Too Much Gaming Causing Lumpy Hand Disorder?
Man, talk about a buzz-kill. With still a few precious hours left in the weekend, now you have to sit and wonder if all that gaming you've done over the past 48 hours is increasing your chances of getting some sort of weird skin disorder.
According to a new report from a team of Swiss scientists, keeping too tight a grip on a controller and mashing the buttons too furiously can actually cause a newly identified skin disorder "marked by painful lumps on the palms." The hysterically named "PlayStation palmar hidradentitis" is actually not very funny at all, as it can reportedly lead to "painful lesions on the palms similar to patches found on the soles of children's feet after taking part in heavy physical activity." Vincent Piguet and colleagues at University Hospitals and Medical School of Geneva noted that "the tight and continuous grasping of the hand-grips together with repeated pushing of the buttons produce minor but continuous trauma to the (palm) surfaces."
Also, we're not exactly sure why Sony's poor PlayStation got its name inserted into the disorder -- after all, aren't Nintendo 64 and Atari Jaguar controllers just as uncomfortable after extended periods of play? Of course, this study should definitely be taken with a grain of salt, as Sony points out that it involved just a single person and that it has sold hundreds of millions of PlayStation consoles without any mass outbreak of this lumpy hand phenomenon.
Sony spokesman David Wilson had this to say: "As with any leisure pursuit there are possible consequences of not following common sense, health advice and guidelines, as can be found within our instruction manuals. We would not wish to belittle this research and we will study the findings with interest, but this is the first time we have ever heard of a complaint of this nature."
So, not to freak you out or anything, but have you noticed any strange lumps forming after extended bouts on the console? Stay sharp!
According to a new report from a team of Swiss scientists, keeping too tight a grip on a controller and mashing the buttons too furiously can actually cause a newly identified skin disorder "marked by painful lumps on the palms." The hysterically named "PlayStation palmar hidradentitis" is actually not very funny at all, as it can reportedly lead to "painful lesions on the palms similar to patches found on the soles of children's feet after taking part in heavy physical activity." Vincent Piguet and colleagues at University Hospitals and Medical School of Geneva noted that "the tight and continuous grasping of the hand-grips together with repeated pushing of the buttons produce minor but continuous trauma to the (palm) surfaces."Also, we're not exactly sure why Sony's poor PlayStation got its name inserted into the disorder -- after all, aren't Nintendo 64 and Atari Jaguar controllers just as uncomfortable after extended periods of play? Of course, this study should definitely be taken with a grain of salt, as Sony points out that it involved just a single person and that it has sold hundreds of millions of PlayStation consoles without any mass outbreak of this lumpy hand phenomenon.
Sony spokesman David Wilson had this to say: "As with any leisure pursuit there are possible consequences of not
following common sense, health advice and guidelines, as can be found within our instruction manuals. We would not wish to belittle this research and we will study the findings with interest, but this is the first time we have ever heard of a complaint of this nature." So, not to freak you out or anything, but have you noticed any strange lumps forming after extended bouts on the console? Stay sharp!
