Are cell phones bad for your bones? That is the rickety question being asked after an Argentinian study found that using cell phones could put people at risk for developing weakened bones in the hip area. Researchers selected forty-eight men, twenty-four of whom used cell phones and carried them around on their right hip, and twenty-four who did not use cell phones and studied them for a year. The surprising result after twelve months was that those twenty four men who used cell phones and carried them close to their right hip had considerably lower mineral content in the area close to the top of the thigh bone, which is known as the right femoral neck. Furthermore, they also had a reduced density and mineral content on the outside top of the thigh bone (referred to as the right trochanter) and the difference between the left and right trochanters in those that used cell phones and carried them on the right was marked and noticeable.
“The different patterns of right-left asymmetry in femoral bone material in mobile cell phone users and non-users are consistent with a non-thermal effect of electromagnetic radio frequency waves not previously described,” says study author Dr Fernando D Svari from the National University of Cuyo in Mendoza, Argentina, while writing in this month’s edition of the Journal of Craniofacial Surgery. Svari says that the study suggests that long-term exposure to cell phones could weaken bones but admits that further study needs to be done before this can be proven.