“Interactive gaming devices can cause a broad range of injuries, from abrasions and sprains to shoulder, ankle and foot injuries,” says the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP), whom presented new research at their National Conference and Exhibition, which took place in San Francisco earlier this week.
This conclusion was drawn from five years of research which was conducted between January 1, 2004 and January 1, 2009. Immediately one thinks of the Nintendo Wii, and its vigourous arm-flapping motion-control tomfoolery. We’ve all seen the tragic photograph’s of Wii-motes embedded into LCD panels, broken lamps, smashed windows, and crippled chandeliers, and thus it’s easy to jump to conclusions (especially considering my indulgent headline pun).
Being scientific types, the AAP researchers sought to determine exactly what types of injuries were sustained from these interactive gaming devices. The results might prove a little surprising.
To do this, they reviewed National Electronic Injury Surveillance System data on video game-related injuries, sustained by people of all ages, between January 1, 2004 and January 1, 2009.
A total of 696 American video game-related injuries were reported over the 5-year period. It’s worth bearing in mind that the Wii was only introduced to the market in November 2006.
The average age of those injured was 16.5 years with an age range of 1 month to 86 years. There were 604 injuries resulting from traditional games with 92 injuries from the newer interactive games. Surprisingly, ‘traditional’ games (which we can assume means games played with good old fashioned controllers) are causing the most injuries.
Of the interactive game injuries, 49 were sustained by males (53.3 percent) and 43 by females (46.7 percent).
When compared to the traditional video game group, participants in the interactive group were significantly more likely to injure their shoulder, ankle, and foot. Bystander injuries occurred in both the interactive and the traditional groups with significantly more bystander injuries in the interactive group. Sounds like Granpa was holding a newborn when an errant Wiimote struck, unlocking the ‘1 month to 86 years’ achievement.
Unfortunately the AAP hasn’t yet released specific information on the types of injuries being sustained by traditional gamers, but I’m going to assume they include the usual culprits of repetitive stress injury, skin damage through sweaty palms, poor circulation, muscle cramps, and flying controllers and fist fights caused by pwning related tantrums.
“This study details the different injuries sustained while participating in interactive and traditional video games. Younger children under the age of 10 should be supervised while video games are being played to prevent bystander injuries, which are more common with interactive games,” said lead study author Patrick O’Toole, MD.
So, the oft maligned Wii isn’t responsible for all that many injuries after all, and Wii ownership does bring advantages, which we shall once again review for scientific purposes.
Have you suffered any video game related injuries? << Discuss on the MyGaming forum.
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