Wednesday 11 January 2012

Do you suffer from handbag arm?

You have probably heard of handmaid's knee, tennis elbow and policeman's heel all common complaints resulting from repetitive movements which result in a repetitive strain injury.


I would like to add another to the boil which both myself and my sister suffer from on occasion - handbag arm.

Common complaints are pains in you forearms and upper arm, pains in your elbows and wrists.

These result from either handbags or shopping bags.

Now we all have that bag that we love, maybe a bowling style bag quite big but not massive with very short handles, which means it cannot be put across the body or on your shoulder.

So you have two options - hold it with your hand down the side of you body or carry it in the nook of your elbow with your elbow at a bend.

Both of which will probably result in pain in your arm especially, if like me, you put your whole life in your bag.

Holding it down the side means the blood doesn't flow back up giving you sometimes pins and needles or just a dull ache. Holding it in the nook of your elbow means you have to bend your arm the whole time so you pull muscles either side and means the next day it hurts when you straighten it.

On a recent trip to Britain and Ireland's Next Top Model Live my sister had a bowling bag which she carried at her elbow, but with all the shopping bags we had collected she had serious handbag arm, so did I just with the shopping bags.

Surely this is a common complaint of the modern woman? or even any man with a man bag or suitcase? And yet no Google search brings it up.


The pain does fade eventually, and you always don't remember why you haven't used that bag with the short handle in a while until a couple of hours into your trip out and you have to keep swapping arms for fear of getting a dead arm again.

The things we suffer for love of a pretty thing.

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