Repetetive Motion Injuries?

[MOSQUITO FIGHTER]

Does anybody else here have to deal with hand, wrist, or arm pain while playing videogames?

I do. I can't even play my old nes for more than 20 minutes anymore. Alot of the time my hands feel so bad that the only game I can play after work is meteos. The other day I was playing dodonpachi doj and every time I hit the button pain just shot through my wrist. It was hard to even hold the controller. It made me so mad that I ordered one of those expensive Hori RAP's. Sometimes I have trouble holding down 2 buttons at once for very long time also. This suprises me because I usually hold the controller loosely and take breaks every hour or two.

I'd also like to ask are joysticks generally considered to be more healthy to use than control pads? It seems like they take the abuse off the thumbs. But might add more to the wrists.

[Andi]

Dude, see a doctor. That's really not normal, and should be a huge concern for someone who is under 70.

[sven666]

yeah, i shattered my wrist earlier this year, and after alot of painful surgery etc it is now almost back to normal strenght.

however after playing arcade/video games for +30mins i have to take a break or it'll start aching too much, sounds like we have about the same problems and no im my case arcade controllers dont help.

i hope this will diminish over time tho as im proboably not 100% healed yet...

but if you havent damaged your wrist in any peticular way lateley id definetly recommend you check it up, might be serious...

[MOSQUITO FIGHTER]

Ok. I'll go see a doctor. It just happened yesterday. Please continue to discuss. I think work might be the bigger problem than videogames. If I'm at work and my hands hurt I can't stop but at least with videogames I can stop.

[sven666]

what do you do for a living? maybe thats where the problem is... alot of people who work with computers or cash registers suffer from all kinds of wrist injuries.. maybe wearing an orthopedic wristband might help (does for me whenever i remember to put it on)..

[MOSQUITO FIGHTER]

Assembly Line. Grabbing lots of little things over and over. Throwing around boxing and such. All of the jobs are really repetative. But at least we get to switch out jobs every hour. I'll get this taken care of don't worry. Thanks Andi and sven666

[FatCobra]

Recently, I noticed that playing on the old Gameboy Advance and Color started to cramp my wrist after a while or so....

[system11]

You'll all be wanting to read this thread:

http://forum.shmups.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=1821

From a quick skim, pay particular attention to Gregs initial post, if that doesn't scare you enough, read mine.

Not something to fuck with or ignore, or talk lightly of. I do sometimes hear people at work talking about it as if people who suffer are "whiners". For every scammer faking it, you can bet there's 20 people who suffer in silence and more than make up for it.

[The n00b]

A few months ago I went on an fps binge. I would play Battlefield 2 till like 2 in the morning everyday. My main role in the game was gunning on attack helicopters. As most Battlefield players know, heli gunners spend the majority of their time using the mouse to scan back and forth looking for stuff to shoot at. When I finally took a break I would play Deus Ex or Baldur's Gate 2, two more heavily mouse driven games.

You don't have to be a doctor to figure out what happened next. My right wrist got so sore. The only reason I didn't get bumps coming out of my wrist was because I finally decided to take a break from videogames for like a week. I can only imagine what would have happened if I had kept on going.

[UnscathedFlyingObject]

I'm learning how to use the mouse with my left hand to relieve stress from my right, which practices kanji for about two hours a day and all sort of other stuff. It helps a lot.

[MOSQUITO FIGHTER]

Well I went to go see a doctor. Turns out that I have tendonitis and may be on my way to getting carpal tunnel syndrome. Luckily my wrists are still structually sound. Doctor said that if I continue to do the same things I've been doing it is something that over time will just get worse. If anyone else is having this problem I would also like to recomend in addition to seeing a doctor to see a physical therapist. Turns out that the problem might not have been so much what I was doing but how. The way I tended to grab things the side of my thumb would rest on the object instead of the base on my thumb (where the center of the fingerprint would be). Doing things this way offered my hand less strength to hold things. Anyway I'm taking naproxen and doing alot of exercises with my hands now with a stress ball and tennis ball to help rebuild the strength in my hand and to direct my thumb in a different direction than where it currently rests. I like to call it working on my Kung Fu Grip.

Thanks everybody for being cool about this. I feel 100 percent better now.

[Acid King]

Well I went to go see a doctor. Turns out that I have tendonitis and may be on my way to getting carpal tunnel syndrome. Luckily my wrists are still structually sound. Doctor said that if I continue to do the same things I've been doing it is something that over time will just get worse. If anyone else is having this problem I would also like to recomend in addition to seeing a doctor to see a physical therapist. Turns out that the problem might not have been so much what I was doing but how. The way I tended to grab things the side of my thumb would rest on the object instead of the base on my thumb (where the center of the fingerprint would be). Doing things this way offered my hand less strength to hold things. Anyway I'm taking naproxen and doing alot of exercises with my hands now with a stress ball and tennis ball to help rebuild the strength in my hand and to direct my thumb in a different direction than where it currently rests. I like to call it working on my Kung Fu Grip.

Thanks everybody for being cool about this. I feel 100 percent better now.

Sounds like what I went though a few weeks ago. My right hand bothers me when I type or play games for an extended period of time. Doc said it was either tendinitis or early CT, which is treated the same way. Naproxen and a splint when I sleep or play games.

[ST Dragon]

I went through tendonitis 6 years ago on my right hand, after having punched something really hard.
When ever I typed or played a game using keyboard or pad, my hand would hurt a bit, but what was worse is that all my fingers would feel very stiff & uncomfortable.

The doctor gave me some anti-inflammatory pills which I took for about a week. He also instructed me for full activity & to not wrap it up tight in a bandage at all.

Within 10 days my hand got better & by the end of the month it was as if it had never happened.

Two years before that event, I hurt my wrist after a very intensive1’CC of 1945 Strikers II with a mate at the local arcades. But that was nothing a good night’s sleep couldn’t fix.

[WarpZone]

I had the beginning of this type of problem earlier this year, when I was getting a tingling sensation in my hands and wrists while programming or playing games. I think it was because my keyboard was simply up too high on my desk, and it was starting to cause physical strain on my hands after several months of use (actually, I'm sure it was causing some damage before I even noticed it). I switched my setup around so my typing position is more natural, and after a few months the feeling went almost entirely away.

Still, it's far better to adopt a natural typing posture immediately than to wait until you start to see symptoms of repetitive strain o_O

I also try to avoid playing any games now that don't somehow allow auto-fire.

[Davey]

I've never had any problems until recently, and I'm pretty sure it's caused by the new computer desk I bought. Something about the height and setup messes up my wrist if I use the mouse for more than 20-30 minutes. I think I'm bending it funny and putting too much weight on it.

There's a free program called Workrave that monitors your mouse and keyboard movements and tells you to take breaks periodically. As long as you actually take a break when it tells you, it seems to help.

I've had almost no problems during video games, even after hours of non-stop play (stick or pad). Crazy Taxi is one exception, because hammering on the DC's trigger over and over will build up a callus on my trigger finger. The other exception is when I'm playing on a cab. I'm relatively tall (about 6'3" or 6'4"), so if I can't sit by the cab, I have to reach down kinda far and put my wrist in an awkward position, which hurts after awhile if it's a game that requires constant tapping. Similarly, the Raiden Fighters cab I played this weekend kinda sucked. The shot button was unresponsive, and I really had to hammer on it to shoot consistently. Within 5 minutes it really started to kill. Maybe next time I'll try the 2P side.

Of course, accidentally smacking the side of your hand against the Dance Maniax machine can hurt pretty bad, too. It's a shame they didn't design the game with lurpy klutzes in mind.

[Michaelm]

It made me so mad that I ordered one of those expensive Hori RAP's.

Where did you order it ?

[Dave_K.]

Two years before that event, I hurt my wrist after a very intensive1’CC of 1945 Strikers II with a mate at the local arcades. But that was nothing a good night’s sleep couldn’t fix.

I wonder if sit-at-cabs like Astro/Windy/Candy are better for proper wrist positioning than stand up cabs where you can't really control the height at which you play...

[MOSQUITO FIGHTER]

@Michaelm-at ncsx.com. You might want to wait for the Soul Calibur III stick which seems to be more affordable. I don't know what parts are going to be used on that one though.

@sven666- I sure hope you heal 100% also.

[greg]

Repetitive Stress Injury (RSI) is serious stuff. Physical therapy is imperative. Don't listen to those few people who say that their problem went away on its own. Don't take this lightly. Some people develop Carpal Tunnel Syndrome (CTS) and just endure the pain for months or even years, and they think that the problem will just go away on its own, like a headache or a papercut. That's how people end up requiring surgery. RSI could be building up for a long period of time, but the pain seems to hit you all the sudden.

In April, I had the beginning of CTS in my left hand and tendonitis in both wrists. I was crippling up rapidly. CTS was cleared up after a week or two of physical therapy. As big and scary as CTS seems to be, that was the easy part for me. Nearly seven months later, the tendonitis hasn't completely cleared away as I hoped it would, but I am improving. I just have to think back to the way I was a few months ago and gauge success on that. I have occasional flare-ups, like last week with the overtime I did with my job, and playing game after game of button-mashing Mr. Driller G on Undamned's cab at the last shmupmeet in August. But some days I can get through work without any pain. I wear wrist braces snugly(MINUS the plastic splints---those can do more damage and are meant for bone fractures and such).

I'm fortunate that my company paid for worker's compensation for physical therapy for my tendonitis problem. If your company won't cover it, you don't have to pay $100 per visit like some PTs do. Mine charges only $50 without worker's comp. Don't be afraid to tell your managers about your problem, like they're going to fire you or something. They need to know about this and if they're decent, they'll be willing to help you in any way they can. Companies don't like liability, you know.
It's important to know that tendonitis is the inflamation of tendons, those thingies that hold your muscles to your bones. RSI brings this about when certain muscle groups are overworked and thus an imbalance is created. Whether it's typing, tennis (aka tennis elbow), lifting boxes, whatever. You need full balanced strength. My phyisical therpapist worked on retraining my posture habits, like not slouching/hunching while typing or playing games, etc. When I hunch forward to type, the forward part of my arms are overworked and disproportionate to my upper arms. The resulting strain causes tendonitis in my wrists.

After a month and a half of physical therapy I graduated. The therapist said that there wasn't anything else he could do for me, and that it was all up to me and how I keep my stretching and strength training. I learned the important value of taking breaks the hard way. I need to stretch my hands and my thumbs every so often to relax the tendons.

One more important thing to remember is that when the pain subsides, it's tempting to just forget about doing the exercises. You need to keep at it. I've changed my habits, and keeping gaming and personal computer use at a minimum. I'm reading more, which is far better for me anyway.

[Thunder Force]

There's a free program called Workrave that monitors your mouse and keyboard movements and tells you to take breaks periodically. As long as you actually take a break when it tells you, it seems to help.

Sounds like something that should be built into Windows. Interesting...