Picture someone playing on a games console, sweating and tense, pressing the buttons angrily and ignoring everything around them. It's a common scene among gamers, and this long tension causes pain the player doesn't notice until the game is over: sores, inflammation and painful swelling.
Nintendo's Wii can cause severe shoulder joint pain, so common it has been nicknamed "Wiiitis". And as Nintendo isn't the only company in this market, there is another condition: "PlayStation palmar hidradenitis".
It was first described by a Swiss doctor who examined a 12-year-old girl with painful lumps on her palms, like those children sometimes get on their feet. They lasted four weeks, and she had no skin problems anywhere else. The doctor learned that before the lumps appeared she had started playing on a PlayStation for several hours a day. He advised her to stop, and she recovered completely in 10 days. Repeatedly pressing the buttons causes small injuries to the palm, Dr Vincent Piguet of Geneva University Hospital wrote in the British Journal of Dermatology.
A Sony spokesman said the company had sold tens of millions of consoles since 1995, while the study involved one person, and that common sense and the safety instructions in the manual prevent such incidents. "We don't want to belittle the study and will look at the results carefully, but it's the first time we've heard of such a complaint."
Dr Nina Goad of the British Association of Dermatologists said she had met many doctors who had seen similar complaints without reporting them. If your hands feel tired or sore, it's sensible to stop and take a break.
Many studies have linked video games with health problems such as obesity, aggression and, in heavy users, a tendency to violence. Playing for long periods without a break causes eye-focusing problems, eye irritation, blurred vision and tiredness, and some studies have reported seizures in some children.
It's worth remembering that these games also have positive effects: some improve children's fine motor coordination, problem-solving and ability to analyse information, all useful skills in modern life.
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