Abstract
No consensus exists regarding the effects of electromagnetic waves from cell phones on the human body, and no studies have investigated effects on the locomotor system. To elucidate the effects on muscle strength during cell phone use, the present study investigated changes in hip abduction strength, visual analog scale (VAS) scores, surface electromyogram (EMG), and Root Mean Square (RMS) value. Hip abduction strength did not differ from the NORMAL when the cell phone was powered off, but significantly decreased when it was powered on. Moreover, no differences were observed in RMS and VAS during muscle exertion between states in which the cell phone was powered on or off. Even if there had been a placebo effect or effects of pressure on the temporal bone, the finding that some form of environmental change associated with reproducing the state in which one talks on a cell phone affects the human body is unable to be dismissed. The findings in this case were attributed to reduced function of the central nervous system rather than peripheral muscles or the peripheral nervous system. However, the cause of these findings cannot be identified from the present study. In view of the facts that “muscle strength decreases under conditions in which electromagnetic waves, however small, are emitted from cell phones” and “there are no changes in ease of exerting strength in the subjects themselves”, it was considered necessary both to investigate the causes of these findings and to implement measures in response to these facts.
