Playing PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds, Fortnite, Red Dead Redemption, Dota 2 is a fun and adventurous experience.

We are sure that you’ll agree.

But do you know that playing games for a long time on your personal computer or console can be daunting as well?

We are not making this up. You might be a potential candidate of atlas orthogonal chiropractic.

You still doubt that then let us explain.

Carpal tunnel syndrome

The repeated actions performed with keyboard and controller can lead to this syndrome. Compression of the median nerve located on the palm side of the hand leads to numbness, weakness, and tingling in your hand.

Other symptoms include pain and burning that travels up your arm, wrist pain at night that interferes with sleep, and weakness in the muscles of the hand. The reasons for suffering from this syndrome are:

• Frequently pressing the “fire” button on the game controller with your thumb can cause inflammation in the muscles and joints. Furthermore, overusing it for hours, you can experience swelling at the base of your thumb, and the swelling is responsible for pinching the nerves in your wrist.
• Keeping your hand at an odd angle over the keyboard to press the movement keys while playing a first-person shooter or other similar game causes swelling in the wrist that can numb your nerves.
• Using a standard PC mouse for repetitive firing with the index finger while moving the mouse quickly around with the thumb for an elongated amount of time can twist the position of your wrist and accelerate the aggravation, swelling and pinching of nerves.

Incorrect posture

There are two gaming positions for passionate gamers. One is the “couch slouch” where they put their feet up on the coffee table and slumped back into the couch. While, others follow the “full-on” position where they usually lean forward, elbows on knees, head tilted forward, and all focus on the screen.

Sitting in such posture puts extra pressure on elbows and legs, while it twists the wrists and unnaturally bends the thumbs. Moreover, the head posture puts extra weight on the spine and shoulder blades which makes the situation even worse. Such posture leads to complaints like sore shoulders and elbows, sore thumb, and back pain.

Pulled muscles

With the advancement of augmented reality, the gamers are getting more engaged in the experience. The couch potato gamers are suddenly jumping up and trying out activities like tennis, boxing and bowling for a couple of hours without giving a second thought to stretching first. Afterward, there are problems like terrible muscle pains and soreness.

If you are an avid gamer and suffering from the same problems described above, then the one-stop solution for all your complications is chiropractic treatment. Hand manipulations performed by the chiropractic can help you in reducing the pain and soreness of the muscles. It also helps you in eradicating the nerve pinching.

If you are suffering from such conditions, then without wasting any time visit an atlas orthogonal chiropractic to get rid of your pain.

How will chiropractor diagnose your problem?

Your physician will ask you a couple of questions and conduct one or more of the following tests to determine whether you have been suffering from chronic conditions.

History of symptoms

Your doctor will review the pattern of the symptoms of your situation. For example, as the median nerve doesn’t provide sensation to your little finger, symptoms in that finger may show that the cause of a problem is different.

Carpal tunnel syndrome symptoms usually occur while holding a phone or a newspaper, gripping a steering wheel, or waking up during the night.

Physical examination

Your doctor will conduct a physical examination. He/she will test the feeling in your fingers and wrist and the strength of the muscles in your hand.

Tapping on the nerve, bending the wrist, or just pressing on the nerve can trigger symptoms in many people.

X-ray

Some doctors perform an X-ray examination of the affected wrist to exclude other causes of wrist pain, such as arthritis or a fracture.

Electromyogram

This test will evaluate the production of small electrical discharges in muscles. In this test, your physician will insert a thin-needle electrode into specific muscles to evaluate the electrical activity when muscles contract and rest. It can identify muscle damage and also may rule out other conditions.

How physicians treat pain?

Physical therapy

It can provide you with long-term pain relief as it offers a progressive method. Physical therapy involves taping or braces, soft tissue and joint work, ultrasound healing, and electric stimulation.

Atlas orthogonal chiropractic

This method involves spinal adjustments using rapid and controlled force. The goal of a chiropractor is to ease the pain and to enhance the range of motion in the affected area. Atlas orthogonal chiropractic can help you manage chronic lower back pain, postures, foot and hand pain, bone and muscle pain in shoulders and neck.

Hot and cold treatment

This technique is easy to perform and very comfortable. You can accomplish this at home also. It is beneficial as heat relaxes the muscles and cold reduces the swelling. It can help you control carpal tunnel syndrome pain, overlying muscle soreness and herniated disc pain.

Transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation

It utilizes an electric current to ease the pain. This technique uses a device that sends currents to the painful area through skin patches. It feels like a slight muscle twitch or a soothing electric sensation.

Acupuncture

It is an ancient Chinese pain management technique, in which healing needles are placed at the critical points of the body. It balances the energy flow in the key points and boosts healing and stimulates tissues and nerves to release chemicals which fight the pain.

What can you do to stop the pain while gaming?

Now you have a basic idea about the conditions that you might face while playing games. These are some steps that you can try out and incorporate:

Desk height

It is crucial that the position of your desk is not too high or too low. An excessively high desk can lead you to lean which can cause upper back problems and rounded shoulders. While desk with too low heights can exert added pressure to your wrists which is the primary concern for carpal tunnel sufferers.

Adjust your chair height

About the previous section, ensure that your chair isn’t too high or too low. Your desk height should have a comfortable height to prevent you from looking down and causing issues with your neck.

After getting proper treatment from atlas orthogonal chiropractic, apply these changes to your gaming room and you will receive benefits.

Position your keyboard correctly

Your keyboard should be in front of you and should be around 30cm from the edge of your desk to provide adequate room to rest your arms. If your keyboard sits higher than your hands, then you have to arch your hands over it, try to find a padded wrist rest to provide you with some comfort and support. Make sure that your wrists are resting at a natural angle, try not to twist them.

Ergonomic mice and wrist position

There are an enormous collection of ergonomic mice in the market that can assist in providing support for your wrist. Often these mice involve holding it slightly differently, putting pressure on the base of the hand rather than the wrist.

While using your mouse, you should move your entire forearm and not twist your wrist. Often gamers only utilize their wrist for snapping and aiming in FPS games. It can cause real problems for the wrist.

Try to inculcate the habit of using your whole forearm to move your mouse if you are experiencing pain. You may not be as accurate as you use to be, but it will reduce your pain.

Always prioritize health over a game.

Take breaks

If you are already experiencing carpal tunnel syndrome or any other pain, then you should take breaks throughout gaming sessions. Sit out one round of PUBG or Dota 2 and give your wrists a break.

Get a wrist splint

Wrist splints are one solution that can help you. If you spend a lot of time at a computer for work, then start wearing a wrist splint throughout the day as it will keep your wrist straight which will help you alleviate your pain and will help you get better.

Perform wrist exercises

It can help you while you suffer from wrist problems. Try to incorporate these three exercises throughout the day whenever you have a spare minute.

Try out exercises like:

• Bend downwards
• Bend backward
• Thumb stretch
• Prayer
• Shake
• Wall press

These are some exercises that you can try out to get rid of the symptoms that occur due to gaming. If your problem is still not solved, then atlas orthogonal chiropractic at Physical Healthcare of Jacksonville can help you. We have a wide range of diagnostic techniques that will help us to find the precise location of your disease and provide a better cure.