Mobile phone usage is causing the growth of hornlike spikes in the skulls of young adults, a new study suggests.
According to the study conducted by researchers at the University of the Sunshine Coast in Australia's Queensland, smartphones and similar handheld gadgets are affecting the physical shape of users' heads due to the postures and angles that they adopt to make sense of what is happening on the small screens.
A forward tilt of the head while looking at the phone screen is very common among young people. This posture shifts weight from the spine to the muscles at the back of the head, causing bone growth in the connecting tendons and ligaments, resulting in the formation of the horns, or in other words, bone spurs.
The formation is a sign of a serious deformity in posture that can cause serious headaches, pain in the neck and upper back.
One of the striking findings of the research was the size of the bone spurs, which are thought to be large if they measure 3 or 5 millimetres in length. An outgrowth was only factored into their research if it measured 10 millimetres, or about two-fifths of an inch, Washington Post reported.
However, controlling one's sitting posture can stop this and ward off its associated effects, the study said. Getting enough sleep and lying down in proper positions are also important to compensate for the time spent staring at the phone during the day, it added.