Brock University in St. Catharines, Ontario, Canada, is conducting a study that analyzes the characteristics, habits, pain and discomfort in casual and professional gamers. Considering how there are currently no studies on the toll gaming can take on a player’s body, this study could impact the industry as a whole.
Garrick Forman, a PhD student, is part of the team at the University’s Neuromechanics and Ergonomics Lab that is leading the study on gaming-related injuries. Forman, an avid gamer, says he was inspired to conduct the study after watching online tournaments in which he saw a lot of professional players wearing kinesiology tape or braces as a result of wrist and forearm injuries.
The Neuromechanics and Ergonomics Lab posted an online survey to collect data that will be used to analyze which factors, such as consoles and chairs, influence the ergonomics of gaming. The goal is to understand when gaming injuries begin to develop and whether gamers are playing through the pain. Forman says other studies have shown that pain and discomfort are common among players.
Given that professional gaming has become a billion-dollar industry, it is no surprise that gamers have increasingly sacrificed more time and comfort to successfully compete. Now with the COVID-19 pandemic, the world has experienced an exponential increase in longer gaming hours.
The new study is just the start of biomechanical research in the gaming arena. Kinesiology Associate Professor Michael Holmes, the Canada Research Chair in Neuromuscular Mechanics and Ergonomics, says that the lab has focused for years on classifying mechanisms of work-related injuries to the hand and wrist. The results of the study are expected to impact the development of standards of practice for gaming and could inspire improved hardware design of gaming peripherals.
The study, which has been reviewed and received ethical clearance through the Research Ethics Board at Brock University, has already received international interest from over 25 countries. Participants must be over 18 years of age and play video games regularly. The online survey takes 10-15 minutes and can be found at the following link. If you have the time, help improve the data!
Source: Brock Press
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