Man Fractures Neck from Daily VR Headset use
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 a 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”.
They commented that the fracture was a classic “clay miner’s fracture” due to the excessive weight placed on the neck due the to VR headset itself combined with the repetitive movements of the game.
In my private practice I see children developed headache and neck pain from the excessive pressure on the base of the neck due to looking down whilst 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:
Full Article here:
https://jmedicalcasereports.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s13256-021-02880-9