SMS will become a pain in the thumb

The British RSI Association has slapped a health warning on SMS text messaging, claiming that it could result in an epidemic of repetitive strain injuries.

Andrew Chadwick, director of the Association, said that the way that mobile messaging worked was the perfect recipe for people to get the illness.

"We're talking about millions of people making hundreds of tiny repeated movements as they use the mobile keypad," he said. "Because the movements are small they do not cause the blood to circulate, and that means the fingers are acting like an engine without oil."

He warned that TMI, or text message injury, is liable to affect thousands of people and cause painful swelling and inflammation of the fingers and thumb.