Nintendonitis, known also as gamer's grip, Nintendo thumb, PlayStation thumb and similar names, is a medical condition classified as a form of repetitive strain injury (RSI). The term is a neologism and a portmanteau of Nintendo and tendonitis. Jump to: navigation, search Repetitive strain injury, also called repetitive stress injury or typing injury, is an occupational overuse syndrome affecting muscles, tendons and nerves in the arms and upper back. ... A neologism is word, term, or phrase which has been recently created (coined) —often to apply to new concepts, or to reshape older terms in newer language form. ... Jump to: navigation, search A portmanteau (plural: portmanteaux) is a word that is formed by combining both sounds and meanings from two or more words. ... Jump to: navigation, search Nintendo (Japanese: 任天堂; (NASDAQ: NTDOY), (TYO: 7974)) is a Japanese company originally founded in 1889 by Fusajiro Yamauchi to produce handmade hanafuda cards, for use in a Japanese playing card game of the same name. ... Tendonitis (also tenonitis or tendinitis) is an inflammation of a tendon. ...

Causes and symptoms

Nintendonitis is caused through the prolonged use of game controllers (usually gamepads and joysticks) and repetitive wrist, thumb, and finger movements. The use of controllers with a vibration feature can also lead the such ailments. Jump to: navigation, search A game controller is an input device used to control a video game. ... For other uses, see Joystick (disambiguation). ...

The symptoms are the blistering, paraesthesia and swelling of the thumbs, mainly through use of the D-pad, though any finger can be affected. This can lead to stress on tendons, nerves and ligaments in the hands, and further onto lateral epicondylitis ("tennis elbow"), tendonitis, bursitis and carpal tunnel syndrome (CTS). Jump to: navigation, search A blister caused by a second-degree burn. ... Paresthesia (paraesthesia in British) is a sensation of tingling, pricking, or numbness of the skin with no apparent physical cause, more generally known as the feeling of pins and needles. ... The thumbs up gesture is a sign of approval in many cultures. ... The title given to this article is incorrect due to technical limitations. ... Jump to: navigation, search Fingers of the human left hand The finger is any of the digits of the hand in humans and other species such as the great apes. ... A tendon or sinew is a tough band of fibrous connective tissue that connects muscle to bone. ... Jump to: navigation, search A nerve is an enclosed, cable-like bundle of nerve fibers or axons, which includes the glia that ensheath the axons in myelin. ... A ligament is a short band of tough fibrous connective tissue composed mainly of long, stringy collagen fibres. ... Tennis elbow (or lateral epicondylitis) is a condition where the outer part of the elbow becomes painful and tender, usually as a result of a specific strain or overuse. ... Inflammation of the bursa in a male human shoulder Bursitis is the inflammation of one or more bursa, or small sacks of oil, in the body. ... Jump to: navigation, search Carpal tunnel syndrome is a disorder in which the median nerve is compressed at the wrist causing symptoms like tingling, pain, coldness, and sometimes weakness in parts of the hand. ...

The term

The term was coined by the New England Journal of Medicine in 1990, after a popular video game company Nintendo, which at the time was a leader in the console gaming industry and was established as a household name. Nintendonitis (or Nindentinitis) was first used to describe the case of a teenager who developed hand-arm vibration syndrome (HAVS) from playing videogames with a vibration-pack-fitted gamepad for several hours a day. Later, the controllers for the Sony PlayStation and PlayStation 2 were noted as causing the condition. However, due to the shape, size and extended use of game controllers it is not limited to just those specific ones and can occur in users of any gamepad or joystick. Similar problems have also been with the use of mobile phones, and text messaging in particular. The New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM) is a peer-reviewed medical journal published by the Massachusetts Medical Society with the highest impact factor for a general medical journal. ... Jump to: navigation, search Nintendo (Japanese: 任天堂; (NASDAQ: NTDOY), (TYO: 7974)) is a Japanese company originally founded in 1889 by Fusajiro Yamauchi to produce handmade hanafuda cards, for use in a Japanese playing card game of the same name. ... Vibration white finger is a secondary form of Raynauds Disease, an industrial injury triggered by continuous use of vibrating hand-held machinery. ... Jump to: navigation, search Sony Corporation (Japanese katakana: ソニー) (TYO: 6758), NYSE: SNE is a global Japanese consumer electronics corporation based in Tokyo, Japan. ... Jump to: navigation, search The original PlayStation was produced in a light grey color. ... Jump to: navigation, search The PlayStation 2 (PS2) (Japanese: プレイステーション2) is Sonys second video game console, after the PlayStation. ... For other uses, see Joystick (disambiguation). ... A received SMS being announced on a Nokia phone. ...

This is just one of several forms of game-related health risks that have been reported. A review of research by Robin Mary Gillespie in the journal Work found while we don't know how prevalent the problem is, there is ample evidence that excessive gaming can harm your health.

Research

In June 2005, the South African Medical Journal published a report by Safura Abdool Karim, a 13-year-old who had investigated such problems occurring in people at her school.

References

• Thompson, Dennis. "Video Game Victims" at Forbes, 6 May 2005. Retrieved 26 June 2005.
• "Girl probes 'PlayStation thumb'" at BBC News, 23 June 2005. Retrieved 26 June 2005.

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External links

• "Computer games pose injury risk" at BBC News, 23 December 1999.
• "'Nintendo Thumb' Points to RSI" at Wired News, 3 December 1998.
• "Computer games cripple kiddies" at The Register, 12 December 2000.