Author claims video games lead to finger deformities in children

by Griffin McElroy { Mar 30th 2009 at 6:30PM }

We've received a number of unsightly wounds upon our mitts from certain games -- "Mario Party Stigmata" comes to mind -- but according to author Mike Tomlich, a different kind of "silent epidemic" is sweeping through the adolescent gaming populous: Crooked fingers. He claims the repeated actions associated with controller manipulation can lead to "accumulative damage" on the soft hand bones of gamers under the age of eight.

It's a theory sensational enough to have merited coverage from Tomlich's local TV news station a few years ago, which we've posted after the break. Tomlich apparently has a plethora of research and the endorsement of a rheumatologist to back up his claims, though we still find them a tad suspect. Sure, our hands are gnarled stubs with digits irrevocably curled in unnatural directions, but that's probably from our tireless journalizing, and not our lifelong penchant for button-mashing.

[Via GamePolitics]

Tags: bones, children, controller, crooked-fingers, finger, hand, mike-tomlich, rhematology

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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)

lasersanchez @ Mar 30th 2009 6:36PM

That explains my crooked right wrist.

SoulBlade @ Mar 30th 2009 6:37PM

are you Ray McKigney, former hand model?

Markez @ Mar 30th 2009 6:42PM

The muscles.. became so strained with.. overuse, that eventually the hand locked into a deformed position, and he was left with nothing but a claw. He traveled the world seeking a cure.. acupuncturists.. herbalists.. swamis.. nothing helped. Towards the end, his hands became so frozen the was unable to manipulate utensils, and was dependent on Cub Scouts to feed him. I hadn't seen another pair of hands like Ray McKigney's.. until today.

lasersanchez @ Mar 30th 2009 6:44PM

I am not the master of my domain :(

Viridium @ Mar 30th 2009 6:57PM

I thought you were talking about wanking it, before the Seinfeld quotes.

lasersanchez @ Mar 30th 2009 7:00PM

I was not talking about wanking it. Unless wanking it is code for masturbating.

Lars @ Mar 31st 2009 1:59PM

lol @lasersanchez

Basically anything you do repeatedly with your hands, day-in and day-out, is going to have an effect. Whether it's wanking it, playing games, guitar, piano, a blue-collar factory job, etc. Ever look at a professional guitarists hands? They're all kinds of fucked up. I played bass for years and my index finger on my right hand is a little off. It's just the life we lead, has nothing to do with games in particular.

And it really doesn't affect the use of your hands anyways --might contribute to arthritis later in life though.

SoulBlade @ Mar 30th 2009 6:36PM

what about holding a baseball bat? typing? holding pencils? working the tv remote? using scissors? anything that requires finger skills? Or is it just video games because well... they're bad for you

BxGT @ Mar 30th 2009 6:39PM

They see a billion dollar industry and they say lets make some money off of it.

Xizer @ Mar 30th 2009 6:41PM

To play devil's advocate: I can think of no other activities that require holding something and manipulating it constantly for hours on end.

You don't hold a baseball bat for hours. You usually don't hold a pencil for hours, and unlike a game controller, you only use one hand for it. I also don't know anyone who grips a remote and manipulates it for hours on end. I usually leave the TV remote resting on the table next to my chair.

The Dark Wayne @ Mar 30th 2009 6:47PM

I've played games, literally since I was 3, and my hands are pretty normal aside from all fingers and thumbs being double jointed. Maybe that's what saved me?

The Dark Wayne @ Mar 30th 2009 6:47PM

dammit i did not mean to reply, vote me down as you would please!

ice~ @ Mar 30th 2009 6:48PM

@Xizer: Ever hear of masturbating?

Spartacus @ Mar 30th 2009 6:58PM

ice,

While I am sure some will argue otherwise, I don't think too many children under the age of 8 are sexually mature enough for such activity- let alone to do it "hours on end". If there are such children, then our society is officially doomed.

Viridium @ Mar 30th 2009 6:59PM

@ice~ - for hours on end? The last time I tried that there was bleeding, burning, and I couldn't walk straight for days afterward.

Markez @ Mar 30th 2009 6:59PM

Next time don't use sandpaper.

GoldN @ Mar 30th 2009 7:46PM

@Xizer
"To play devil's advocate: I can think of no other activities that require holding something and manipulating it constantly for hours on end."

Avoiding the obvious masturbation joke: music. There are a lot of instruments that require the use of your fingers in precise ways.

Joel @ Mar 30th 2009 8:00PM

Music, definitely. I've been playing guitar for about 13 years. My left hand, due to stretching to reach frets, is an inch longer thumb-tip-to-pinky-tip than my right hand.

Siegvar @ Mar 30th 2009 9:03PM

@Xizer:
How about this:
Piano. Guitar. Violin. Or pretty much any musical instrument.

Odd shaped hands are nothing new. Our hands change shape to adapt to what we use it for the most.

Do enough menial labour and you'll build callouses, turning your hands into a pudgy mass of thick hard skin.
Play the guitar enough and you'll have callouses at your fingertips, making your fingertips probably wider and thicker than the base of your fingers.
Play the piano enough and your fingers all curve inwards, to better press straight down against the keys.

Although, button mashing on controllers looks like it IS pretty damaging to your hands, more so than any other activity I can think of.
However, normal usage of controllers shouldn't be any worse than playing musical instruments.

Saria the Cat @ Mar 31st 2009 6:24PM

@Xizer: I'm a college student and I hold pencils and pens for hours and have been for years. Of course I am not always tightly gripping the pen/pencil but you aren't always tightly gripping a controller, either. I spend more time holding a pen to take notes in lectures than I do at home playing video games, and I imagine it's the same for other note-taking, lecture-going college students.

And even regular pen/pencil use over time will change the shape of your fingers. Take a look at your parents' or grandparents' index and middle fingers and tell me there aren't callouses there.

bigisy @ Mar 30th 2009 6:39PM

I used to play video games atleast 5 hours a day, every day and my hands are absolutely fine. My legs are bit wonky though. Damn you Wii-Fit!!!!!!

Erik Stroud @ Mar 30th 2009 7:10PM

My fingers are fine too. I have been gaming for a long time now and I still haven't seen any signs of deformity.

p3arl @ Mar 30th 2009 10:39PM

i totally agree.

I'd like to see something come out in a scientific journal or journal of medicine and read that first so you can get the facts.

people like this can say anyhting really, if you get published in a journal you have to prove yourself otherwise the academic community laughs you away

Benjo @ Mar 30th 2009 6:43PM

Even if it's true, I have a hard time believing it has any effect on how well the hands function as adults. I played more games as a kid than I care to contemplate and currently make a living playing and teaching music. The little (if any) deformation my fingers suffered is far outweighed by the boost in coordination (and fond memories of NES/Master System games).

doubleyewdee @ Mar 30th 2009 6:44PM

Call me when they prove that playing most musical instruments (save percussion maybe) doesn't do the same thing. :)

Repeated motions are done in a lot more things than "them thar vidyagames the kids all play."

Conor @ Mar 30th 2009 6:56PM

Percussion can fuck your wrists though trust me and your fingers kind of get locked in the position of holding a drum stick.

I think this report is probably true but there's way more things than just video games that make your hands all wonky.

Think about typing or texting on your phone etc.

monkeyhole @ Mar 30th 2009 7:01PM

Exactly! I took piano lessons for 12 years, starting when I was in grade school, and my hands look similar to those pictured in the article. Although I've done a good deal of gaming in the last five years or so, my hands have been effed up since my early teens.

doubleyewdee @ Mar 30th 2009 8:15PM

@Conor

Yeah, a year and some change of Rock Band drums (and now real drums as a result) is already giving me some wrist-related problems. :( I'm pondering wearing a brace, but that's going to handily defeat the whole flexible wrist drumming style I was going for. Oh well. :)

Skipjimroo @ Mar 30th 2009 6:49PM

You know, I think they might just have something here:

I've been gaming since the tender age of four, Now, in my twenties, find myself with hands that could only be described as "comfortably fucked".

http://tinypic.com/view.php?pic=11tbyqb&s=5

It's possible that a decade of suffering from Juvenile Rheumatoid Arthritis didn't help either but we'll stop to consider that after the settlement cheque comes through from Shigeru Miyamoto...

seakae @ Mar 30th 2009 6:52PM

I hear that playing sports can also fuck your phalanges up.

Alex @ Mar 30th 2009 6:53PM

Both of my index fingers are a bit crooked, like not extreme, but enough for me to notice, I've asked people about it but they always look at me like im crazy.

greatslack @ Mar 30th 2009 6:54PM

On most controllers, you only use your thumb and index finger. So how does this mess up the other fingers?

lasersanchez @ Mar 30th 2009 7:04PM

In the video at about a minute an old guy explains that the way you hold the controller puts a large amount of pressure on the other fingers.

emirabal @ Mar 31st 2009 1:14AM

I agree, and this is BS,

Kamizar @ Mar 30th 2009 6:54PM

False, i've played video games for years, I have normal(albeit, relatively small) hands, I have huge thumb muscles and large forearms however.

Reader @ Mar 30th 2009 7:01PM

Even though it's almost surely false, just because it didn't happen to you doesn't make it so.

LaughingTarget @ Mar 30th 2009 8:51PM

The thumbs are because you trained with Chun-Li.

Red Dog Melvin @ Mar 30th 2009 6:55PM

How soon before all these old people who have never played a video game in their life are dead and buried so that we as a society can move on and stop having these fogies and their "in my day, we played with ourselves, and we loved it!!" arguments?

(I would've posted this sooner, but it takes me so long to type because of my malformed fingers.)

XGM @ Mar 30th 2009 6:57PM

Its called adaptation, only noobs dont have gaming hands.

F1: Basu Gasu Bakuhatsu @ Mar 30th 2009 7:15PM

Gaming; one step towards evolution.

sandi @ Mar 30th 2009 6:59PM

when my brother was about four we noticed that he had trouble holding pencils and scissors the right way. the doctor said that the muscles in his fingers were too weak and suggested having him play video games to strengthen them.

Mr Khan @ Mar 30th 2009 7:06PM

My fingers do sound like cement mixers...

lasersanchez @ Mar 30th 2009 7:07PM

"those days are over, she can't play them any more"

Because they screwed her hands up that badly or because they're just too complicated and she's not interested?

Real classy, local news.

kinshadow @ Mar 30th 2009 7:08PM

The original Xbox controller deformed my hands... THEY'RE HUGE!

Gaymer @ Mar 30th 2009 7:14PM

OMG! you can get his from intensive drawing, writing, typing, finger banging. GEEZ!

F1: Basu Gasu Bakuhatsu @ Mar 30th 2009 7:14PM

It's not just video games that can cause this. My hands have been irreversibly curled due to hours of online porn! And my wrist...

WINterfang @ Mar 30th 2009 7:20PM

I want to say something clever but that's exactly like my hands looked like.

sac @ Mar 30th 2009 7:34PM

omg they are right! that explains why they were able to get funding, and not just get repeatedly shot down again and again, regardless of the party in power. Lets also pretend that genetics doesn't play a part in this at all! THIS WORKS SO WELL.

Where are the millions of "Generation Y" people calling out for justice because of their hands ruined by growing up and playing video games, lets not pretend this is the first generation to grow up alongside video games, so lets stop pretending.
The website is great, it gives us gems like "don't let your younger than 5 year-old kid color, or risk picking up anything they couldn't pick up with their two fingers otherwise they'll be invalids their entire lives!
I'm not saying there wrong, all I'm saying is they are pretending they are approaching this scientifically, yet they have yet to conduct a study and all you get to do to find out more is to buy a book, who would have thought. In this case the burden of proof is on them, as there are plenty of people who fit the description yet aren't effected, or that somehow their fingers not being "perfect" is somehow a detriment to their life"

Basically, if it didn't look like they were only there to sell books Id be intrigued, but it looks to be the exact opposite. a classic "think of the children" threat.

reppy @ Mar 30th 2009 7:23PM

You know, I've always noticed that I have very strange thumbs. They curve outwards. Like I go to make a thumbs up, the thumb curves backwards. My friend has the same thing, but I didn't notice it until I mentioned it to him. I think he basically called 'em "gaming thumbs" .. thumbs the result of lots of hours of playing video games. Or maybe it's just some genetic trait we both share.

http://dontclickme.info/thumb.jpg