Report: RSI in UK kids up 35 percent
via gamespot
Playing video games is a dangerous business. If gamers aren't dodging flying controllers or getting inadvertently hit by their partner while playing Wii Sports, they're getting the dreaded Tekken Thumb after a few fighting rounds too many. Now, according to a UK report, it's official--gamers who button-mash too much can wind up in hospital.
In 2006 in the UK, a total of 577 children had to go to hospital for treatment for repetitive strain injury (RSI), according to British newspaper The Daily Mail.
RSI is a medically recognised condition which results from spending long periods of time making repetitive movements with the hands, wrists, arms, or shoulders. If these motions are performed on an almost daily basis (such as by an assembly line worker or a typist), inflammation can occur and not be given a chance to heal, since the muscles will continue to be used in the same way.
The figures are a 35 percent rise on those from 1999, and it is believed there is a direct link with the growing popularity of gaming.
Conversely, injuries related to falling out of trees were down 36 percent last year to 1,163, which The Daily Mail believes illustrates the trend for children to "turn away from basic outdoor activities."
