This is a small guide on how to cope with RSI as a gamer. I have been playing PC and console games for pretty much all my life. Its my main hobby and passion (to the annoyance of my girlfriend) and takes up a lot of my time. About four years ago, I started to feel tiredness and pain in both my hands while playing Maplestory (I was bored, and when it first came out it was very addictive). Maplestory involved a lot of button bashing, and after 6 months I developed the starting signs of RSI.

Stupidly, I did not care about the pain. It was something that was getting in the way of my gaming. Another 6 months after the starting signs of RSI, I had full blown RSI and carpal tunnel. I had RSI specifically in my fingers. At the time, I could not find a lot of information about fingers, only hands and wrists. With the information I had gained after desperately trying to get rid of the crippling pain, I found some of my own techniques that helped me, and eventually let me do my full blown gaming sessions again.

What is RSI?

RSI is repetitive strain injury. It is formed from a repetitive movement that with overuse causes strain and fatigue. Alot of gamers suffer from RSI because of the repetitive movement of using the keyboard, controller and clicking on the mouse. More information about RSI can be found on the RSI wiki page. I have listed the best ways I have learnt to deal with RSI.

1 – Learn to stop when it hurts

Firstly and most important, you have to understand that if you continue gaming with the pain, your problem will only get worst. It will become permanent. If you manage your RSI in the early stages, you will prevent yourself from having to cope with the pain and managing how long you can use your hands before you have to stop.

Know when to stop. Once you start to feel tiredness or pain in your hands, give yourself 5 minutes to finish what your doing, and give it a rest for 20 minutes. It is very easy to prevent RSI, but coping with it is a whole different story. If your RSI becomes very chronic, then you may have to have steroid injections into your joints. If a big needle between your joints on your hands does not make you think, the im not sure what else will. Maybe consider that you might not be able to game anymore. It also effects day to day things like holding a cup and losing a lot of strength in your hands.

2 – Desktop position and posture

How you position yourself at your desk can effect your body. Humans were not designed to be sat on a desk chair for 13 hours a day, but there is way to posture yourself to make it easier on your body while you do your thing. Starting from the top;

  1. Your eyes should be level with the TOP of the monitor. Sit up straight, look forward, and if your eyes are not looking at the top of the monitor, then you are already sitting in a “unnatural” position.
  2. Relax your shoulders. Sometimes its easy to forget if you are hunching them. I was actually very bad at this, and after a week of really bad tensing and hunching, I would have the worst kind of numbing pain that would not go away. A good technique for this (and positioning in general) is the Alexander technique. Basically, know how to sit correctly, and always be conscience of changing your position. Try and take note of your shoulders, arms or legs regularly, and correct yourself when you do.
  3. Don’t slouch on the chair. This will help cause back problems in later life. How you position your back is generally the main key position to get right, as its easier to do everything else after you position your back correctly. Sit with your back straight. If you put your arse at the back of the chair, then its easier to maintain this posture. Dont be to stiff, because that will cause as much pain after time.
  4. Your elbows should be parallel with your torso, and your forearms should be horizontal with the desk and keyboard. your wrists should be straight. Try and imagine they are in a splint, and learn to type and game like this. This will go along way in keeping carpal tunnel away.
  5. Your legs should be bent at the knees, with your feet flat on the ground. I believe the legs are not as important as the rest of the body. I occasionally sit with one leg under the other, and put more emphasis on my arms and body. As long as you don’t stray away from this posture to much, then it is all good.

3 – 15 minutes gaming, 5 minutes rest

This technique is not good for gamers, especially MMO and online gamers. This 15 minutes work 5 minutes rest is a office procedure, but is easily adapted into gaming. Rest is key to recovering from RSI. If you don’t rest, it will only get worst. If im playing a game online, I would rest after each round. A single player game is easier to do this with. If you are coping with RSI, then this really is a necessity. If you do it right and for long enough, then you can lessen the space of time between gaming and resting.

4 – Stretching before gaming

Warming up my hands and fingers before gaming has been the best and most successful way of coping with RSI. Once your hands are prepared and ready, then you are pretty much set to go. If you have just woken up, turn on the pc or console and start gaming, then you are really not doing yourself any favors. It is just like if you sprinted without warming up. You would injure yourself pretty badly if you wasn’t ready for it. Your hands are the same. All you need to do is stretch your fingers out as far as you can for about 10 seconds. Open your hand as far as you can, and then bend your fingers in towards your palm, and then back to the stretch. Do this 3 times, and your done. Any shaking of your hands is beneficial after the stretch. I will try and put a video of this up when i get a decent camera.

5 – Supplements

Supplements are not to do all end all for RSI, but I believe it can help with recovering. Only three types of supplements need listing. They are;

  1. Vitamin C – Vitamin C helps (in regards to RSI) with the body being able to rebuild itself. I find a good dose of Vitamin C (1000mg dose 3 times a day) is a good start. There are a lot of articles on vitamin C, and i would recommend you google them.
  2. Cod Liver Oil – Cod liver oil also helps with recovery, and also works by lubricating the joints, making your joints work longer before fatigue sets in.
  3. Glucosamine – Glucosamine rebuilds the tissue and cartilage around your joints. It is probably the most promising supplement, but i have never really felt an effect after using this supplement for a few years now. It is scientifically proven to help with joint care, so I take it on a promise rather then funtion.

6 – Ice and heat packs

In some pharmacies you can buy a ice/heat pack. A reusable pack that you can put in the fridge, or put in hot water to heat it up. Having two of these and sandwidge them between your hand is extremely nice. A good idea is to alternate between hot and cold (cold one day, hot another). If you can only do one, then it is still miles better then nothing. This helps your hand deal with the inflammation (the pain from RSI) and can give a lot of relief.

Summary

In a nutshell, you need to rest your hands. If you continue to game with fatigue, then you will pay a serious price of permanent damage to your hands. Just with resting along will help keep you from developing RSI. Everything covered above is just to cope with it if you have it. If you do not have RSI, then still do all of the above, and you can prevent it from accruing.

Any feedback for this article will be very appreciated. If you are a gamer and are beginning to develop RSI, or if you have any suggestions about gaming with RSI, let me know and leave a comment or visit our forum!

Kye Cochrane

Discuss this article on our forums