There have been many well-documented video game-related injuries such as carpal tunnel syndrome and "gamer's thumb". Many years ago, there was a 29-year-old man who ruptured his thumb tendon playing a match-3 puzzle game daily on his smartphone.

Recently in Germany, doctors documented the first ever case of a C-spine injury following daily virtual reality headset use.

They reported that a 31-year-old man sustained a C-Spine stress fracture after playing VR games for 1-4 hours on an almost daily basis. I reached out to the doctors who wrote the case report, who recalled that the game in question was "Beat Saber".

Me trying the VR headset at Unisa Mawson Lakes Developer Department

They commented that the fracture was a classic "clay miner's fracture" due to the excessive weight placed on the neck due to the VR headset itself combined with the repetitive movements of the game.

Full Article here:

In my private practice, I see children develop headaches and neck pain from the excessive pressure on the base of the neck due to looking down while playing smartphone games. If you have a child or patient who plays video games excessively, please send a referral my way for a telehealth psychiatric consultation. I see families Australia-wide. Book here.

Reference:

https://jmedicalcasereports.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s13256-021-02880-9