People who have the habit of talking over the telephone with the receiver cradling between their head and shoulder could be put into problems like that of a temporary stroke.Scientists say a 43-year old psychiatrist in France spent an hour on the telephone talking to a patient, cradling the receiver between his left ear and shoulder so he could keep his hands free.
Soon after that he experienced a temporary blindness in his left eye, together with a ringing in his left ear and a difficulty in speaking. An angiogram of the patient's brain showed he had ruptured the carotid artery, a vital blood vessel supplying the brain, eyes and other parts of the head.Dr Mathieu Zuber, a neurologist at Sainte-Anne Hospital in Paris, who reported the case, said long styl oid processes( a slender, pointed bone which runs from both sides of the skull under the ears and behind the jaw)could be a more common cause of tears, or dissections, in the walls of the carotid artery.
He said around 20% of strokes in young adults were caused by dissections. Dr Zuber said: "This case shows us that everyday activities with a prolonged distortion of the neck, such as holding the phone between your ear and shoulder, can have unpredictable consequences for some people.
