The usual rough and tumble play that kids do can cause injuries throughout childhood and adolescence, but with the growing popularity of video games, some children now experience the same types of aches and pains that their parents get from sitting at a desk all day at work. Positive action steps can help kids prevent common injuries from gaming and potentially reduce the risk of long-term damage.
These injuries come from the lack of movement and postural strain that comes from sitting for a long time in front of a device, such as, eye strain, strain of the shoulder down to the hand, carpal tunnel syndrome, upper back and neck pain.
While some gaming systems do encourage movement, most games captivate the child for potentially long periods of time with poor posture which is bad news. Joints need to move, think of it as nutrition for them. Sitting for a long period of time and particularly with poor posture can, overtime, cause a detrimental change to your child's posture.
I completely understand that kids being on video games buys us parents some much needed free time, so to minimise the damage here are some small changes that can be made to help your child's joints.
1) Moderation
Simply limiting video game time is a good way to offset potential musculoskeletal problems. After 1 hour of gaming, balance it out with at least an hour of physical activity. As gaming is often done as a solo activity, make sure your kids are having lots of non-device, face to face time with their friends.
2) Ergonomics
Begin by ensuring the screen is at eye level. Getting kids to stand while playing is a great way to reduce the sedentary impact as we have a natural sway when we stand. Encourage them to keep their bodies in a “neutral” position i.e. head over shoulders and both of these stacked on top of hips. If sitting, try using a chair that has back support as well as cushioned arm rests.
3) Movement
Take a 15 second “micro-break” every 15 minutes. During this time, they should take their eyes off the screen and move their bodies in the opposite direction to what it has been doing ie for fingers that have been curled, stretch them backwards, if they have been hunching forward, see if they can do a backbend or lie backwards over a gym ball, squeeze their shoulder blades together.
Sitting on a gym ball while playing video games can also encourage small movements as a player shifts to maintain balance which is great for their joints but watch out as you can slouch on anything!
If your kids are anything like mine, they'll stay on their computer playing Minecraft of watching YouTube for hours unless an adult intervenes. It's a good idea to talk to them about how sitting for too long is damaging for their body but be prepared for you monitoring that they actually stick to the time limits and stretches that have been discussed with them cause it's very easy for them to get engrossed in their game. Set a timer to help you remember, we need all the help we can get! 😉
If you’re concerned about your child’s posture or how much time they spend watching/playing on devices, we’re here to help. We’ll do an in-depth assessment on your child to discover what is happening in their body and what can be done about this. Simply book them in for an initial consultation.
