Could Multitouch Lead to Musculoskeletal Disorders?

If you read MacStories or any other Apple-related blog out there, I guess you’re all big fans of the multitouch technology. You know, that little patented thing that powers your iPhones, iPods, iPads and Macbooks. Gestures, that’s how we interact with our devices nowadays. And now a group of researchers of Arizona State University is telling us that our beloved multitouch might actually lead to musculoskeletal disorders.

Macworld reports:

“Multitouch systems might be great for usability of a device, but we just don’t know what it does to our musculoskeletal system,” said Kahol, an assistant professor in the university’s Department of Biomedical Informatics, in a statement earlier this month.

Initially, users will be fitted with electromyography equipment to measure muscle forces and with cyber gloves to record their hand movements while they interact with multitouch systems. A second phase of the project will involve the development of biomechanical models that show how much stress is created by certain gestures.”

What can we say, the Magic Mouse is indeed quite uncomfortable to use, especially if you have big hands. But after 3 years of daily iPhone usage, the fact that my hands are perfectly fine should mean something. Interesting, anyway.

[Image: Wall Street Journal]