Abstract

1can lead to this kind of injury as a result of the tasks performed. In extreme cases RSI can cause a person to become wheelchair bound. With increasing use of computers at work, home, and school, injuries of the hands, arms, and shoulders are becoming common. Playstation thumb is a RSI resulting from continuous playing of playstation games for many hours and can manifest as pain in the thumbs and blisters on the tips of the thumbs. Other associated symptoms include pain, stiffness, swelling, numbness and tingling of the hands, wrists, elbows, shoulders, back or neck. After reading a letter to the Editor in the Lancet 2 about a case of playstation thumb in a young girl in England, I did a survey of the extent of this problem at my school. The survey was done at the Crawford Preparatory School in Durban among 120 Grade 4 - 7 learners. Their ages ranged from 9 to 13 years. Thirty learners from each grade, an equal number of boys and girls, were interviewed using a list of 7 questions. Each participant was asked if s/he played playstation games and, if so, how often and for how long, on average. I also asked everyone if they experienced any playstation symptoms including pain in the thumb or wrist and the presence of blisters. My results show that more boys played playstation games regularly. Twenty-eight of the 60 boys and 17 of the 60 girls played regularly. However the boys had fewer symptoms of playstation thumb. Eight of the 28 boys and 7 of the 17 girls who played regularly had symptoms of playstation thumb. No one had serious problems or symptoms. Those who played more playstation had more symptoms, especially if they played for more than 3 hours per day.