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Games Take Away the Pain

Posted by Zonk on from the soothing-mario-music-also-helps-sleep-dep dept.

Gamasutra reports on a Wheeling Jesuit University study that indicates gameplaying can allow those with great pain to live more fulfilling lives. From the article: "The Wheeling study compared several different genres of games in their effects on pain. Six types of games were used: action, puzzle, arcade, fighting, sports, and boxing, all varieties that encourage high attention and stimulus. (Games such as RPGs and graphical adventures were likely left out of the survey for their low-impact nature.) The game types most effective in distracting from pain, meted out by cold pressor tests after 10 minutes of each subject playing a particular game type, were the sports and fighting games."

14 of 56 comments (clear)

  1. Motrin vs Xbox360 by Rob_Ogilvie · · Score: 3, Funny

    While the xbox360 may be more fun... it's also a *lot* more expensive than a couple Motrin.

    --
    Rob
    1. Re:Motrin vs Xbox360 by vsprintf · · Score: 2, Interesting

      Sixty seconds of listening to John Madden's commentary deadens all my sensory inputs. But maybe that's just the result of being an old L.A. Rams fan. :)

      Seriously though, arthritis runs in the family, and while I get twinges in my thumbs and wrists (amongst other places), the more I play (PS2), the better my thumbs are. It doesn't do anything for the wrists - perhaps a tennis game with a small virtual racket, ala DDR? . . . Nevermind, that would only work if you had to play using both hands.

      My mother, who has advanced RA, enjoys sudoku, so getting absorbed in something that takes concentration does help.

  2. It's true by Eightyford · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Games (especially RPGs) are, in my opinion, the ultimate form of escapism. I'm not sure this need for constant stimulation is a good thing or not, but it really is a great way of avoiding the feelings of pain, embarrassment, and sadness.

    --
    Religion for nerds. Stuff that really matters
  3. That just raises another question... by jtorkbob · · Score: 2, Funny

    ...who will take away the back pain I get from spending all day in front of my computer playing fighting and sports games?

    --
    AC: Only on slashdot... could the sentence "My hovercraft is full of eels." be moderated "+4, Insightful
    1. Re:That just raises another question... by gknoy · · Score: 2, Informative

      who will take away the back pain I get from spending all day in front of my computer playing fighting and sports games?

      I would say that regular exercise, perhaps even yoga, will be a good way to help prevent/diminish your pain. I know that as soon as I stopped working out regularly, my back started hurting.

  4. I find that... by DarqFallen · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Sitting and Playing an Online RPG for 16 hrs straight gives me more pain than takes away.

  5. I find their choices suspect. by MajorG17 · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Boxing is a separate category from both sports and fighting? RPGs left out because of low-impact, but puzzle games were included? These choices alone lower their credibility in my eyes.

  6. Makes Sense... by dcowart · · Score: 3, Interesting

    It sounds like adrenalin. The adrenalin rush from playing fighting and sports games serves to deaden pain. This is just what it's supposed to do as part of the built-in "Fight or Flight" response. It keeps us going when were dead tired, but still needing to run from lions.

    --
    www.rdex.net
  7. Adrenaline ? by IAAP · · Score: 3, Interesting
    FTFA: The game types most effective in distracting from pain, meted out by cold pressor tests after 10 minutes of each subject playing a particular game type, were the sports and fighting games.

    I wonder if these games produce an adrenaline response? It's like remembering a situation that really pissed you off and you start getting pissed off again - with the resulting adrenaline.

    A lot of athletes will use imaging techniques to perfect their game. Only in this instance, you're placing yourself in the role of the game character. So when he gets hit, so do you - in your head.

  8. is boxing a type? by fool36 · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Six types of games were used: action, puzzle, arcade, fighting, sports, and boxing

    How is boxing a type of game? Wouldn't it fall under fighting and/or sports?

    1. Re:is boxing a type? by ClamIAm · · Score: 2, Funny
      How is boxing a type of game? Wouldn't it fall under fighting and/or sports?

      They couldn't decide which to put it in, so they made another category.

      Unless they're referring to those killer box-making games, where you learn the intricate processes of cardboard creation.

    2. Re:is boxing a type? by Seraph · · Score: 2, Funny

      Maybe they were thinking about Stacker.

  9. I use this technique; it also works w/ books & by ahbi · · Score: 5, Insightful

    I use this technique. I get migraines (full on once per 6-8 weeks, mini-migraines once per 2 weeks).

    And when I say migraine I don't mean "Oh, my head hurts." I mean "I see bright spots, Now one side of my head feels like a stiletto is being driven into it. I think I'll take a triptan (pill) and lie down and get nauseous for 6-12 hours. Then I think I'll feel weak with random short stiletto pains for 2-7 days."
    BTW, thank God for triptans. Until 5 years ago the doctor approved remedy was "take two sleeping pills and go to bed". I have trained myself to go unconscious as quickly as possible once a migraine starts. The triptan doesn't solve the initial headache, but it substantially reduces the secondary effects, making me an invalid for only 1-2 days as opposed to a full week.

    Playing a game that consumes as much of my attention as possible greatly relieves that pain. And, while I am sure adrenaline doesn't hurt, it isn't needed. Reading a consuming book or watching consuming TV works just as well. Even computer programming works to dull the pain.

    But "consuming" is the important point. Crap TV is useless. I have to care more, much more, about what is going on on the screen or in the book than I do about my head.

    Another reason games and TV work better than reading, is that the migraine makes it hard to focus on text. The words jump around or bright spots appear in my field of vision. Things that are constantly changing and have large visual areas (vs the pinpoint area for reading) means that I can lose more of the information on the screen and still understand (or not even notice the visual error).

  10. Life is painful. . . by Fantastic+Lad · · Score: 2, Interesting
    That's how we grow. Even the activities which we love most involve pain while we learn how to do them.

    So do you want your kid to grow up with a lot fewer life skills? Why not give him or her a video game-box to spend all those thousands of childhood growth hours on?

    Heck, why not plug yourself into a game box as well? Why grow into a skilled and accomplished person with fine-tuned power over your emotional and spiritual being when you can be turning pixels on and off, over and over and over?

    I know I'm being hypocritical here. . , I've wasted zillions of hours on video crack in my youth as well, and even learned a few useful skills and tactics doing so. --But I also built my own computer when I was a kid, went to creative lengths to pirate all my games, and most importantly, I didn't start until I was 12 years old. I'd wager that when today's kids are as old as my generation is now, they'll be generally much less socially aware and physically capable as a direct result of too much video crack when their young brains should be sucking up as much real-world experience as possible.


    -FL