The growing use of text messaging on mobile phones could result in an epidemic of repetitive strain injuries.

That's the warning from Andrew Chadwick, director of the British RSI Association, who described sending SMS messages as a perfect way to fall victim to the condition.

"We're talking about people making hundreds of tiny repeated movements as they use the mobile keypad," Chadwick told the Mirror.

"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."

The paper warned that TMI, or Text Message Injury, is liable to affect thousands of people, especially children and cause painful swelling and inflammation of the fingers and thumb. ®