link between cell phone use and cancers of the brain, nerves, or other tissues of the head or neck.

However, that doesn’t give you a green light to justify your smartphone addiction. There are other health risks associated with smartphone use that have given rise to an entirely new nomenclature of iDiseases. Do any of these sound like you? If so, it may be time to cut the digital cord and take a break from your smartphone.

Text Claw and Cell Phone Elbow

If you’ve experienced the finger cramping and sore hand muscles after a period of smartphone use, you may be suffering from “Text Claw.” In addition, continuous use of your smartphone can cause inflammation of the tendons in your hands and aggravate existing conditions, like carpal tunnel syndrome. This syndrome, which is commonly linked to office and computer work, can be caused or aggravated by smartphone use, because overuse of tendons in the arms can cause inflammation, which can compress the median nerve and cause pain or numbness.

Are you feeling tingling or numbness in the ring and pinky fingers? You may be pinching your ulnar nerve by bending your elbow for long periods of time.

Easy iFixes

If your marathon smartphone session has your hands cramped and sore, put down the phone, bend your wrists and make circular motions with your hands. If you develop a chronic pain that lasts more than a week, call your doctor to get checked out.

iPosture or Text Neck

The slouched posture we assume when hunching over our phones for hours at a time is destroying our necks and damaging our back muscles. Doctors have begin referring to iPosture and Text Neck when describing the damage that is done by the stress we put on our neck muscles.