Angela Harlem
Jesus Online
Now doctors turn on PlayStation
Monday 04 February, 2002 13:59 GMT+11:00
By Agence France-Presse
The Sydney Morning Herald
Doctors have warned that the Sony PlayStation games console is a potential
health risk, after a teenager who used one excessively suffered hand pains
classified as an industrial disease.
In a letter to the British Medical Journal, doctors at the Royal Liverpool
Children's Hospital in England report the case of a boy, 15, whose hands
became white and swollen when they were cold and turned red and painful when
they warmed up.
The likeliest cause, they said, was the vibration mode on the hand-held
console for his PlayStation computer game.
The so-called rumble board transmits vibrations to the hands and arms of the
player to give a "feeling" of the on-screen action.
The unidentified boy had been clutching the vibrating controller for up to
seven hours a day as he played an off-road car game.
He had been suffering from the pains for two years before he saw a doctor
about the problem.
The doctors said his symptoms were typical of a condition called "vibration
white finger" more usually diagnosed among coalminers, road menders and
foresters, who use powerful vibrating tools such as pneumatic drills and
chainsaws.
The ailment, which in its extreme form is debilitating, was classified as an
industrial disease in Britain in April 1985, enabling sufferers to claim
compensation from their employers and disability benefits from the
government.
The doctors said the boy was the first known case in which children had
suffered from hand-arm vibration sickness from playing video games.
They noted the boy's seven hours of play per day exceed Sony's
recommendations, but said: "We must assume that this is not an uncommon
occurrence.
"We believe that, with increasing numbers of children playing these devices,
there should be consideration for statutory health warnings to advise users
and parents.
"The potential for developing the hand-arm vibration syndrome should be
considered, although more evidence of its occurrence in this context is
required.
Monday 04 February, 2002 13:59 GMT+11:00
By Agence France-Presse
The Sydney Morning Herald
Doctors have warned that the Sony PlayStation games console is a potential
health risk, after a teenager who used one excessively suffered hand pains
classified as an industrial disease.
In a letter to the British Medical Journal, doctors at the Royal Liverpool
Children's Hospital in England report the case of a boy, 15, whose hands
became white and swollen when they were cold and turned red and painful when
they warmed up.
The likeliest cause, they said, was the vibration mode on the hand-held
console for his PlayStation computer game.
The so-called rumble board transmits vibrations to the hands and arms of the
player to give a "feeling" of the on-screen action.
The unidentified boy had been clutching the vibrating controller for up to
seven hours a day as he played an off-road car game.
He had been suffering from the pains for two years before he saw a doctor
about the problem.
The doctors said his symptoms were typical of a condition called "vibration
white finger" more usually diagnosed among coalminers, road menders and
foresters, who use powerful vibrating tools such as pneumatic drills and
chainsaws.
The ailment, which in its extreme form is debilitating, was classified as an
industrial disease in Britain in April 1985, enabling sufferers to claim
compensation from their employers and disability benefits from the
government.
The doctors said the boy was the first known case in which children had
suffered from hand-arm vibration sickness from playing video games.
They noted the boy's seven hours of play per day exceed Sony's
recommendations, but said: "We must assume that this is not an uncommon
occurrence.
"We believe that, with increasing numbers of children playing these devices,
there should be consideration for statutory health warnings to advise users
and parents.
"The potential for developing the hand-arm vibration syndrome should be
considered, although more evidence of its occurrence in this context is
required.
