The Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine have released a fascinating paper on the history of video game related injuries and conditions. Although it is a light-hearted paper there are doubtless some underlying concerns for parents. The paper discusses the medical pros and cons associated with a number of different games consoles, from the early days, when medical reports highlighted concerns about the long hours people spent in front of screens and the possibility that this could cause deep vein thrombosis or ‘eThrombosis’ to the more recent phenomenon dubbed ‘Playstation 2 (PS2) Thumb’.
The report goes on to describe how the Wii revolution has seen gamers leave their armchairs and sofas to indulge in more physically demanding games such as ‘Wii Sports’. The result has been a rise in traumatic Wii-related personal injury.
The authors discuss some Wii-related personal injuries, from the ‘Wii-knee’ – in which a 16-year-old boy tore several knee ligaments during an energetic Wii game, to ‘Wiiitis’ and Wii-induced effort thrombosis (Paget-Schroetter disease).
Wii injury, they say, is so common that several websites and blogs have been set up in its honour including www.wiiinjury.com and www.wiihaveaproblem.com.
They also discuss the legal case brought against Nintendo by Michael Tochia, US talk show host and fitness guru who claims that Nintendo is concealing the dangers of its product, and that the addictive nature of the games could be contributing to the obesity epidemic by brainwashing people into thinking they’re properly exercising when, by any reasonable definition of the word, they are not.
The researchers conclude that even though there is not enough evedence to justify a new branch of sports medicine, it’s no bad thing that gaming is no longer merely an inactive and sedentary occupation.