Getting a good selfie can be the most important part of an event for people.

Snapping the best-looking selfie to post later on social networking sites can be crucial and takes a lot of effort, leaving many of us clicking for minutes until we’re eventually happy.

How many selfies do you take a day? Even if it’s just one (and we know it’s not…)

Selfie elbow, is similar to “tennis elbow” or “golfer’s elbow,” which are names for conditions in which you experience inflammation and micro tears in the tendons that run along your arm from your hand to your elbow. But there’s a new ailment plaguing elbows around the world called “Selfie Elbow” and you’re probably more likely to suffer from this than a tennis injury.

So if you’re taking a ton of selfies, and suffering from any sort of joint pain you are putting yourself at risk for the uncomfortable selfie elbow.

What exactly is selfie elbow?

It is caused by overuse. You put too much stress on the muscle and it irritates the area where the muscle comes off the bone and you get this inflammatory response.” Inflammation from taking selfies, happens when you taking a picture by extending your arm and also trying to keep a firm grip on your phone as you do, and you just click, click, click—think how many clicks — something that the body just isn’t designed to do often.

The weight of the phone is not the concern. The repetition combined with the contortion of the elbow, held in unnatural positions while capturing the Selfie is actually what poses the problem.

Symptoms you can experience with Selfie elbow :

• Pain on the outside of the elbow that radiates into the forearm and wrist
• Weakness with grabbing or gripping an item, such as a cup
• Dull aching pain.

Ways to prevent:

• Refrain yourself from taking selfies.
• Limit the number of selfies being clicked.
• Stretch forearm muscles prior to clicking selfies so they can warm up the muscles.
• Keep Switching your arm to prevent over stress.
• Use both arms instead of overusing dominant arm.
• Using a selfie stick instead of extending your elbow.
• Keep changing your posture.

Treatment:

• Refrain from Clicking Selfies
• Apply Ice on the outer aspect of your elbow
• Stretch the wrist flexor and extensors muscles
• Strengthen the muscles surrounding elbow joint
• Apply topical analgesic on the painful part