While gaming activities offer plenty of positive benefits such as increased reaction times, improve hand-eye coordination, boosted spatial visualization ability, heightened perception and cognition and more, it wreaks havoc on players wrists. Carpal Tunnel Syndrome is a painful condition of the hands caused by compression of a major nerve where it passes over the carpal bones through a passage at the front of the wrist. This condition is something many gamers are familiar with because it is often caused by repetitive movements over a long period of time in a limited area. It is characterized not just by pain but by numbness, tingling and/or by burning sensations.
In order to combat this, a Carpal Tunnel Prevention group on Steam has been launched, now with over 3,112 members with as much as 400+ players in-game at a time. The group’s goal is to send members automated alerts to prevent Carpal Tunnel from happening. So if the user is going to be playing for several hours, messages will pop-up reminding them to stretch, take a break and move their hands around. It is similar to having a fit bit but specifically for hand/wrist health.
The group also has links to inform users of hand/wrist health maintenance, posting videos and information that gamers can use:
As a public group, the Carpal Tunnel Prevention page also allows users to chat with other gamers to share ideas and health tips as well as discuss pain management options and treatments.
