Hand surgeon believes texting and gaming causes arthritis at early age

HOUSTON (FOX 26) - It used to be fifty years and older before most people first experienced the onset of arthritis.

"Fifty, sixty seventy year old patients are the ones who developed arthritis," said Houston hand surgeon Dr. Mark Ciaglia.

Ciaglia says he's now seeing patients 40 and younger dealing with arthritis.

"With the advent of texting and video games and excessive use of computers and typing you're wearing the joints out sooner so we're actually seeing a shift in the demographics of patients that get the arthritis because they're just wearing their joints out so much sooner," Ciaglia said.

We've becoming a society that seems to constantly use our hands.

While gaming devices are a fun past time the repetitive motion we do while playing them can put too much stress on our hands.

"At the end of the day it's a wear and tear how many times are you moving a joint back and forth where the cartilage that covers the bone within the joint," said Ciaglia. "The more things you do and the more aggressive you are with it the sooner you will develop this."

Most people can't just give up gaming and texting but there are things we can do to avoid osteoarthritis joint pain or repetitive stress injury.

"All good things in moderation," Ciaglia said. "Don't do it 8 9 10 hours straight a day."

And try to take frequent breaks.

"Listen to your hands listen to your body," Ciaglia said. "Our bodies will tell us when something is wrong something is not right so if you start noticing these early symptoms try modifying the way you do things for a little bit."