Computer Game Player Gets Blood Clot In Leg

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Computer Game Player Gets Blood Clot In Leg

Posted by simoniker on Friday January 30, 2004 @05:12AM from the wiggle-periodically-or-die dept.

Thanks to BBC News for its article discussing a UK teenager who developed a blood clot in his leg after playing videogames in one position for too long. The piece explains: "Dominic Patrick, 14, from Merseyside, developed deep vein thrombosis after a rainy day inside with a games console... The potentially dangerous condition was caused because Dominic had his legs tucked under his body." A doctor interviewed suggested this was a relatively rare case, however: "The only risk factor we could find in this case was the fact that Dominic had sat on his legs for 10 hours playing computer games without moving... [however, it] doesn't mean that the government should be putting health warnings on PlayStations."

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evolution by cowscows · 2004-01-30 05:13 · Score: 4, Insightful

Evolution has provided the human body with an excellent defense against this sort of thing. It's called a bladder.

How can you sit in one place for 10 hours?

--
One time I threw a brick at a duck.
1. Re:evolution by et289807 · 2004-01-30 05:17 · Score: 4, Funny
  
  That's because they're dead!
2. Re:evolution by Anonymous Coward · 2004-01-30 05:21 · Score: 4, Insightful
  
  Not only is it called a bladder, it's also called "your limbs falling asleep".
  
  I'm sure people will use this as some sort of anti-videogame fodder, but it should be pointed out that DVT also occurs in people flying on airplanes, traveling in trains or buses for long trips, etc. It is also more likely (I believe) in those who are severely overweight.
  
  And yeah... how do you sit perfectly still for 10 hours? I'm extremely sedentary and I work at a computer for a living, but even I have to get up every few hours for a soda or a bite to eat or to take a dump or a leak - or at least to move around and reposition myself comfortably. I certainly wouldn't "sit on my legs" for 10 hours straight.
  
  Oh well. Another point to show that evolution exists, I guess!
3. Re:evolution by Anonymous Coward · 2004-01-30 05:24 · Score: 4, Insightful
  
  This could happen to anyone who works at a computer for a living, of course. Videogaming gives you the same oppertunity for it to occur as, say, coding or being a managerial type that is tied to your computer/office. Even security guards in some places. Anyone who sits and never ever moves *and* has poor health to boot is going to be at risk. This article is a "BFD" piece.
4. Re:evolution by bigman2003 · 2004-01-30 05:56 · Score: 5, Funny
  
  Okay- sad stupid story..
  
  You mentioned 'security guards'. I was in the Army, and I was supposedly guarding something stupid (like a nuclear missle, or something like that). Well, I was sitting in a chair that was low, and deep (you see them on every Army base). Eventually, I figured that the Russkies wouldn't attack that day, and I fell asleep.
  
  A few hours (?) later, someone came to check on the security detail (me) and he walked up, and saw I was asleep. He started yelling at me- totally pissed off. I woke up, saw that it was a Major, and tried to snap to attention.
  
  Because I had been sleeping in the chair so long, and the type of chair cut off circulation to my legs, my muscles wouldn't work at all. I fell to the ground, and I couldn't stand up. I literally had to lay there while this guy started yelling and screaming at me, telling me I wasn't doing my job, etc. (It's pretty obvious to me, while I am laying down with useless legs...)
  
  After about 2 minutes of him screaming at me to get up, salute, stand at attention, etc. he finally figured out I had a real problem. So he called our medics, and they came to get me on a stretcher. Eventually they took me to the hospital for a checkup.
  
  Of course I had to go along with this now, and I told them that the last thing I remember was walking on my rounds, and I must have passed out or something. They kept me in the hospital for a day. I felt like a real jackass, but telling them that I was sleeping there so long that my legs became useless just wasn't a good option.
  
  --
  No reason to lie.
5. Re:evolution by Kent_Franken · 2004-01-30 07:05 · Score: 3, Interesting
  
  I developed deep vein thrombosis (DVT) after a flight from the US to the Ukraine. After it was repaired (months of taking anti-coagulation medicine dissolved it) I asked my Doctor what I could do to avoid this next time I take a long flight. He told me to drink lots of water. When I asked him if that was to keep my blood from getting too thick, he said it was just to make me get up every hour or so to go to the bathroom.
  
  So yes, if you don't want a DVT, get up and stretch your legs and do some deep knee bends once every hour or so.
6. Re:evolution by Cipster · 2004-01-30 07:17 · Score: 4, Funny
  
  Thank goodness for smoking breaks. It's great for my cardiovascular system! Oh wait....Nevermind.
What game? by redune45 · 2004-01-30 05:14 · Score: 3, Funny

What I want to know is what game was it that kept him so hooked, and where can I get a copy?

--
redune.com: The World 3.2 Megapixels at a time
The big question remains unanswered by lightspawn · 2004-01-30 05:15 · Score: 3, Funny

Which game?
1. Re:The big question remains unanswered by BTWR · 2004-01-30 05:20 · Score: 5, Funny
  
  Which game?
  
  Ironically, it was Dance Dance Revolution.
bias by Anonymous Coward · 2004-01-30 05:19 · Score: 4, Funny

This is just biased reporting. You never read anything about the kid that missed the bus because he was playing video games before school, only to find out later the bus exploded when it crashed into a truckload of dynamite, or something.

Or that kid that is saved the humiliation of asking that one cheerleader out to prom because him and his buddies are planning a Halo Party that saturday.

Leave it to the media to only report on the bad things.
Fittest and healthiest of children? by imitier · 2004-01-30 05:21 · Score: 4, Insightful

His father told a newspaper: "This just proves that DVT can affect even the fittest and healthiest of children."
Somehow I doubt that a kid who can, and does, put in 10 hours straight playing videogames is the "fittest and healthiest of children." My guess is that the 10-hours type of kid is something less than fit and healthy.
I wish... by benlinkknilneb · 2004-01-30 05:23 · Score: 5, Funny

I wish I had his attention span... but unfortunately I can't even finish a

--
It must be Thursday... I never could get the hang of Thursdays.
Warnings on Playstations? by Jim+Hall · 2004-01-30 05:24 · Score: 5, Funny

"The only risk factor we could find in this case was the fact that Dominic had sat on his legs for 10 hours playing computer games without moving... [however, it] doesn't mean that the government should be putting health warnings on PlayStations."
No, we should be putting them on XBoxes, which is what he was playing at the time (as suggested by the XBox photo attached to the article.) So now we know the truth: Microsoft products are a health problem.
The Lesson by Flwyd · 2004-01-30 05:42 · Score: 3, Funny

Whenever your character jumps, you should also jump. And here's a tip: if you want to make a really sharp left turn, jerk the controller to the left. It helps.

--
Ceci n'est pas une signature.
I usually start to ache after playing games too by Corfitz · 2004-01-30 05:44 · Score: 5, Funny

I don't have to play computer games for more than 15 minutes before my head and neck starts to hurt. It usually starts right after my wife tries to slap my headphone off while screaming "ARE YOU SITTING THERE AGAIN! HOW COME YOU CAN FIND THE TIME TO ..." (I usually stop listening around this point).
Should I see a doctor?
That's Nuttin! by mugnyte · 2004-01-30 05:44 · Score: 5, Funny

Blood clot!? Pshaw! Walk it off soldier.

You shoulda seen our palms after trying to complete the Activision Decathalon on the Atari 2600. Bloddy mess! Or the sore thumbs from combo-attacks in the early fight games. Like two yams, I tell you!

I got over my ADD by having to wait for the tape to play the game into the C64. DungeonSomething took like 30 minutes. I treated that tape like the chalice in the Vatican. It slowly cranked while I shook like a drugged monkey watching it, screaming.

I learned the subtle differences in repetative images by playing Pitfall! I could time scorpion steps in my sleep.

When feeling lethargic, I put in Activision's Warlord. More epileptic-seizure-inducing flashes that a night at the Oscars. I think I'm still twitching.

And we had NO pause buttons, wimps!

Sheesh, kids got it so easy these days.
In other news by pudge_lightyear · 2004-01-30 05:47 · Score: 4, Insightful

In other news, runner dies of heart attack during morning jog.

2 points.

1. You can get hurt or die regardless of who you are and what you're doing.

2. This is only a story becuase of 2 other reasons.
2.a. Video-gamers are seen by the rest of society as lazy and dumb... so are naturally good targets.
2.b. This doesn't happen often so it's news.

--

Certainly every man at his best state is but vapor
Bad parenting by Metal_Demon · 2004-01-30 06:39 · Score: 5, Funny

It's a shame that parents aren't teaching their kids proper gaming techniques.

--
Trust Your Technolust
Black & White by Scrameustache · 2004-01-30 08:19 · Score: 3, Interesting

Once, after playing Black & White for 6 hours straight, the lil' demon helper came out of nowhere and said "Its gettin' kinda late boss, maybe you should take a rest". I hadn't noticed the time, realised it was late indeed and I had work the next day, saved and quit.

That was cool, and apparently it was a life-saver!

--
You can't take the sky from me...
Wheeee by WTFmonkey · 2004-01-30 08:34 · Score: 4, Funny

Q) How many kids with ADD does it take to screw in a lightbulb?
A) Wanna go ride bikes?