A Canadian mother has issued a warning after wearing a hair bobble on her wrist every day for 30 years left her with permanent nerve damage.
Lisa McLennan, 47, has worn a spare hair tie round her wrist for as long as she can remember - until she was diagnosed with carpal tunnel syndrome, a nerve condition caused by the compression of a nerve in the wrist, earlier this year.
The mum-of-four, from British Columbia, now has the painful condition in both wrists but it is more severe in her left, where she wore a bobble almost 24/7 for more than three decades.
Speaking out to raise awareness, the artist said: "It was just a habit, it was always on my wrist whenever it wasn't in my hair.
"I'm so aware now that I shouldn't be doing it, but I'll be cleaning the house, find an elastic and put it on my wrist, then I think oh no what am I doing. I have taken to using a hair claw instead, so I don't put the elastic on my wrist.
She'd originally suspected the pain in her wrist was a result of arthritis, which she has in her neck until a local shopkeeper pointed out how dangerous wrapping her hair tie around her wrist could be.
Lisa said: "I injured the tendon in my thumb and they checked me for carpal tunnel syndrome.
"I was in shop a few days later telling the woman who worked there how my left wrist was more severe than my right and she pointed to my elastic and said 'stop doing that then'.
"I was like 'pardon me' and she explained that a neurologist had told her not to do it because it can cause issues."
The stay-at-home mother said the habit has caused circulation issues, inflammation and damage to the main nerve in the hand that is so severe that when she isn't in pain, her wrist goes numb.
She said: "The pain goes away because there is so much damage done to my nerves. I'm overweight now but I wasn't when I was younger, I was quite skinny so the elastic fitted more loosely.
"Don't do it, just don't whether it causes issues right now or not, it's an easy fix, an easy, pro active way to save yourself pain later."
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