Ive been using computers constantly for years and ive not got any of this RSI crap. I think it only really happens to people who never use any other fingers than their index finger to type with. Touch typing should be taught in school to prevent RSI.

I dont see as many kids playing tennis/football ect as when i was a kid. its probably due to the fact that they get ASBO's wherever they hang out so they dont go out anymore

I know I am affected by this digital culture, I basically have a wrist support on 24/7 (except when I'm working as I wash dishes w00t)
Although I still actually leave the house occasionally. Though no falling out of trees or bike accidents... yet.

The worlds becoming too PC and wanting to "protect" the children, that playing outside will soon be deemed too dangerous. Pfft, when my parents were younger, the played with grenades and weapons (well my dad anyway) and were outside all the time climbing trees and playing rough sports, did they hurt themselves? constantly, did it kill them? no.

you think its computer games and not constant uninterrupted txt messaging thats causing RSI? ;)

although my wrists used to hurt after marathon 4 hour sessions of RTCW MP
until i a got a bendy ergonomic natural keyboard wotsit :p
however i doubt enough kids do that sort of thing to cause a statistical rise like that

Txting would be a huge cause of RSI more so than consoles or computers, very repetitive action and some people send too many txts, (I send about 1000 a month to one person, don't txt anyone else, I get 2000 txts for $10NZ so wasting half of 'em but I wouldn't use the rest anyway.)
I know people who have two or even 3 mobiles so they can send enough txts and they still run out.

I have been using many different keyboards and mice, both on laptops and desktops - for many hours a day, and I have not had any problems except for one week - and that was because the chair I was using was too low for the table with the mouse, resulting in some uncomfortable posturing to use it normally.

So it is either bad posture or texting.

I'll admit that i'm a constant pc user, both at work and at home - never used an ergonomic keyboard and I play consoles and DS all the time. Despite all this I've never stopped going out surfing or tree climbing and I've never had any sign of RSI myself. On top of this, I'm surrounded by Geeks at work and at home and the only person I've known to have RSI was a painter who never touched a PC in his life.

Enough to make you think these teenagers are damaging their wrists OTHER ways. :O

Originally Posted by CardJoe
Enough to make you think these teenagers are damaging their wrists OTHER ways. :O

XD

I think what the daily mail are really trying to get at, is not that gaming is bad because you get RSI, but this is somehow proof that more people coup themselves up indoors playing games instead of doing exercise outside. Although I would say this isn't proof that more people are staying indoors gaming at all, I would agree that most of these RSI cases are from texting, not from gaming.

I blame Eddie Gordo.

I've suffered from chronic tendonitis in my forearms & wrists for a while now.. im not really sure what brought it on either.. one day i was out mowing the lawn and then i came inside and my hands never stopped hurting :-/

well with all this bad gaming "advertising" you would think we would all be dead

The way RSI is phrased is that everyone gets it if they do things too much, but I've been using computers for ages and I write a lot all day and I've never had it.

i usually swap hands when i use my mouse to rest one hand... i wuv my intellimouse optical. :D

Is it just me or does 600 cases of RSI seem to be almost statistically insignificant? What is the criteria for this number? Is it cases of RSI in adolescents worldwide?

The only time I've ever had a RSI was when I worked in a geotechnical lab as my first job... Compacting dirt samples, fun... I've now been working in an office for almost 4 years and I've never had any kind of RSI here.

A friend of mine can't use computers for any more than an hour or two a day 'cause she has chronic RSI from using them to much a number of years ago... I've never seen it in anyone else though.

I choose to blame games for RSI in the youth of today... Only because it's what the smart, PHD, kind of people blame and I want to appear intelligent too... *giggle*

I'm on my way to a world class case of it from work, but it has nothing to do with using a computer. I would also go with the txting theory, especially looming at all the RSI cases caused over here by Crackberries before txting caught on over there. Those stupid little kepyads are hard on the hands!

I've done data entry for over 10 years, typing up to 25000 keys per hour. Most I've ever gotten was a cramp. I think all these people that get injuries from "stress" from playing games or typing are the kind of people that would be injured doing just about anything.

Only time I get rsi is using the horrible mouse at work :(

my solution I brought my own mouse into work for when I am on the computer
stupid software not taking imputs from the kb

though I have found that I only get the pain in my right thumb

"injuries caused by children falling out of trees are down by 35%, while bike-riding accidents are also down by 22%."
...
but it wont matter if they all get diabetes or heart disease by the time they are 20. heres the most recent stats i could find on us children.

Increase in Obesity Prevalence (%)
Among U.S. Children (Ages 6 to 11)

Boys Girls
1999 to 2000 16 14.5
1988 to 1994 11.6 11
1971 to 1974 4.3 3.6

and then the 12-19 year olds
Males Females
1999 to 2000 15.5 15.5
1988 to 1994 11.3 9.7
1971 to 1974 6.1 6.2

you surely cant blame electronics for the increase as a whole, but in addition to poor diet, lack of exercise is a major contributor to these numbers. i hate to think what the more recent stats look like.

Problem is that schools are not legally bound to providing any suitable equipment as the students are under the age of 18, therefore they give the children the cheapest possible equipment with abosultly no adjustment. Back in the day i had a simple plastic seat that was found in any classroom (that was only just over 2 years ago).

id prefer a football in the face than a cramp-ed pinky anyday...

probably just me...

Originally Posted by Redbeaver
id prefer a football in the face than a cramp-ed pinky anyday...

probably just me...

I'd rather have neither personally.

Bah never had any RSI stuff in my life and I almost live behind a pc (work, study, hobby) only thing I ever had is that I almost broke my neck when skateboarding and thats like 4 years ago (and had whiplash effects for 1 year and everybody blamed my gaming on a pc and tend to say it was RSI :( ) and I'm a-ok now

And from what I've heard you get RSI when you are untrained doing lots of same rapid motions for a long time... ( I think it's a kind omg-look-out-everything-is-bad-for-your-health-especiallly-kids-and-computers-bullocks)
:)

It's the same thing as skateboards.

There are more accidents every year in golf than in skateboarding both in numbers and in percentage(people injured v.s. people participating) Also the injuries of skateboarding are almost all hand and wrist related due to those areas being what contacts the cement the most. Yet parents still prefer to send their kids to football where the injuries that occur are much more serious including neck, head, and back injuries. Why do we see this? Because a kid falling down a set of stairs while attempting a kickflip nosegrind to fakie is MUCH more interesting than watching a 20 year old throw out his back in an overzealous swing on a par 4. Media is everything these days and I only hope that people will learn to take it with a grain of salt.

Edit: Lol just read the post above mine. Thought I might add in that I Broke my hand in two places while skateboarding a few years back, blacked out on the slopes when I attempted a backflip on a snowboard, popped out my knee when I was racing motorcycles (then again a year later on a quad), as well as a nice face plant when I didn't clear a gap on a BMX bike.

My point? Videogames aren't dangerous so they should be pushed as so. Do they decrease physical activities? Yes. But I believe that is an obligation the parents must undertake on themselves.