Kids who play video games more prone to joint pain

An 11-year-old boy in Missouri recently noticed that his hands hurt and wondered if his avid video game playing had anything to do with it. So Deniz Ince passed out questionnaires to 171 schoolmates between the ages of 7-12 about their video game use and hand/joint pain.

His dad, a rheumatologist, and researchers at New York University helped. And guess what? Young Mr. Ince found something interesting - kids who play video games for an hour or more a day are more prone to wrist and finger pain.

80% of the respondents said that they played video games daily. (6% said that they played more than 3 hours per day.) Each hour played increased the likelihood of experiencing pain by 50%, and the youngest reported having the most pain.

10-12% reported having enough pain to limit their playing of video games.

Researchers aren't exactly sure why the youngest players have more pain, but suspect that it has to do with the fact that their muscles and tendons are still developing.

Experts say that this only adds to the fact that kids should not be playing video games for more than an hour a day. View more information here.