Health experts have now claimed that tablet computers may well be harming us - causing shoulder pain, for instance.

A study conducted by Microsoft, the Harvard School of Public Health, Brigham and Women's Hospital and a few US ergonomics experts claimed that the main reason why your iPad might be killing you slowly is that you probably are positioned wrong when using it, which can result in various posture issues.

Department of Environmental Health's Lead Investigator, Jack Dennerlein, was quoted as stating:

"Compared to typical desktop computing scenarios, the use of media tablet computers is associated with high head and neck flexion postures, and there may be more of a concern for the development of neck and shoulder discomfort."

SimplifyDigital tends to agree - we had to pinch ourselves everytime we were slouching on the tube while using our mighty tablet.

Mr Dennerlein continued as saying:

"Our results will be useful for updating ergonomic computing standards and guidelines for tablet computers. These are urgently needed as companies and health care providers weigh options to implement wide-scale adoption of tablet computers for business operations."

Some eagle-eyed readers might recall some previous headlines, one of them being that Apple sold roughly 15.5m iPads, and another that Amazon's Kindle Fire has gained a huge amount of consumer love.

This led health care professionals to warn tablet owners to use their devices in a way which would pose minimal risk to their well-being, mainly buying the right kind of case for the device, which would somewhat raise the gadget and allow the user to sit as straight as he possibly can.

The study suggested:

"Tablet users should place the tablet higher, on a table rather than a lap, to avoid low gaze angles, and use a case that provides steeper viewing angles, although steeper angles may be detrimental for continuous input with the hands."