There's business travel, and there's luxury travel. Finally, the two meet - and all it took was a painful work-related hand injury.
It appears that three of my favorite blog topics have joined forces in the form of one innovative new factoid: Hotel travel, luxury spas, and fangeek technology all merge in the Hyatt hotel chain's on-site spa massages for something called Blackberry Thumb.
Another medicalization of a common malady, you ask? Well, yes, but at least you can get a massage out of this one, and don't need to deal with being put on hold by your health care provider. The Blackberry Balm Hand Massage, at Hyatt Pure Spas throughout the US and Canada, is intended to relieve pain at the base of Blackberry users' thumbs - pain which comes from business travelers' overuse of their Blackberry. According to the American Physical Therapy Association, Blackberry Thumb is a stress-related injury stemming from overuse of any handheld PDA. I guess it got the moniker "Blackberry Thumb" because it's so darn catchy.
Blackberry Thumb seems similar to carpal tunnel syndrome, what with the pain, numbness and tingling symptoms. Medical treatment of Blackberry Thumb is similar to that for carpal tunnel syndrome as well; resting or strapping the thumb, cortisone injections, etc. But before you get your Blackberry-loving self into a panic, remember; this is a repetitive motion injury, easily nipped in the bud by cutting down on your Crackberry addiction and, perhaps, making a reservation at a Hyatt for your next upscale business trip. An appointment at the Hyatt Pure Spa for a Blackberry Balm massage may be all you need to feel better. And, since it's a work trip, time in a luxury day spa can be written off as a work expense. Now, isn't that nicer than a cortisone injection?
