Reader response: Smartphone use and primary headache: A cross-sectional hospital-based study
JoeJacob, Neurophysician, Amala Institute of Medical Sciences, Thrissur Kerala
Submitted March 24, 2020
I read the article by Uttarwar et al. with interest.1 We are reporting special cases of bikers using mobile phone by inserting it inside their helmet over the pinnae, resulting in difficult to treat headache. One of our first patients was a building engineer who used to converse with his workers continuously during his ride, with phone over the ear inside the helmet. Several medications were tried for his headache until, during one of his visits, we found out his peculiar habit. Although mobile handsets are known to cause headaches, it is something inevitable in day to day life.2,3 This is because during the last few decades, several functions other than communication are integrated into it like camera, torch light, email, internet access, videos, music, and games. Our patient reduced phone calls following our advice and also started using headsets, with which he started improving without using medications. We had several other patients with headache associated with continuous mobile phone usage.
Uttarwar P, Vibha D, Prasad K, et al. Smartphone use and primary headache: A cross-sectional hospital-based study. Neurol Clin Pract 2020 Epub Mar 4.
Frey AH. Headaches from cellular telephones: are they real and what are the implications? Environ Health Perspect 1998;106:101–3.
Wang J, Su H, Xie W, Yu S. Mobile Phone Use and The Risk of Headache: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis of Cross-sectional Studies. Sci Rep 2017;7:12595.
I read the article by Uttarwar et al. with interest.1 We are reporting special cases of bikers using mobile phone by inserting it inside their helmet over the pinnae, resulting in difficult to treat headache. One of our first patients was a building engineer who used to converse with his workers continuously during his ride, with phone over the ear inside the helmet. Several medications were tried for his headache until, during one of his visits, we found out his peculiar habit. Although mobile handsets are known to cause headaches, it is something inevitable in day to day life.2,3 This is because during the last few decades, several functions other than communication are integrated into it like camera, torch light, email, internet access, videos, music, and games. Our patient reduced phone calls following our advice and also started using headsets, with which he started improving without using medications. We had several other patients with headache associated with continuous mobile phone usage.
Disclosure
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