Are your wrists feeling worn out while continuously trying to level up in your game? or are your wrists hurting while you desperately want to defeat your enemy While gaming? We are here to help you with How to stop wrist pain from gaming.
Here are some tips and information on gaming at a desk and how to prevent from attaining gamer’s wrist pain.
What is gamer’s wrist pain?
It can be defined as a medical term used to indicate the soreness of holding video game controllers mostly due to overwork. It can be either combination of gamer’s thumb, carpal tunnel and repetitive wrist strain injury or a combination of them all. This condition is characterized by inflammation of the tendons in the wrist and thumb, typically presenting as a sore thumb or wrist pain.
Gamers thumb
It is a painful condition that often is called De Quervain’s Tenosynovitis in medical terms. it is usually caused by swelling of the tendons on the thumb side of the wrist.
Symptoms include pain, tenderness, swelling, and difficulty in moving the thumb.
Carpal tunnel syndrome
Carpal tunnel syndrome is caused by pressure on the median nerve usually due to compression while over work for long hours without definite rest. If it is kept untreated at all it can lead to permanent dysfunction including loss of sensation.
Symptoms include tingling sensation, numbness and weakness
Repetitive strain injury
It is also called RSI or overuse syndrome mainly affects the upper limbs which include shoulders, arms, wrists, hands and fingers. other symptoms including stiffness, tingling and numbness can be present.
How to stop wrist pain from gaming in 2023
1. Take frequent breaks: One must not continuously overwork their wrists. This causes pressure to be exerted on the nerves and thumb and increases tingling sensation or numbness in the respective muscles and tendons.
2. Do simple exercises: Doing these exercises can help your hands from overstraining and reduce cramps. Here we listed a few easy gaming exercises that can be followed without breaking a sweat –
1. Prayer Position Stretch.
2. Reverse Prayer Position Stretch.
3. Supine Flexors Stretch.
4. Pronated Extensions Stretch.
5. Joint Distraction Stretches.
6. Wrist Joint Circles
7. Thumb Extensor Stretch
8. Thumb adductor stretch
9. Ball Squeeze and Release
10. Web Grips and Twists
3. Workplace efficiency and posture-one must always have the proper hardware, ergonomics and ambience for a good time while gaming. While sitting our backbone must be straight and our hands must be placed in such a position that is comfortable to work with.
4. Stretching-One can do stretches from time to time that don’t cause much-straining sensation to the gamer.
5. Armrests-The gamer must buy a comfortable and good gaming chair that gives a comfortable armrest that doesn’t strain the arm.
6. Right gaming devices-For instance there is a significant difference between a normal keyboard as well as a gaming keyboard as it gives us many more features that allow the player to play more efficiently without strain. Pressing of keys is more smoothly available for gaming keyboards than in a normal keyboard and many other features.
7. Play for shorter amounts of time rather than sitting all day doing it.
8. Wear arm /wrist bands if possible as it gives comfort and helps reduce pain and cramps.
How can I strengthen my wrists for gaming?
1. One can use both hands for one-handed tasks-This method tends to improve strength in the other hand which is non-dominant.
2. Golf wrist exercise
3. Try circular wrist exercises
4. The best exercises for your wrist joint are isometric exercises. It causes your muscles to contract but not move the joint. position your forearm either palm up or you can also position your palm down and hold your palm still with the opposite hand. Try to bend your wrist and also resist with the opposite hand at the same time. Do this 10-15 times in each direction – including side to side. Repeat several times daily for effectiveness.
Some of the common overuse UE injuries can result from gaming for an extended amount of time. Some of the injuries and treatments include:
1. Trigger thumb
It can often be defined as a medical condition in which there is the presence of inflammation of the flexor tendon of the thumb. The thumb may bend or straighten with a snap and may be present in that condition for long hours if not treated.
Treatment includes Icing, splinting, rest, cortisone injection, or a surgical procedure involving loosening the A1 pulley.
2. Lateral Epicondylitis (Tennis Elbow)
It can often be defined as a medical condition in which there is the presence of micro damage to the tendon. It extends your wrist and fingers called the common extensor tendon.
Pain along the lateral elbow and forearm is present if a person has this condition.
Treatment includes Outpatient occupational therapy that can help with tennis elbow which includes instruction on ice massage and a HEP that includes wrist stretches and wrist extension strengthening exercises.
a. Take rest-Any work not only gaming if done over time may lead to overuse of muscles and tendons resulting in pain and cramps.In order to avoid that one must take a rest
b. Anti-inflammatory medication -Non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) are widely used to relieve pain, reduce inflammation, and bring down a high temperature. This can help reduce inflammation.
3. Occupational therapy
An occupational therapist would create a treatment plan more like a timetable with exercises and stretches designed to increase your thumb’s mobility and reduce your pain and cramps
4. Corticosteroids
a doctor may recommend getting corticosteroid injections as it is a more powerful way of reducing swelling and pain.
5. Surgery
you may need to consult with a hand surgeon to find relief. If the condition persists. A surgeon can relieve the symptoms of a gamer’s thumb by cutting the sheath around tendons to make more room.
Hope you people found the article on How to stop wrist pain from gaming in 2023 helpful. For more such interesting and helpful content, visit us at thehealthchamp.com.
