手機正在改變人類骨架：做低頭族時間太久，頭骨後面會長骨刺

Mobile phones are changing the human skeleton: People spend so much time hunched over screens that "bony spikes" are developing on the backs of our skulls
手機正在改變人類的骨架：我們花了太多時間彎腰看螢幕，以至於頭骨後面長出了「骨刺」

來源：每日郵報 翻譯：世界播

People spend so much time looking down at smartphones and tablets they are growing bony "spikes" on the backs of their heads, scientists say.

科學家說，人們花太多時間低頭看智能手機和平板電腦，以至於後腦杓上長出了骨質「尖狀物」。

Researchers said growing numbers of people have growths called enlarged external occipital protuberances at the base of their skull.

研究人員稱，越來越多人的顱底出現了被稱為枕外隆突增大的贅生物（下文統稱EOP）。

Considered rare when they were first discussed in the 1800s, we may now be able to feel the bony lumps with our fingers or see them on bald people.

在19世紀首次被討論的時候，它們被認為是罕見的，現在我們可能能用手指觸摸到這些骨塊，或者在禿頂的人身上看到它們。

And younger people are developing them faster, with research showing the bumps are most common among 18 to 30-year-olds.

而且年輕人長得更快，研究顯示，這種腫塊在18至30歲的人群中最為常見。

Pictured: The bump of a 28-year-old is more than 3cm larger than a 58-year-old"s in a study

圖為研究中，28歲的人比58歲的人的隆起要大3厘米多

Scientists at the University of the Sunshine Coast in Queensland, Australia, have done detailed research into the phenomenon.

澳大利亞昆士蘭陽光海岸大學的科學家們對這一現象進行了詳細的研究。

They scanned more than a thousand skulls belonging to people ranging in age from 18 to 86, BBC Future reports.

據BBC未來頻道報導，他們掃描了1000多具頭骨，這些頭骨的年齡在18歲到86歲之間。

The lead researcher, Dr David Shahar, told the BBC: "I have been a clinician for 20 years, and only in the last decade, increasingly I have been discovering that my patients have this growth on the skull."

首席研究員大衛·沙哈爾博士告訴BBC：「我當了20年的臨床醫生，直到最近10年，我才越來越多地發現我的病人顱骨上有這種生長趨勢。」

Dr Shahar suggests the reason for the bony spike becoming more common is the amount of time people – particularly the young – spend looking down.

沙哈爾博士認為，這種骨刺變得越來越常見的原因是人們——尤其是年輕人——低頭看的時間越來越長。

Hours spent scrolling on smartphones, tablets and laptops could be putting so much strain on lesser used parts of the body that the body parts actually change.

花上數小時在智能手機、平板電腦和筆電電腦上滾動螢幕，可能會給較少使用的身體部位帶來很大壓力，導致身體部位發生實際變化。

Specifically, the muscles which connect the neck to the back of the head are overused as they try to hold still the skull – an average adult head can weigh around 5kg (11lbs).

具體來說，連接脖子和後腦杓的肌肉被過度使用，因為它們試圖保持頭骨不動——一個成年人的平均頭部重量約為5公斤（11磅）。

In response to those muscles getting bigger and stronger, Dr Shahar suggests, the skeleton grows new layers of bone to reinforce and widen the area.

沙哈爾博士認為，隨著這些肌肉變得越來越大、越來越強壯，骨骼會生長出新的骨骼層，以加強和擴大該區域。

On average the EOPs measured 2.6cm (1in), which the scientists said was "significantly larger" than the average in 1996.

EOP平均為2.6厘米（1英寸），科學家稱這一數值「明顯高於」1996年的平均值。

The reason for this, they suggest, is a "hand held technological revolution".

他們認為，這是一場「手持式科技設備革命」。

According to research revealed last year, the average person in the UK spent 24 hours per week – about three-and-a-half per day – on their smartphones in 2017.

去年的研究顯示，2017年，英國人平均每周花24小時——大約每天3.5小時——玩智能手機。

On average, people check their phones every 12 minutes, disturbing stats from communications regulator Ofcom revealed.

英國通信監管機構Ofcom公布的數據顯示，人們平均每12分鐘查看一次手機。

Some 78 per cent of Britons own a smartphone and one in five adults spend 40 hours or more online every week.

約78%的英國人擁有智能手機，五分之一的成年人每周上網時間超過40小時。

Dr Shahar and colleagues wrote in their study that "repetitive and sustained mechanical load" leads to adaptation of the tendons and connective tissues.

沙哈爾博士和他的同事在他們的研究中寫道，「重複和持續的機械負荷」會導致肌腱和結締組織的適應。

They said: "The development of [enlarged] EOP may be attributed to, and explained by, the extensive use of screen-based activities by individuals of all ages, including children, and the associated poor posture.

他們說：「（擴大的）EOP的發展可能是由於包括兒童在內的所有年齡段的人大量使用螢幕活動，以及相關的不良姿勢造成的。」

"Musculoskeletal disorders related to poor posture while using computers and tablets have been investigated extensively and were identified as a risk factor for the development of related symptoms at the neck, shoulders and forearms."

「在使用電腦和平板電腦時，由於姿勢不當引起的肌肉骨骼疾病已經得到了廣泛的調查，並被確定為導致頸部、肩部和前臂出現相關癥狀的危險因素。」

And Dr Shahar said that, although the bony lumps are unlikely to cause any damaging effects themselves, they may never go away.

沙哈爾博士說，儘管骨塊本身不太可能造成任何破壞性影響，但它們可能永遠不會消失。

He added: "Imagine if you have stalactites and stalagmites, if no one is bothering them, they will just keep growing".

他補充說：「想像一下，如果長的是鐘乳石和石筍，如果沒有人打擾它們，它們只會繼續生長。」