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.
damn, don't try learning guitar then (NOT GUITAR HERO A-Holes) i mean i couldn't imagine the deforimities then, shit might get strong fingers and wrist and uh oh, tough finger tips (but only on one hand). yep i'm sure that's the cause of the deformities, i can stick my pinky fingers out too ooooooo deformed I am, ---- off, lets play our games and we'll leave you alone, now shut up and leave us to our games.
oh yeah i know that, but i'm just talking about string tension and the fact that you have to practice hours and hours and hours (unless you are just un-naturally gifted) not that you don;t have to practice guitar hero, but i don't understand the point of note following games, when you could learn to play actual guitar if you spent the same amount of time on it. and then you can say hey i can play guitar watch, instead of that south-park episode, i can play track 3 on guitar queero perfectly listen, "click click click click click click" [why am i so angry {i played rock band ac/dc live, and the expert mode ITS WAY HARDER TO PLAY THOSE SONGS ON THE PLASTIC GUITAR THEN IT IS ON A NORMAL GUITAR}so I am pissed because i thought it would be similar to actual songs, then i forgot, no strings no frets just buttons. and there's the story why i am bitter ps why can't guitar hero or rock band have open string strums that's all i'm askin thunderstruck isn't as hard as they make it, it really isn't
Learning to play a guitar is fricking hard, and inconvenient. Step 1) Buy guitar, pick, and tuner Step 2) Learn basic chords, destroy your finger tips Step 3) Actually start practicing and learning tabs, assuming the other people in the house don't get pissed at the sound Step 4) Someday learn notes, or just learn to play well in general
Those four steps take hundreds of hours. GH/RB: Step 1) Turn on Step 2) Play
Also, one is a game to play and have fun, the other is something of a discipline.
Will people ever understand that it's just a game? That you don't go out and kill people instead of playing CoD4? That you'd rather play Pokemon instead of attempting to domesticate animals with strange elemental powers and training them to fight?
Note: The bass parts (on GH:World Tour at least) do have open strings.
If you really want to diagnose it, it's the instant gratification: 99.9% of teens/those who buy Guitar Hero/RB can play some difficulty of all songs, and the end result, the song, still sounds the same even if they only hit a note every once in a while. Whereas if they try to pick up a guitar and play it by ear (or even by tab/sheet music), they'd fail without musical training (additional cost).
yeah, i get it guys, i'm just sayin, I'm bitter because all my friends play guitar hero and rock band and are really good, while i learned guitar and no one will play with me because they only know red yellow blue green orange. lol it is a game. I get it. thank you. the end.
Sure gaming can contribute to it but you've got to spend at least 5-6 hours 5 times a week whilst doing nothing else (such as eating, writing, thumb wrestling, masturbating) for the rest of the day. Not only that but your sleeping habits can also effect your figures, especially if you sleep on your hands. The only thing you've got to look out for is popping your fingers excessively since they don't usually set right. Heck mines gotten so bad that when I clench my fist it sounds like I'm cracking walnuts!
so wouldn't writing also cause deformities in your hands if you write for 3-6 hours a day.. like maybe in SCHOOLchildren!!!! the schools will change the worlds youths into CRABPEOPLE!
My hands are normal, except both of my pointer fingers curve the same way as what hand they are on after my second knuckle. But, I have no idea if gaming caused this since I can't remember them ever curving before, or not curving for that matter.
one time an atari jaguar controller bent my ring finger 180 degrees backwards.
also it much suck for all the little 3rd world country children who have to sew at ages under 8 in sweat shops, oh well at least they don't play games.
No offense but if you're guy and plays video games who gives a rats ass if your hands are deformed. When did this guy finally notice his hands? Did he look into the mirror one day and gasp! His hands were never the same again. All I can say is that he's kinda girly thinking that his hands aren't pretty anymore...
It shouldn't be a mystery that repeated actions have an impact on your hands. Perhaps most famously Sherlock Holmes (or Sir Conan) made a habit of being able to tell a person's occupation by their hands. For example, as mentioned in "A Walk in the Park," "he recognized a compositor by his left thumb, a cork cutter by the calluses on one side of the forefinger and a thickening on the outside thumb, a weaver by the slight indentation in a tooth, and a tailor by the needle pricks on his finger."
This only proves that the N64 had the worst designed game pad!!
Although I would like to see studies done with other game pads. If they are (or were) so concerned, why doesn't someone just develop a safe game pad for kids?
To all of you that have taken time to respond to this article…I thank you. Like many other grandparents, I was happy to buy a Nintendo 64 for my 4 year-old grandson.
The thought of children’s fingers deforming from video gaming? I wouldn’t have believed it either had I not seen it happen with my own eyes. I saw his fingers go from straight to curved and twisted knuckles over a few weeks. It happens because their bones are not hard during their young ages (like clay-uncalcified).
The repetitive forces created in the gripping and re-gripping of the controller is the cause. The other nasty factor is the white-knuckle gripping and the controller’s vibration. The vibration numbs the hands while the shock-loads of the vib’s cause quick bending and twisting.
Go to my web site and click on the three pictures on the left side of the page. Children should not play until they are at least 8 years-old and then monitored for deformities.
I am seeing more children today that are 17 years-old that will not be able to perform meaningful labor to support themselves because of the twisted knuckles and loss of thumb use/strength.
