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New Medical Disorder Linked To Gaming
oldspewey writes "A new skin disorder caused by use of games consoles has been identified by skin specialists. The condition, dubbed "PlayStation palmar hidradenitis", is described in the British Journal of Dermatology. Researchers outline the case of a 12-year-old girl who attended a Swiss hospital with intensely painful sores on the palms of her hands. The girl, who had been using a games console regularly, recovered fully after 10 days of abstinence. The doctors suspect that the problem was caused by tight and continuous grasping of the console's hand-grips, and repeated pushing of the buttons, alongside sweating caused by the tension of the game. Nina Goad, of the British Association of Dermatologists said: 'This is an interesting discovery and one that the researchers are keen to share ... If you're worried about soreness on your hands when playing a games console, it might be sensible to give your hands a break from time to time, and don't play excessively if your hands are prone to sweating.'" We called it Tekken thumb.
They get what they deserve...
Anyone?
In theory there is no difference between theory and practice. In practice there is. - Yogi Berra
Quick!
Do you have ESP?
We called it a Joystick Ow-wee
Sounds like ordinary blisters to me. Let them heal up and come back again in a few days and your hands will be tougher and stronger.
If I know gamers, I'm SUUUURE it was the "controller" that did it and not the real activity that gave them sores on their hands from repeated motions with sweaty palms.
When these gamers aren't being pwned, they retire to several hours of "feel good" activities in mom's basement.
I'm a satanic clam.
This could never happen to me. My palms are too hairy
If you're worried about soreness on your hands when playing a games console, it might be sensible to give your hands a break from time to time, and don't play excessively if your hands are prone to sweating.'
I could think of another situation where this might be true.
...they would have assumed it was something other than video games.
I don't believe in time. It's a grand conspiracy designed to sell watches.
Not to be confused with "MasturBation palmar hidradenitis"
A lot of gamers get those... we don't go running to a doctor because of it, though.
Fingerless gloves with palm grips fix that problem. If you don't want the sores, deal with looking like an 80's reject.
"Doctors who examined her at the Geneva University Hospital concluded she had a condition known as 'idiopathic eccrine hidradenitis'"
"Idiopathic", meaning "you're an idiot for still letting your daughter play video games after she develops sores on her sweaty little hands."
There are a whole slew of gaming-related illnesses, going back decades, such as Space Invaders Wrist. And let's not forget the terrible losses suffered due to Pac-Man Fever
psmylie's dictionary: Godzillion (noun) Any number large enough to destroy Tokyo
I mean... if I get sores on my hands from digging a hole with a shovel but no gloves, can I make up some new medical condition?
Next Slashdot/medical journal article title:
People get sores on their hands from rubbing stuff!
while(1) attack(People.Sandy);
In the early 90's, the term 'Nintendinitis' was coined. Nothing to see here, move along and get off my lawn!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nintendo_thumb
On one of the Mario Party games for the N64 there was a mini-game where you had to wind up a clockwork toy using the analogue stick so it would fly across the room and presumably unlock some secret. I couldn't do it fast enough with my thumb so I started using my palm in attempts, and after a few tries a layer of the skin on my hand came off.
There are console controllers with airholes and fans built in now, to help prevent sweaty palms. So there's been a solution for years, she just failed to use it.
Not a sentence!
and continue playing
My palms are hairy so the sweat doesn't cause issues....
oogly boogly!
A bit of ergonomic work on the consoles is indicated.
Bantam Dominique roosters crow a four-note song. Once you've heard it as "Happy BIRTHday" you can't NOT hear it that way
time to start wearing gaming gloves
I find the playstation controllers are pretty easy on the hands. Kids these days don't know how good they have it. That old Nintendo Brick Controller was the worst. We all called it Nintendo thumb back in the day
Seriously? Is this what news has become? Alarmists are growing in numbers, it seems. TFA's title is even Game consoles 'cause skin sores' and has a PlayStation remote pictured. Now unless some chemical was used in the manufacturing of these remotes/consoles that causes this, that is such a misrepresentation... but hey, it got me to read it.
I have a theory of my own... And maybe I'll post an article and say that I discovered Clutchingson's Disease. She was just clutching onto the remote, squeezing, playing intensely, sweating, rubbing, probably getting scared (obligatory: because she's a girl) so half letting go of the remote due to being startled then grabbing again and causing herself extra rubbing/trauma.
The fact that she kept playing, in discomfort/pain, only shows that she has a bright future as a gamer and may even read this post a few years from now when she starts reading Slashdot and looks through some archives. Hi. How's your hands?
"This is an interesting discovery and one that the researchers are keen to share with other dermatologists, should they be confronted with similar, unexplained symptoms in a patient."
So, patient presents with sores on their palms. IANAD but I'm pretty sure the first thing they'd ask is "Whatcha been doing with your hands lately? Riding a bike?" and when the patient indicates they haven't been clutching onto handles the next question will be, "Well, have you been in contact with any chemicals, soaps, objects, anything out of the ordinary?" Now unless this is a male child, deformed (somehow), ya know "down there," and recently has become curious and is embarrassed to admit it, I'm pretty sure any other person, even a child, would be able to realize what they have been doing that has been out of the ordinary. I guess this is why they call it Idle... really shouldn't even be here, but, is. Worked out today, for me.
I can't really believe this. Especially the random pic which can't belong to a 12 yr old girl
But did the blindness go away?
Best Slashdot Co
Just another reason why consoles suck. I'll bet people who use a computer for gaming instead of a console don't have this problem.
I am not a doctor, but I don't think this is a new condition. In the Northeast US, workers who shuck clams for a living have a similar ailment from handling a clam opener all day. Clams are opened (by hand anyway) using a short blade with a round stubby handle - very similar to the part of the Playstation controller that rests in your palm. People who do a lot of digging with shovels can also suffer from this condition as well.
I used to get this back in the 70's on my VCS joysticks. Hardly warrants a name or even a second thought - it's just overuse/friction damage.
I want a list of atrocities done in your name - Recoil
Well stop doing that.
Think Deeply.
It seems like job of medical researchers is to invent new disease when it may not be necessary. We read about new diseases almost every week.
When I saw this article I had to check to see what day it was. I thought it somehow was April 1st already.
rm -rf sig
Now've they found a medical reason to bash videogames. They'll call it acute necrotizing videogamitis and claim it's a terminal desease. That way people will finally forbid the use of videogames. Damn alarmists.
I KNOW that kids today have it too easy. They never work a day in their life and when they get a blister they don't know what to do.
How f'ng sad.
Penny Arcade covered this back in 2005.
This condition is commonly know as the soul callous.
sudo eat my shorts
They've discovered that blisters are caused by friction!
What an amazing discovery!
A *girl* ?
with a *tight hand grip* ?
and a love for video games ?
In 10 years, she's going to receive proposals by every single /. geek !
"Sufficiently advanced satire is indistinguishable from reality." - [Tips: 1DrYakQDKCQ6y52z6QbnkxHXAocMZJE61o ]
Back when I was a kid one of my friends had a Decathlon/Olympics whatever game for the Atari 2600, I don't remember the exact title.
The foot race portion consisted of moving the control stick left to right as fast as you could, the winner obviously is the one who was best at doing that. Of course the Atari 2600 joysticks were rubber coated, and they were rather stiff. Long story short, I got blisters on my palms from shaking the joystick to vigorously to often.
Now that I reread that a lot of what I just posted sounds incredibly gay. In the interest of leaving the story in tact I'm leaving it, because it's NOT gay, and if it were what you're reading into it I assure you it would be the joystick that developed the blisters, not my palms.
The preceding post was not a Slashvertisement.
Dr. Mario!
Alphanos
I remember be and my brother joking about gamers thumb since the days of the NES, (probably as far back as the atari 2600, but it gets hazy that far back)
Most of us just have the common sense to put down the controller for an hour or two when we get sore hands.
Due to the motion and movements, you'd be less likely to develop a skin condition playing the Wii. Nintendo wins again?
Punch drunk, and without bail.
I wonder if she also abstained from typing on a keyboard and texting on a cell phone. Kids are doing more and more things with their hands and fingers since child labor laws were enacted. Well, I just made that up, but I'm sure gaming isn't solely to blame.
Reviewing just the first hour of video games.
Hendrix palmar hidradenitis
I remember seeing this problem long before video games.
Blindness and hairy palms were secondary symptoms.
My friends and I play Street Fighter so we call it 'Hadouken Hands'. If you want to prevent it all you have to do is just put your shirt over your hand. allows for you to slide across buttons easily and minimizes the blisters. Also, if this was truly a legitimate condition don't you think we would have seen this starting about 20 years ago? Of course we didn't... because they are just blisters... and in the last 20+ years only this little brats over-protective parents were stupid enough to take their kid to the doctor over some blisters(minor ones at that). I think porn stars get bigger blisters on their wangs from friction burns...
You can get them whilst lifting weights or playing sports too.
Why are people so surprised at stuff like this?
Some games may give you hairy palms and blindness too.
The good news is that the effects are also temporary.
it hurts when I do this." "Then don't do it." Idiots.
this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom. -- Lincoln, Gettysburg Address
I joined the Imagic "Numb Thumb" Club. The Atari 2600 only had one button but we pushed it with our thumb. Doctors called it "Numb Thumb" and Imagic turned it into a club.
Remember, Slashdot does not have a -1 disagree moderation, and no, troll, flamebait, and overrated are not substitutes.
Really?
Seriously, if you ever get pain from gaming, you need a break. Don't play through it or tough it out or try stopgap solutions. The game isn't going anywhere, and your health is far more important than entertainment. Switching controllers to play something different often helps, but even then you can get posture fatigue or eye stress.
I say this as someone who games a lot and has run into nearly as many different repetitive stress injuries as there are ways to control games. This week I've found Street Fighter 4 on the PS3 d-pad is pretty hard on my thumb, and even trying to press lightly and not mash it, you can still overdo it pretty easily. Despite what the manufacturers say, 4 hours seems to be about the longest I can play something continuously before running the risk of problems. I recommend having a water bottle to drink from frequently, as it will also encourage you to take regular bathroom breaks.
If it hurts, just stop.
Who decided that the playstation gets the gold on this one?? This has been an issue for as long as game controllers had been around. Id think Nintendo deserves the credit, being the longest lasting console maker. Hell, I remember wearing the finish off my gold N64 controller trying to get the mythic 24th code on Goldeneye. Could barely hold a pen as school for a while after that.
Common Sense isn't as Common as people think...
Those sores and blisters look exactly like my hands from lifting weights without gloves.
I can't believe they are calling this a "disorder" and relating it to gaming when it is just a simple and common case of friction blisters and callous that form under any similar circumstance.
"abstinence"? How does not having sex help out in this situation? And it took her 10 days to recover?!? Who's she dating?
Did she consult Dr. Mario?
No kidding, well I get the same thing when using a pen and paper for extended periods of time.
I guess it never occurred to them to wash their hands and controllers. Someone is going to make a killing on gaming isotoners!
Yes, I myself currently have a lawsuit against Konami for carpotunnel in my hands due to repeatedly hitting up, up, down, down, left, right, left, right, B, A, Select, Start...
Hard skin on those part of the hands is commonplace amongst those who do manual work for a job. I guess there's so many pansies now working in offices that we've forgotten that such things on your hands used to be commonplace. Find anyone who works with hand tools doing a hard manual job and they'll have similar spots on their hands but they're patches of hard skin.
I only please one person per day. Today is not your day. Tomorrow isn't looking good either. - Scott Adams
It seems like job of medical researchers is to invent new disease when it may not be necessary. We read about new diseases almost every week.
It seems like job of lawyers is to invent new ways to sue when it may not be necessary. We read about pointless lawsuits almost every week.
(There we go, hope that cleared things up for you. Remember the world is all about balance, regardless of how stupid Ying and Yang may be...)
I remember not having much feeling in my left thumb throughout my childhood. It was pretty much attributed to that horrible sharp edged X control pad that the original Nintendo had. Was some good times. Eventually you get a callus and its not so bad, you just have to play through it.
Relax
When I was about 12 I destroyed the palms of my hands playing Mario Party 64. There was a game where you had to spin the control stick with your palm really fast to wind up a flying Shyguy. It came to the point where the activity not only tore holes in skin but also the gloves I wore to do it. Outrageous.
Nintendonitis
To be clear, the article is not just talking about blisters. It's Recurrent Palmoplantar Hidradenitis, but on the hands from video games rather than across the body from physical activity. Who would have guessed that playing too many video games could give a child a skin condition traditionally linked to physical activity? :)
Personally I've suffered from:
WoW-Knee
L4D-shoulder
NWN-elbow (due to bad camera control)
BF-headache (using a substandard headset way to many hours)
Heard about:
Counterhand (swelling on the hand due to excessive counterstrike playing)
Everquest-acne (sitting at home playing an mmo and eating way to much junkfood all the times does that to most people)
IT-eye
I get the same calluses from driving a stick shift. Is that dangerous to my health now?
I remember when in 1986 when I used to get blisters on my hands from playing NES for too long. My family called it "Nintendo thumb." Nothing really noteworthy here, if you tightly grab a piece of plastic with sweaty hands for hours on end while rapidly shifting the pressure around...you get blisters. Not exactly a medical mystery.
Much like many computer keyboards, gaming controllers tend to be extremely unsanitary to handle... perhaps even more so because the user constantly rubs against the controller while gripping it tightly, resulting in a large amounts of skin flakes and sweat getting into these devices.
It's possible that such sores aren't exclusively caused simply by gripping a game controller over an extended amount of time, but that the left over crud from previous uses is being forced into the skin, setting the stage for infection and other nastiness.
So, if you're finding your game controllers are covered in a film of grey-to-black gunk that flakes off like scratching off an instant lottery ticket, it might be time to clean that thing.
8==8 Bones 8==8
... we called them callouses.
It may also help to wash your hands and clean the joy stick...
Excuse me, but please get off my Pennisetum Clandestinum, eh!
I've been gaming for 18 years and my hands aren't cramped, sore or any such thing.
My forearms are a bit weak because all they do is hold a mouse, controller or a twinkie (or 3)
I've had marathon gaming sessions, no sores on my hands.
BLAME THE VIDEO GAMES :/
Next.......
I had severe chaffing and failing vision.
I was diagnosed with an extreme case of Cockus Jerkoffimous.
. . . would have saved her all that trouble. She should have invested in a gaming glove like me.
But seriously, think about how much money companies could get from consumers in a glove that prevents against PlayStation palmar hidradenitis. For a limited time only it comes free with Halo Wars.
ever more the reason to use a PC for gaming instead.
*plays the Apogee theme song music*
So, how much did Sony pay to get free advertising in disease form? And shouldn't most doctors nowadays already be familiar with "gaming sores" from the NES when they were in their twenties or younger?
I really-really wonder if that condition has anything to do with the controller being a wireless one. I heard someone telling how afraid they were seeing that kids have a wireless radio in between their legs (resting the controller on their laps while playing) and that how that could cause testicle cancer and other bad stuff.
There are also some electro-sensitive (not sure if this is the correct word) people who get all kinds of irritations/headaches/rashes when submitted to EMF fields of certain kinds. Some have problems with radios (phones, headsets, e, wifi/ bluetooth) while others go nuts from fluorescents, monitors or even a keyboard.
Of course many doctors seem to believe that it is not a threat and neither are cell phones.
Just my 2c
Shooters (for those from the late 70s - early 90s) were some of the most intensive games even by todays 'standards'. I played shooters all thru the atari's, NESs, Super NES, Sega, Sega CD and the fun Turbo Grafix-16. Also playing computers based games.
Over this course of 20+ years (ya ya, I'm getting older), I have yet to ever develop any kind of wrist, hand, finger, joint and carpol tunnel, etc issue.
Many numb fingers, sore hands, sweaty palms, hyper tension during game play, sure.. but that is like any other intense activity.
If video games cause hand problems, then piano makers should get sued from all the issues from the piano players.
Playstation wasn't the first, last or most popular system, just the one that took Segas place. Playstation wouldn't exist if it wasn't for Nintendo throwing out the deal first hand.
How about a band aid?
so maybe a time for a good clinical trial!
I patented screwing your mom. But it got revoked for "prior art."
I've always thought the PS controllers are awful. They are molded like they were intended to be used by robots and not by human hands. That's 1980s Russian engineering...
And here i thougt that they came from wanking too much.... you learn new stuff every day
Q: Why is starting a comment in the Subject: line annoying?
Shutting down free speech with violence isn't fighting fascism. It IS fascism!
To all the idiots trying to hype this 'discovery', go back to school and first learn about RSI (Repetitive Strain Injury), please. Then think about the sweat and the blisters as a different, totaly unrelated, 'problem'.
Discovery my fscking ass...
Here be signatures
I remember having a hole in the palm of my hand from that stupid Mario Party 64 minigame that you had to rotate the joystick really really fast. This girls got nothing on me!
Welcome to the king of the iron palm 6! Azazel is now seeing patients.
Sounds to me like the urea from the sweat (after the water evaporates) and due to the tight grip around the controller. It creates almost a self contained reaction where the heat and limited O2 and possibly the microbes in the air chemically react with the sweat and break it down to ammonia.
Basically, look up caustic and acid burn pictures of hands, not severe ones, but as if you stuck your hand in a bottle of clorox, and I'm sure you'll see very similar symptoms.
The swiss just want to be on the front page of something again...
Q: Why do Slashdot Fascists try to dictate to us what we can and cannot do in subject lines?
Remember, Slashdot does not have a -1 disagree moderation, and no, troll, flamebait, and overrated are not substitutes.
It's people like this who are beginning to give gaming a terrible reputation. For god's sake, who here can say they've never let go of a controller and rearranged their hands to get more comfortable? Who here has been as stiff as this girl?
I await Microsoft's lawsuit, attempting to change the name to "XBox 360 palmar hidradenitis"
You'd better take Select out of there before they throw your case out.
I'm not a dermatologist, but the image shows sores and skin removed the same way I experience it when I handle rough material. I usually cut down one or two trees a year, and after an extensive use of a saw and an axe - to cut and chop it all into pieces, collecting the wood and stocking it to let it dry in the summer to use next winter - I have the same wounds on my hands as in the included picture.
It's usually even worse! I just make sure it's clean afterwards and use anti-bacterial cream on it. After a week, the skin heals perfectly fine all by itself.
I give massages and reiki treatments (for real!). More info here: http://www.universele-levensenergie.be