Esports injuries: between painful situations and underrated importance
Yes, Esports injuries are a thing you might not have heard about. It’s not just a normal headache or a slight discomfort in the hand, many players are losing their careers to long-lasting injuries. It might not be as severe as Football or Basketball ones, but it definitely is something to consider.
In 2011, professional player Shawn “Sheth” Simon noticed he was playing shorter matches in StarCraft. For some reason he couldn’t quite keep up with the tactile endurance of a 40-minute match anymore.
“I noticed something was bothering my wrist in a weird way. I really decided to be introspective and figure out what was happening,” said Simon. “It turns out that longer games were causing my hands to hurt more, so I’d kind of subconsciously switched to shorter games. I consulted a doctor about it right when I noticed it. I’ve constantly been going to different doctors for it. Right now they believe it’s neurological, but aren’t sure,” said Simon. “I didn’t expect it to keep me away for so long. I expected to take a year or two off then be able to come back. However that wasn’t the case.”
After playing for extended periods of time, Simon felt a strong pain in his fingers and numbness in his right hand. Both made it difficult to keep playing since StarCraft is one of the most demanding competitive video games on the planet, averaging about 150 keyboard strokes and mouse clicks every minute. The chronic stress a pro gamer puts on their wrists is comparable to the carnage MLB pitchers wreak on their throwing arm.
Simon’s hands have never been the same since. He rotated through different table heights, mouses, chairs, and keyboards to try and mitigate the pain, but by 2013 he was more or less retired from professional StarCraft.
Simon, like most people in eSports, didn’t have a guaranteed contract to fall back on. Such protocols simply don’t exist. In a game like StarCraft, you compete in a few tournaments each year for a shot at winning some truly life-changing money. With each passing season, the industry gets more lucrative, but there still aren’t a lot of parachutes going around.
With how big Esports have been in the last couple of years and how many industries are calling it a real sport just like chess or any other mind sport, a health insurance should be something to consider by team sponsors. Simon’s case happens to players every day, and there needs to be a solution for it by providing constant medical care and safe and healthy competing environments to prevent such things from happening.
