People with elbow pain should straighten the joint. If that's you, hold the phone € or rather, drop it. Cellphone Elbow and Other Health News. Holding that position for a long time can lead to cubital tunnel syndrome, a nerve condition similar to carpal tunnel syndrome that could € at worst € cause you to lose strength in your hand. When talking on a cellphone without a headset, some people hold their elbows in an unnatural, flexed position at an angle greater than 90 degrees. Cellphone Elbow and Other Health News Media reports called attention to "cellphone elbow," a nerve condition that afflicts high-tech talkers. January Payne reported on the problem of cellphone elbow last month.

Long periods of sitting at a desk while leaning your elbow against a chair's armrest or flexing your elbow as you use a computer can cause the same condition, in which the ulnar nerve € which runs from underneath the collarbone down along the interior of the upper arm through the cubital tunnel € can become compressed, causing symptoms that can spread from your hand to your forearm.