New Medical Disorder Linked To Gaming

oldspewey writes "A new skin disorder caused by use of games consoles has been identified by skin specialists. The condition, dubbed "PlayStation palmar hidradenitis", is described in the British Journal of Dermatology. Researchers outline the case of a 12-year-old girl who attended a Swiss hospital with intensely painful sores on the palms of her hands. The girl, who had been using a games console regularly, recovered fully after 10 days of abstinence. The doctors suspect that the problem was caused by tight and continuous grasping of the console's hand-grips, and repeated pushing of the buttons, alongside sweating caused by the tension of the game. Nina Goad, of the British Association of Dermatologists said: 'This is an interesting discovery and one that the researchers are keen to share ... If you're worried about soreness on your hands when playing a games console, it might be sensible to give your hands a break from time to time, and don't play excessively if your hands are prone to sweating.'" We called it Tekken thumb.

Because if it had been a 12 year old *boy*....

[guyminuslife]

...they would have assumed it was something other than video games.

Re:Button mashers

[furby076]

Wow...like really, DUH! Anytime you repetatively perform an action, especially when it can be strenuous and cause things like sweat, you will get sores/callouses/etc.

The fact they "just discovered" it is more along the lines "I am a worthless doctor and want to get my name into the medical books. Now i can spin-off a book 'why gaming consoles are dangerous to your health'"....In other news "12 year old girl bashes doctor in the face with her Ps3 console"

Re:This sounds like the consoles need a redesign.

[frosty_tsm]

While a good idea, you must consider where controller were 20 years ago with their simplistic shape. While there have been exceptions (such as the basketball-sized XBox controllers), we've generally seen improvement in ergonomics.

The real issue is that the ergonomics of an off-the-shelf product can only be so good. And they can't make up for repeat and excessive use.

This hurts.

[olddotter]

Well stop doing that.

Re:what?

[oldspewey]

I've taken up R/C Helicopters as a hobby to try to get away from gaming too much

Good thinking - replace a finger-intensive task involving lots of fine movements with a finger-intensive task involving lots of fine movements. Nerd logic at its finest!