People who have the habit of talking over the telephone with the receiver cradling between their head and shoulder could be put into problems like
People who have the habit of talking over the telephone with the receiver cradling between their head and shoulder could be put into problems like that of a temporary stroke.Scientists say a 43-year old psychiatrist in France spent an hour on the telephone talking to a patient, cradling the receiver between his left ear and shoulder so he could keep his hands free.
Soon after that he experienced a temporary blindness in his left eye, together with a ringing in his left ear and a difficulty in speaking. An angiogram of the patient's brain showed he had ruptured the carotid artery, a vital blood vessel supplying the brain, eyes and other parts of the head.Dr Mathieu Zuber, a neurologist at Sainte-Anne Hospital in Paris, who reported the case, said long styl oid processes( a slender, pointed bone which runs from both sides of the skull under the ears and behind the jaw)could be a more common cause of tears, or dissections, in the walls of the carotid artery.
He said around 20% of strokes in young adults were caused by dissections. Dr Zuber said: "This case shows us that everyday activities with a prolonged distortion of the neck, such as holding the phone between your ear and shoulder, can have unpredictable consequences for some people.
