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Vibrating Controller Alert
mgibbs writes: "According to this article at the BBC, all those game consoles with vibrating controllers can be hazardous to your health. This would have been nice to know before all those hours killing The Flood in HALO; and here I thought all those pins and needles were from the exciting game play."
If your child is spending 7 hours a day in front of a console I really think you need to work on your parenting skills. A TV isn't a baby sitter. Let them spend hours and hours staring blankly at a screen when they become old enough to know better.
- Jimbob
Doctors are calling for vibrating computer game controllers to carry health warnings after a teenager developed a painful condition known as hand-arm vibration syndrome.
They are basing this freaking out on one single case??? Perhaps a study is in order, anyone want to get paid to play games all day?
I Am My Own Worst Enemy
Isn't doing ANYTHING for seven hours straight every single day hazardous to your health? This is more of a fact of life than a problem with video game systems.
And they come home aching at the end of the day. My girlfriend works in retail, and comes home frequently quite unwilling to stand if at all possible. The fact of the matter is, repeated activity (IE, not sleeping) for prolonged periods of time can have adverse effects.
Heck, even sleeping can be hard on you. Anyone else ever made a transatlantic flight? The 7 hours in a seat (Even 1st class) is murder.
I think this is a little more than just the vibration. What about, for example, people who mow lawns for a living - that's a shitload more vibration than a measly little 2v DC motor with a off-centre lead weight. Not only that, but think of all the guys in the 'old days' operating vibrating machinery.
I think that it's the whole concept of keeping his hands wrapped in the same position all day, using only the same muscles that caused it. Think of the stress on his eyes, staring at a TV all day. It's nothing but a wakeup notice that he should get a life.
Major problems include: PLAYING VIDEO GAMES SEVEN HOURS PER DAY!
quis custodiet ipsos custodes - Juvenal
Assembly line workers do the same thing for 8 hours a day plus.
Yup, and I've got a wicked case of CTS to show for the three and a half years that I worked in a factory. I did the same job for more than a year because I was faster at my job than any one else on the line and my supervisor didn't want to rotate me. So, I spent 8 hours a day doing the same job -- not just in the same factory, mind you, doing the same repetitive motion -- for more than 12 months. Eventually I couldn't even sleep for more than a few hours without waking up due to the pain in my wrists and hands.
Happily, I got out of there without having to have surgery or anything -- I know a few people who had surgery and never regained full strength in their hands. I did go through about a month of physical therapy and learned a few exercises to help relieve the strain. I can't use normal keyboards or laptop keyboards for any period of time without causing pain, though. I've stocked up on ergonomic keyboards just in case the models that I like go out of production. (The original M$ "Natural" keyboards rock. The new models suck -- one doesn't have normal arrow keys, the other is too clunky with all the extra function keys. The cordless Logitech ergo keyboards rock too...)
Anyway, factories are required by OSHA to allow workers to rotate jobs or try to make sure that their jobs aren't going to cause RSI. I'm not sure it's 100% possible -- the human body was not designed to do repetitive tasks for 8 hours a day for years on end. But they're supposed to make an effort to prevent it.
And kids, if your hands hurt because you've been playing video games too long then it's time to go read a f&*^%ing book. Pain is the first sign of RSI, and if you heed it you won't have serious problems. If you ignore it, you're in for a lot worse than hand cramps.