When They Said Video Games Were Unhealthy, They Probably Weren't Thinking Of This

from the meat-hooks dept

The competition in the video-game market is intense, even when it comes to console-induced injuries. You've got Wiinjuries, Guitar Hero arm strains, and now, "PlayStation palmar hidradenitis." That's the name given to some intense sores a 12-year-old Swiss girl developed on the palms of her hands after playing her Playstation for several hours a day. Ironically, hidradenitis is more commonly found on the soles of kids' feet who take part in heavy physical activity, like running. While doctors and Sony both say this is the first case of its kind they've seen, don't be surprised if politicians start railing against sore palms as another danger video games pose to kids.
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Filed Under: injuries, palmar hidradenitis, sores, video games


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  1. identicon
    Slackr, 26 Feb 2009 @ 6:55pm

    An excuse for corny names

    She's just a noob. Everyone knows it takes hours of practice to build resistance to these sorts of injuries...I think the Drs just revel in the ability to try and come up with a new condition and call it something 'snazzy'.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  2. icon
    ChurchHatesTucker (profile), 26 Feb 2009 @ 7:23pm

    The Frak?

    Is this essentially a pre-callus? It sounds like it.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  3. identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 26 Feb 2009 @ 7:26pm

    Yeah, that 12 year old girl needs to man up!

    link to this | view in thread ]

  4. identicon
    eleete, 26 Feb 2009 @ 7:35pm

    We've got to do something to protect the children

    "While doctors and Sony both say this is the first case of its kind they've seen, don't be surprised if politicians start railing against sore palms as another danger video games pose to kids."

    Before I even got to that line, I had already gone there. Funny how clueless polluticians are capable of imposing a law on 330,000,000+ people in a country that has never experienced an incident. I contend that our government exists to reduce our liberty and rights.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  5. identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 26 Feb 2009 @ 7:54pm

    Won't somebody think of the children!!!!

    link to this | view in thread ]

  6. identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 26 Feb 2009 @ 8:54pm

    another DANGER for the children is when I have to stuff the controller up their arse to get them to put the game down for 2 seconds.

    Controllerarseidis anyone.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  7. identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 26 Feb 2009 @ 9:05pm

    Paging Captain Obvious: You're Needed

    They're called blisters. They're the result of repetitive mechanical stress on the skin. This is one of the dumbest stories I've read in a long time.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  8. identicon
    tb, 26 Feb 2009 @ 9:42pm

    That explains it!

    I'm so relieved! I thought the sores on my palms were from the other activity my parents warned me about!

    link to this | view in thread ]

  9. identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 26 Feb 2009 @ 9:53pm

    .....

    Dude....my "Mouse hand" can deflect bullets

    link to this | view in thread ]

  10. identicon
    Chris, 26 Feb 2009 @ 10:21pm

    Pfft

    Next thing they say is it's dangerous to play guitar because it builds calluses on the fingers. No, what's dangerous is swimming with anvils tied to each of your feet, muscles need a chance to build and grow muscle memory, they need to adapt to the tasks you do repeatedly.

    Grow up, whoever claims this to be true is performing a hate crime (lol).

    link to this | view in thread ]

  11. identicon
    Trevlac, 26 Feb 2009 @ 11:33pm

    Re: Pfft

    I laughed at "No, what's dangerous is swimming with anvils tied to each of your feet"

    link to this | view in thread ]

  12. identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 27 Feb 2009 @ 1:20am

    Re: .....

    My "trackpoint finger" can drill through concrete.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  13. identicon
    Tech Guy, 27 Feb 2009 @ 1:50am

    I work in Tech support (and love it btw), my bulls*it can stop anything you can throw at me...

    link to this | view in thread ]

  14. icon
    Peet McKimmie (profile), 27 Feb 2009 @ 2:58am

    I used to get that...

    ...playing "Strip Poker" on the Apple ][.

    Funny, though; it only affected one hand.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  15. icon
    Killer_Tofu (profile), 27 Feb 2009 @ 5:57am

    Likely Result

    (Newspaper reporter): "Sir, we just have our first single confirmed case of people getting blisters from playing video games and the doctors giving it a special medical name instead of blisters."
    (Editor): "That is great news. Call it an epidemic. Put it on the front page. Give it a nice large section on our homepage on that world web thing. And also start warning parents about how this can happen to their kids. Is it contageous?"
    (Reporter): "Sir, its just blisters with a fancy name"
    (Editor): "Eh, call it contageous anyways. Demand people need to take action. Now THATS a story!"
    (Reporter): "Brilliant sir!"

    link to this | view in thread ]

  16. identicon
    Evil Mike, 27 Feb 2009 @ 6:40am

    Re:

    "bulls*it can stop anything you can throw at me..."
    That garners my respect and sympathy.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  17. identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 27 Feb 2009 @ 6:59am

    so its true

    you really do get hairy palms from playing with too much?

    link to this | view in thread ]

  18. identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 27 Feb 2009 @ 9:58am

    Re: Pfft

    > what's dangerous is swimming with anvils tied to each of your feet

    What's dangerous about swimming is sitting on the drain while the water is going out. It tends to pull things out of your butt... like this story.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  19. identicon
    another mike, 27 Feb 2009 @ 2:33pm

    lol

    *snerk*
    So many great new terms here. Polluticians; can I borrow that, eleete?

    Tech Guy, they made me turn in my Ward of Glassy-eyed Confusion when they promoted me. It's so much more difficult to make my escapes now.

    Anyway, I long for the simpler days, when txters' thumb was the worst technology-induced injury a kid would suffer. Those were the good ol' days when we walked barefoot through the snow uphill both ways. Now that was a character building activity.

    Won't someone think of the children?!

    link to this | view in thread ]

  20. identicon
    Rekrul, 27 Feb 2009 @ 3:41pm

    Re: That explains it!

    "I'm so relieved! I thought the sores on my palms were from the other activity my parents warned me about!"

    No, that causes hairy palms and blindness ;)

    link to this | view in thread ]

  21. identicon
    Rekrul, 27 Feb 2009 @ 3:45pm

    I used to play my Atari, C64 and Amiga games for hours at a time, using various Atari compatible joysticks and I never had blisters or other problems.

    Positive proof; Joysticks rule, gamepads suck. :)

    link to this | view in thread ]

  22. identicon
    Uberto, 28 Feb 2009 @ 2:07pm

    politicians

    The politicians should just worry about their own sore palms, the J** O**s

    link to this | view in thread ]

  23. identicon
    Overcast, 9 Mar 2009 @ 9:03am

    I used to play my Atari, C64 and Amiga games for hours at a time, using various Atari compatible joysticks and I never had blisters or other problems.

    No way - you never developed 'gamers thumb' from those old 2600 style joysticks? :) (yeah, I know - the commodores had one you could buy identical to that one)

    I most certainly did!

    link to this | view in thread ]


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