CHICAGO—Elaina St. James is under doctor’s orders to limit her physical activities while chatting with fans due to a painful case of "sexting elbow."
St. James exclaimed, "It just sounds crazy, believe me, I know! In April, my elbow started getting sore to the point of excruciating pain. I am very tolerant of a lot of pain and just chalked it up to an injury from yoga or maybe the tugging of my overzealous dog on her walks. But it kept getting worse. I noticed that even after taking over-the-counter pain medication, the pain was sharper, and at times my fingers would unexpectedly go numb. I also noticed that my right elbow was swollen. I suspected Tennis Elbow, caused by repeated stress and can lead to permanent nerve damage. Now I don't play tennis, but I quickly realized that the repetitive motion during sexting had caused the injury."
Turns out, the many hours of holding up her phone while messaging and posting on her numerous websites were causing all the trouble.
St. James added, "The most obvious culprit was my OnlyFans, which is also my main source of income. I was still running my second OnlyFans page as a sexting page and would spend hours chatting with fans almost entirely from my cell phone! My doctor warned if I didn't make lifestyle changes, the pain would get worse and I’d be looking at surgery. I could lose feeling in my fingers as well as permanent injury to my hand. She really scared me straight that it was serious. I started using my PC more for posting, icing my elbow regularly, taking daily doses of meds, and wear a splint when I sleep to keep my arm straight. I also made the tough decision to stop all sexting and turn that page into a free page with videos for sale. It has been a blow financially, but my health must take priority."
St. James said, "I still enjoy messaging with fans, but remind myself to keep it brief, especially if I am using my phone. Being a content creator isn't a nine-to-five job, and like most, I spend most of my days thinking about, making, editing, and posting content—overwhelmingly from my phone. Sexting Elbow and Texting Thumb are actual problems for a lot of people, not just content creators. At first, it sounds funny but can be serious. As a single mom, I have many people and pets that depend on me to stay as healthy as possible."
For more information, visit ElainaStJames.com or follow her on Instagram, TikTok, Twitter, and OnlyFans.
