There’s a new injury on the block – called “Gamer’s Thumb”. It’s affecting millions of people worldwide, and with the new era of Professional Gaming, a lot of money can depend on it!
In This Article:
Too Many Hours Of Gaming Causes Gamer’s Thumb
… to be blunt about it!
All kids do it, and are at risk of developing a repetitive strain injury (Tenosynovitis). Inflammation of the tendons in the hand results from too many repeated movements from the joypads. A gamers thumb!
How Many Gamers Are There?
Most estimates place the number of gamers around the world at over 3 billion. It’s a massive, massive industry – bigger than all other media (like films and television together). It’s a particularly common pastime among younger people.
When recently chatting to a patient of mine, she mentioned that her 14 year old son spends most of his free time online gaming. Yet, for the past two months he has been complaining that his hands are sore, and he has a lot of Thumb Pain. So what’s happening?
What Is Gamer’s Thumb
Gamer’s thumb is just the common name, but it’s really Tenosynovitis resulting from an over-use of your thumb. Another name is: DeQuervains Synovitis.
It physically looks like thickening of the tendon-sheaths around the thumb and in bad cases it very often requires surgery if not treated correctly.
It’s useful to look at the different kinds of gaming, and sources of this injury:
- Console Gaming (Playstation / Xbox)
- PC Gaming
- Mobile Use / Gaming
Console gaming is obviously the worst – because the thumbs are clicking buttons and moving joysticks.
PC Gaming involves a keyboard and mouse, and sometimes other equipment like joysticks – but we don’t see a huge amount of this with PC gaming.
Finally, the mobile phone usage that people clock up every day is simply staggering, and this is another source of the injury. It has also been referred to as “Texter’s Thumb”.
How To Heal Thumb Pain
So now we know what causes it, what can we do? These are the options.
- Stop playing (Not going to happen ☺)
- Pain Medication
- Anti Inflammatory
- Steroid / Pain-killing injections
- Surgery
- Rehabilitation Exercises
We have advised our client to go down the exercise and rehab route. Not interested in a quick fix and having to stop playing again… check out the Gamers Thumb Pain Kit below – this could be the solution to your problems going forward!
