Session Information
Session Title: AA 2022 Posters - Musculoskeletal and Sports Medicine
Session Time: None. Available on demand.
Disclosures: Sarah L. Thordarson, MD: No financial relationships or conflicts of interest
Objective: To determine the unique injury prevalence factors in professional competitive gaming (esports)
Design: Anonymous online period prevalence survey of esports professionals
Setting: Anonymous and online
Participants: Thirty-six English-speaking players, 18 years old and older, involved in professional esports for at least 1 year
Interventions: not applicable
Main Outcome Measures: Demographics, the genre of esports, input controller method, hours training per week, total gaming hours, self-reported pain prevalence in 6 body regions (neck, back, shoulder, elbow, wrist, hands/fingers) along with the impact on training and professional competition ability
Results: Esports professionals with a total of over 100 gaming hours per week reported more back pain (p = 0.012). Neck followed by back and wrist pain were the most common body regions impacting competition ability. Wrist pain was most prevalent in training sessions, while back and neck pain interfered most with life outside of esports. Joystick use in the esports fighting genre was associated with 4 times relative risk for upper extremity pain compared to other input controllers.
Conclusions: Unique factors including controller selection correlated with injury in our sample of esports professionals. Injury prevalence may differ among different esports genres. Small sample size due to limited responding esports players highlights the need for continued investigation.
Level of Evidence: Level V
To cite this abstract in AMA style:
Thordarson SL, Johnson T, Willey J, Chi B, Chau B, Lui M. Prevalence of Injuries in Esports [abstract]. PM R. 2022; 14(S1)(suppl 1). https://pmrjabstracts.org/abstract/prevalence-of-injuries-in-esports/. Accessed September 7, 2024.« Back to AAPM&R Annual Assembly 2022
PM&R Meeting Abstracts - https://pmrjabstracts.org/abstract/prevalence-of-injuries-in-esports/