Do You Suffer From ‘Tech Neck’?

Photo: Courtesy of Blackberry

Is your Treo making your fingers ache and your face break out with zits? The city’s high-end spas are selling fixes for such ailments as “BlackBerry thumb,” “tech neck,’’ and “cell-phone clog.’’ “These are repetitive-stress injuries that people used to get in their fifties and sixties; now they are afflicted in their twenties and thirties,’’ says Dr. Thomas Scilaris, an Upper East Side orthopedic surgeon. Dorit Baxter spa on West 57th Street offers “Tech Neck” and “Tech Hand” treatments, recommended weekly at $59 per half-hour for each, which combine hot compresses and acupressure to relieve inflammation and “pins and needles.” To kill bacteria and calm irritation in the areas where cell phones are held against the face, Aida Bicaj on East 75th Street is using a machine with electronic currents ($225), and Completely Bare on Madison has introduced a facial with light-emitting diodes and polarized currents ($185). Graceful Services owner Grace Macnow remembers the first time she got a call asking if it offered BlackBerry finger massage. “My receptionist thought it was something dirty and slammed down the phone.’’ Now she charges $60 an hour for the service.

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Do You Suffer From ‘Tech Neck’?