The popularity of e-sports has rekindled, and the prevention of neck, wrist, and back injuries at Himchan Hospital is this
Nov 15, 2025
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T1 beat KT Rolster with a set score of 3 to 2 to lift the trophy.
With this Walz victory, T1 has won six times in total, breaking the previous record of the most winning team ever, which was five times.
As a result, the enthusiasm for domestic e-sports is once again heating up.
In fact, e-sports has long been established as a popular leisure culture and industry, not just a game.
However, if you are immersed for a long time, you often feel pain in your wrist, elbow, and neck. These pains can be a sign of disease and should not be overlooked.
◇ We are vulnerable to wrist and elbow injuries due to uninterrupted keyboard and mouse operation
The most common diseases experienced while playing esports are 'wrist tunnel syndrome' and 'elbow tunnel syndrome'.
This is because the median nerve of the wrist is pressed and inflammation of the tendon is likely to occur in the process of constantly operating the keyboard and mouse.
In particular, FPS (first-person shooting) and MOBA (strategic) games use wrist several times more because response speed and hand movement determine performance. Some players also complain of numbness in their hands during games or choose to take a break or retire because they cannot endure the pain.
In particular, wrist tunnel syndrome is caused by excessive use of wrist tendons. Tendon swells or inflammatory reactions take up more space, resulting in the nerve being pressed and numbness of the hand. The fingers and palms of the thumb, index finger, and long finger are numb and the senses are dull, and the hands may be swollen or the fingers may feel stiff. If you feel pain when you bend your wrist for about a minute in the direction of the pain, you should suspect wrist tunnel syndrome.
In addition, if you experience pain inside your elbow or if your fingers experience severe numbness during the game, you may suspect elbow tunnel syndrome, where your elbow nerves are pressed.
If the posture of using the game with the elbow bent excessively is repeated, it occurs when the ulnar nerve passing through the elbow joint is pressed. When elbow tunnel syndrome occurs, the fourth to fifth fingers (finger, pinkie) become numb and difficult to spread with pain. On the other hand, wrist tunnel syndrome usually shows pain in the first to third fingers.
If wrist and elbow pain is early, conservative treatments such as physical therapy, extracorporeal shock waves, and injection therapy along with rest and stability can improve.
For prevention ▲Set the game time within 1-2 hours ▲Relax muscle and joint tension by lightly shaking the wrist or turning the elbow in the middle of the game ▲It is better to do light stretching before and after the game.
◇ Staring at the monitor for a long time, burdening the neck and shoulders...It might get worse with a neck disc
Sitting in a position for a long time and looking at the monitor greatly increases the burden on the neck and shoulders.
In particular, pain around the cervical spine, trapezius, and thoracic spine is common as the head is bent forward while watching the monitor intensively.
Turtle neck syndrome is a neck deformation caused by wrong posture or habit, and the curve, which was originally C-shaped, is transformed into a straight or inverted C-shaped. It causes pain and stiffness that starts at the back of the neck and extends to the shoulder, and can cause excessive muscle tension and even headaches. If the condition worsens, it may lead to severe diseases such as neck disc, so caution is needed. It can be prevented enough if you try to consciously keep your usual correct posture.
It is also important to note that 'Fasmodic Acupuncture Syndrome', which is often expressed as 'Bile Stomach Stomach Syndrome'.
It occurs when the muscles around the shoulders or neck cannot rest and are tense for a long time. In most cases, getting enough rest improves symptoms, but if the pain persists for a long time, it is a sign that there is an abnormality in the muscle tissue, so you need to be treated.
If left unattended with folk remedies, there is a high possibility of recurrence, so it is better to receive treatment through an accurate examination by a specialist.
In order to prevent musculoskeletal syndrome that occurs in the neck and shoulders, it is important to have the right posture to avoid stiffness. It is better to set the screen at eye level, and it is better to sit deeply in the chair with the neck slightly pulled and the waist straight. It is also good to relax rigid muscles and ligaments, such as stretching your neck muscles and turning your shoulders. Relaxing muscles through lower-body bathing and massage is also effective.
◇Unfair posture is vulnerable to lower back...You need to be careful about sprains, discs, etc
Lumbar pain problems such as lumbar disc (intervertebral disc exodus) and lumbar sprain may also appear.
If the posture of sitting for a long time, sticking your head forward, and bending your back continues, the pressure on the intervertebral disc increases, and the disk is pushed back, compressing the nerves, causing pain. Disc pain can be accompanied by radiating pain (sleepiness and pain) that goes down to the hips and legs as well as the back.
Lumbar sprain also causes pain due to excessive tension and stiffness of muscles around the waist.
Lumbar sprain is a symptom mainly caused by ligament damage rather than a problem with the vertebrae.
In this case, it is usually possible to recover with a day or two of sufficient rest or conservative treatment such as muscle relaxants. However, if symptoms or pain improvement is slow, it may be a herniated disc, not a simple sprain, so you should be examined.
Kim Tae-seop, head of orthopedic surgery at Bupyeong Himchan Hospital, said "Recently, more and more people are suffering from musculoskeletal pain while playing games on PCs and smartphones."You should be careful to repeat and maintain certain positions for a long time, such as relaxing joints and muscles with light stretching during the game, setting a time and not overdoing it."
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This article was translated by Naver AI translator.
