A new study now claims that with people spending too much time looking down at smartphones and tablets, they are growing bony 'spikes' on the backs of their heads. Researchers have found that a growing number of people have growths called enlarged external occipital protuberances at the base of their skull.
Considered to be rare when they were first discovered in the 1800s, researchers say that we may now be able to actually feel the bony lumps with our fingers or in fact, see them on bald people. According to the study, youngsters are developing them faster, with research showing the bumps are most common among 18 to 30-year-olds.
Research conducted by the University of the Sunshine Coast in Queensland, Australia found experts scanning more than a thousand skulls of people ranging in age from 18 to 86, following which lead author of the study, Dr David Shahar of the University of the Sunshine Coast in Queensland, said the change can be caused by the extra strain on parts of the body that aren't usually used.
Speaking to BBC, lead researcher Dr Shahr revealed that in his twenty-year career as a clinician, it is only in the last decade that he has been discovering that his patients have this growth on their skulls.
According to him, 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.
This, in turn, is causing the muscles which connect the neck to the back of the head to get overused, and in response to those muscles getting bigger and stronger, the skeleton is growing new layers of bone to reinforce the area, Dr Shahar opines.
And while the bony lumps may not have any adverse effect on the body, Dr Shahar reveals that they may never go away.
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