Gadgets give granny disease to kids
Arthritis strikes gaming youngsters
Youngsters are increasingly suffering from arthritis-like pains due to their excessive use of games consoles and mobile phones, it has been claimed.
The revelation came from the European League Against Rheumatism (EULAR), which holds its annual conference in London this week.
Consultants reckon roughly 90 per cent of British kids around eight years old own at least one games console. With some nippers spending up to seven hours a day playing on their gadgets, EULAR has seen unprecedented numbers of youngsters suffer from pains normally found in elderly patients with chronic rheumatism, The Sun reports.
After treating kids for such symptoms, Dr Gavin Cleary, a consultant from Merseyside's Alder Hey Children's NHS Foundation Trust, said: "With increasing numbers of children using gaming devices there should be consideration for statutory health warnings."
Other studies from across the Atlantic come to a similar conclusion: frequent use of games devices and phones cause intense joint pain. Fact.
Perhaps the claims are a bit bleedin' obvious. As someone who blames his unintelligible handwriting and shaky hands on damage sustained through button bashing in various Super Street Fighter editions, I certainly won't dispute them.
There are countless gadgets out there that come with RSI warnings. The Nintendo Wii comes with one to warn users about 'Wii-itis'. Is it a surprise such health advice isn't already present in regular pad-based videogames? What are your views? ®
COMMENTS
Won't someone blame the parents?
7 hours a day on a console? Wow. The issue isn't that computer games and associated peripherals mangle you for life, its that parents who take no responsibility for their children are guilty of damaging their children's health. The obvious solution is of course government regulation of games, consoles and phones, right?
I doubt it
You really don't want to be waving placards for hours when you have arthritis or the rheumatizz.
There are 100 types of arthritis
It just means "inflamed joints". Which one are they talking about here?
Lay off the "granny disease" too. While people are certainly more prone to developing stiff and painful joints with age, it's not exclusive to the elderly. I've known children that had rheumatoid arthritis (an autoimmune disease), and I developped osteoarthritis (due to worn cartilage) in my 20s due to being dealt a lousy hand at gene poker.
The subject might have been of interest with a link to the original article, rather than the alarmist crap the Sun deals out.
I found this one about a study in 2009: http://www.arthritistoday.org/news/video-games-pain-kids020.php
Me, I find the Wii can help with stiff joints, but then again I tend to go for gentler games and I don't play every day for 2 hours at a stretch.
I am now a chronic RSI sufferer
Rome: Total War was what tipped me over the edge. As a software engineer in the day and a gamer in the evening, I was fine until I wasn't. That is the problem, I cannot get rid of it now and can't use a mouse. Almost constant low pain which can make you feel sick. People do need to be warned about what they are storing up for their kids and make sure they don't use the computer too much. On the industry side, hopefully some of the great developments around alternative inputs and voice recognition will start to take hold in the next few years.
Etcetera etcetera etcetera
Another argument against electronic babysitters.
