When your character gets injured in a video game, you might act like you’ve taken damage, but it’s probably only your feelings that got hurt. However, there are some injuries that video gamers do experience from time to time, mainly if they’re playing competitively or for long hours at a time. Here are a few of the most common ones and some advice on how to treat them.
Finger Blisters
If you’ve ever played a fighting game competitively or spent hours on an arcade machine, you probably ended up with some thumb blisters. Even people who play first-person shooters sometimes get thumb listeners from moving the joysticks too much for too long.
Finger blisters can happen while playing video games. You’re putting a lot of pressure on your fingers for long periods or repeatedly hitting buttons that may not be ergonomically designed to be gentle on your fingers. Blisters are created by excessive friction, which just means two objects rubbing against one another. The longer you play, and the more intense your play sessions are, the more likely you will experience these excruciating video game injuries.
If your fingers start to get blisters on them, you need to give them a break from the game or just take a break entirely from gaming until the blisters disappear.
Tennis Elbow
Did you know you can get tennis elbow from playing video games? This injury causes pain or weakness in the elbow joint on your arms. If you try to hold a cup or a controller, you may find that your elbows are feeling weak and painful, and you may need to rest them down on something while you play. You may also feel twinges of pain as you play games, experiencing pain travel from the nerves of your wrists down to your elbows.
This kind of injury can be caused by repetitive motion in your wrist or hand, as well as in the elbow joint. You can worsen the problem and cause more severe pain if you continue using your hands and wrists to play video games. Even somewhat relaxing games that don’t require a lot of strenuous movement can worsen the condition. Even resting your elbows as you play can increase the damage to your joints.
You need to give yourself time to rest and recover. You should avoid any kind of work that would put stress on your elbow down to your wrist. Even lifting a cup can cause more pain and make it take longer for you to recover. Mike with NYC House Cleaners suggests, “You should avoid housework while recovering, and you may want to hire a cleaning service to handle that for you while your joints and nerves are repaired.”
If it seems like your elbow is taking a long time to improve, you should see a doctor about it. Most tennis elbows can heal by themselves after a couple of days, and you can reduce inflammation and pain by putting ice on the joint.
Gamer’s Wrist
You won’t be surprised to find this one classified as a video gaming injury with a name like a gamer’s wrist. Any kind of prolonged and repetitive use of the wrist joint can cause pain in that joint that may be classified as a gamer’s wrist. This condition is characterized by pain when moving the wrist, even for very gentle movements and a limited range of motion.
What causes it? You can get gamers’ wrists by playing games for a long time, but you’re more likely to experience this condition when you hold your controller properly or at an odd angle. Playing games that require specialized controllers, you’re not used to can put extra stress on your wrist and cause this kind of injury.
It’s a good idea to limit how long you play on new types of controllers. Your muscles and joints need to get used to the way you hold the controller and how you use it before you start playing with that controller for hours at a time.
Gamer’s wrist creates inflammation in that joint with rest and ice. It may be necessary to take painkillers or visit the doctor if the condition worsens or continues for more than a few days. As with all of the conditions mentioned so far, you want to stay off the games for a few days so that your body can recover faster and more effectively.
Carpal Tunnel Syndrome
You have probably heard of this injury before, and it’s common not just for esports and video gaming but also for people who spend a long time working on the computer daily.
A narrow pathway connecting your hand and wrist is known as the carpal tunnel. If you’re using that part of your body too much or your hand position is not very ergonomic, you can cause nerve compression there, which leads to pain, numbness, weakness, and tingling in your hand.
This can be a serious condition that requires therapy and plenty of rest to treat, and it may never fully heal, depending on the severity of the injury. That’s why you want to do everything you can to avoid experiencing carpal tunnel syndrome. Make sure you have a computer or gaming setup that is gentle on your hands and promotes good posture. Take regular breaks from gaming or computer use, and make sure to give yourself rest when you feel pain in your hands.
Take Care of Yourself
One of the best ways to avoid these kinds of injuries or minimize their severity is to listen to your body. If you’re starting to feel pain as you play games, take a break and give your body a chance to recover. If you’re still feeling pain when you return to the games, continue taking a break from them. Most gaming injuries aren’t serious, and you can recover from them in a matter of days with proper treatment.
