The gaming world has exploded. It’s no longer just about spending hours upon hours at home engaged in battle against the machine (although that still happens). Gaming is now deeply connected to social networking, and eSports leagues are overtaking traditional sports in online viewership and worldwide interest. As of 2022 Twitch (live streaming service that focuses on video games and eSports competitions) has 140 million monthly active users. The phenomenon is here to stay, but with it comes risk to one’s health that spans beyond the virtual environment. It’s not just the lack of sleep we’re talking about, but chronic injuries that can impact you in the gaming chair and out in the real world.
As a result, gamers are realizing that they need to turn to the very same experts who have been helping athletes since the beginning of the health profession. Over the last five years, physiotherapy clinics have seen a corresponding increase in treatment and therapy requests to address these injuries. Whether you’re a game developer (who must test their creations), professional gamer, eSports athlete, or casual enthusiast, it’s time to unlock the possibilities of physical therapy. Let’s review.
Why Physiotherapy is Essential to the Health and Wellness of Today’s Modern Gamer
Physical Therapy for Gamers Thumb
You’ve heard of tennis/golf elbow, but what about gamer’s thumb? The injury (aka de Quervain’s Tenosynovitis) is actually nothing new. It’s been around since your parents manhandled a joystick over a game of Space Invaders or Mrs. PacMan. It’s a repetitive stress injury that causes inflammation of the tendons around the thumb. The pain ranges from mild discomfort to downright debilitation. It is also characterized by numbness in your thumb and the first two fingers.
Like with carpal tunnel or any other hand/wrist injury, physical therapist prescribed movements, stretches, and exercises can be employed to correct the ailment. In many instances you will be outfitted with a hand or wrist brace to help it heal and prevent re-injury. And no, Googling YouTube videos for how to heal gamer’s thumb won’t cut it. You have sustained a very real injury that will only get worse if not mitigated by a professional.
We Also Treat and Prevent Other Gaming Related Ailments
It doesn’t matter how state-of-the-art your gaming chair is, it’s no substitute for giving your body what it needs in terms of constant upward activity throughout the day. In a workplace setting, people are advised to get up and walk around every 30-minutes to avoid strain on the spine. We know that you’re not going to pause your game to do the same. Knowing this, there is no other recourse but to make physical therapy a part of your weekly health and wellness regime. Physiotherapy treatments and therapies will be employed to manage the following gaming related injures:
- Lower back pain
- Sacroiliac joint dysfunction
- Sciatica
- Neck pain
- Carpal tunnel syndrome
- Cubital tunnel syndrome
- Upper and lower crossed syndrome
- Wrist strain
- Shoulder strain
- Elbow strain
- Thoracic outlet syndrome
- Medial epicondylosis
- Deep vein thrombosis
- Tension headaches
Who knew you’d be susceptible to so many injuries from gaming? Be sure to drop these facts on your court, track, and field friends who don’t take what you do to be a serious activity. Treatments for the above ailments may include a combination of chiropractic work, massage therapy, laser therapy, dry needling, TCM acupuncture, and more. And not only will regular physical therapy help heal your injuries, it will help prevent them from occurring in the first place.
We’ll Help You Destroy the Competition
We’re big proponents of sportsmanship like conduct. We support programs that encourage the uplifting of fellow competitors on the court, track, and field. Gaming is a bit different. It’s destroy or be destroyed in a virtual environment, so we approach it differently too. In other words, we will help you become gaming machine and take down the competition, whether you’re a game designer or on the competitive circuit. How? By doing everything that we addressed above.
Your competitors haven’t even considered physiotherapy. You on the other hand, will be able to sit comfortably for longer periods of time and be able to move those fast twitch muscle fibers in your arms and hands so that they don’t submit for even a second amidst a battle or race against time.
Virtual Therapy for Your Virtual Gaming Too
We know that you can’t always get into a physiotherapy clinic each and every week, especially when in the middle of all-night gaming binges. While in-clinic treatment is important, you can adopt a hybrid model that combines in-person with virtual physical therapy. You’ll need to find a clinic near you that offers both. If located in the Greater Vancouver BC area (one of the top gaming clusters in the world) we encourage you to schedule a consultation at Burnaby PhysioCare today.