The Price You Pay for Being a Rock Star
June 4, 2007 12 Comments
Do your fingers hurt after an evening of playing Guitar Hero? Do your knuckles ache to the point that they are sensitive to touch? Are you in pain the day after a long session of jamming on your guitar shaped controller? Perhaps too much Guitar Hero is not good for you.
I love Guitar Hero. I mean I love Guitar Hero. I don’t play for an hour at a time. I usually log in about 3 – 4 hours per session, more nights than not. My left hand, the one that frets, constantly aches. Sometimes it hurts when I am doing other activities. It always hurts when I am warming up. I can go a week without playing but the pain doesn’t ever fully go away.
Detroit Tigers pitcher Joel Zumaya sat out for 3 games back in December 2006 due to his passion for the game. They speculated Guitar Hero was to blame for his Repetitive Strain Injury. The arm that was hurt was his strumming one. He must have been doing some serious strumming to injure his arm to that degree.
About Repetitive Strain Injury from www.RSIhelp.com :
Repetitive strain injury (RSI) is an umbrella term for many separate ailments affecting the hand, wrist, arm, neck, upper back, and shoulder. Medical professionals also use the phrases “occupational overuse injuries” or “cumulative trauma disorders” for this condition, which can result from intensive hand use.
Symptoms of RSI include numbness, tingling, lack of endurance, tremor, clumsiness, lack of sensation, a feeling of heaviness and pain. These warning signs can appear anywhere along the hand, arm, shoulder or neck.
Warning Signs of Repetitive Strain Injury :
Repetitive strain injury (RSI) can affect the neck, shoulders, upper back, upper arm, elbows, forearms, wrists, thumbs or fingers. Warning signs of RSI can appear in any of those areas.
- Weakness
- Fatigue
- Lack of endurance
- Tingling, numbness or loss of sensation
- A feeling of heaviness
- Clumsiness
- Difficulty opening and closing hands
- Stiffness
- Difficulty using hands (turning pages of books or magazines, turning doorknobs or faucets, holding a coffee mug)
- Reluctance to shake hands
- Difficulty carrying things or holding bus or subway poles
- Hands fall asleep
- Waking up with wrist pain or numb hands, especially during early morning hours
- Lack of control or coordination
- Cold hands
- Frequent self-massage
- Difficulty buttoning clothing or putting on jewelry
- Tremors
- Avoidance of activities or sports that were once enjoyable
- Pain or soreness (RSI is not always painful, though)
Do I think I have this? I honestly don’t know. I know my hand hurts on a regular basis and I know it is not normal. Despite taking a week off from this game, I still find myself in pain. I continue to hope it will go away on its own. Perhaps one day I will make my way to the doctor if the pain becomes unbearable. But until then, I will suffer in silence. Such is the price of being a rock star sometimes.
I played GH2 for about 5 hours straight last night in 2 player with a friend, and now my fingers on my left hand ache so much!
The price you pay to be cool…
I’ve been having the same problem for a week, maybe a little longer. I’m trying to stay away from the game til my fingers feel better, but they don’t seem to be getting much better. Did yours ever go away?
Not completely no.
I didn’t play it for the last few weeks because I was out of town on vacation. I came back and put in a solid 3-4 hours one night. While the constant pain had gone away, when I started playing again it came right back. As long as I don’t play it too often, it is tolerable. The pain comes back quickly however it leaves just as quickly as well.
I hope your fingers get better soon. The pain is no good!
I developed pain in my left shoulder from playing too much Guitar Hero. It was so painful I decided to learn to play with the lefty-flip in order to give the shoulder a break. But then my strumming thumb began to hurt too. And even on lefty-flip my left shoulder would begin to flare up again, although it took longer to happen.
I now no longer play Guitar Hero, and am sitting here nursing a FROZEN left shoulder. Up until a few days ago I could not lift my left arm above eye level, now I am undergoing painful physical therapy on my left shoulder every day, and I am on three prescription meds to relieve the pain and swelling. The doctor said I had bursitis. By the way, I am a male approaching 44 years of age.
I would generally not recommend this game to anybody over 39 years old, and at this point in time I don’t feel I could recommend it to anybody of any age.
Malsy, I have the same problem. My doctor hasn’t said for sure but I am convinced my shoulders are frozen because of Guitar Hero. The doctors seem to think that it will eventually go away with physical therapy but right now it is affecting BOTH shoulders. I would advise that you don’t play the game anymore AT ALL. I tried giving it a break for awhile and then going back to play it for like 30 minutes rather than 4 hours at a time but I can just tell after even that long that my shoulders are regressing. I am done with Guitar Hero for good now.
Wow Malsy, that really sucks.
As I log less hours on the game, the majority of my symptoms have gone away. If I play for longer than an hour or so though, then the pain in my hand and arm come back immediately.
Did the doctor confirm that this game was the cause of your injury? I hope your shoulder gets better soon. No video game is worth that.
hmmm. I bought this game yesterday and could immediately tell that it was a “danger” game in terms of RSI. I’ve experienced a weird sensation in my forearm in the past from too much mouse/keyboard action, but generally found lifting weights at the gym kept it at bay (I only noticed it when I hadn;t gone to the gym for a while). But GH2 has given me the same adverse symptoms after only about four hours of play yesterday!
I’m glad I googled “RSI” and “GUITAR HERO”. After reading these stories, I think I’ll have to keep my sessions short and a couple of days apart! Bummer. :(
Interesting observations. Thanks for sharing.
I suppose along with anything moderation is key. I lack that sensibility unfortunately when it comes to this game. I continue to play it way too much!
It’s sad, but you guys are probably screwed for life, unless your life style would allow you to only use your hands for theuraputic exercises for a couple years. I got a repetitive stress injury in the summer before my sophmore year from an MMORPG, before I had even heard of Guitar Hero. In the following school year, before I stopped bothering to keep count, I learned of eleven other people around my age who had repetitive stress injuries, a surprising amount of whom got it just from playing guitar hero.
Almost two years later, my hands are not any better, and they never will be. My dreams of being a computer programmer are still shattered, leaving me with no idea of what I want to do in life.
Unless you don’t mind chronic pain and your ideal occupation doesn’t require you to use your hands (or you’re okay with giving up video games.) I would advise against playing Guitar Hero. I’ve seen the way it’s played, and it’s so ergonomically incorrect that it’s like playing it is the same as begging to get carpal tunnel. x_x
When I read the title I instantly thought about treefity
My name is Viktor von Schmalz. I have been playing Guitar Hero for about four years now, and recently I have developed a most worrying pain.
I am 17 years old [thus have been playing since age 13]. I am at a point in skill I scored five stars on Guitar Hero Smash Hits Through the Fire and Flames on Expert on December 29th, 2010. To any player this would be a feat, and to few of us a reality. However, I remembered the year before my aunt [who somewhat understands ergonomics] dropped by, and for the first time I had heard about the hazard of developing RSI. The consequences scared me brutally. Coincidentally, one week later my right hand started to hurt around the carpal region, probably due to nimble fretwork in an awkward way [I am left-handed for everything except writing]. In panic, I avoided any contact with the game, and after some resting my hand healed. I don’t remember exactly when [and this is one of my terrible traits, my lack of diligence, bothering several other aspects in my life] I returned to the game, but it wasn’t long after I had healed. It had been almost a year without experiencing any pain before my present state. The same pain, around the same area, returned. My thumb and index finger seem pretty much unaffected, however my other three fingers, especially my ring finger, experienced consistent pain. I treated my hand with some ointment, and rested it, and over a period of approximately 48 hours it seems to have healed. Now I feel no pain, however my hand feels strange. It is almost as if I felt pain, except with no actual pain, only muscles pulling and cold sparks. If anyone here can help me, please, by all means do so. I am also a singer and guitarist and my heart is eternally bonded to music. It is OK to pay a price for rocking. But this price can never be the ability to play my instruments [otherwise I would not be able to use what I pay for].
Thank you.
Hi everyone. I have read all of your posts. I agree. Guitar Hero has given me a pain in the shoulder area that comes and goes. I think that the area of my problem is actually somewhere in the area between the base of the back of my neck and my left scapula. It’s not an exact point; it’s an area. I started playing guitar hero 3.5 years ago and played for 2 years until stopping. I think the guitar strap damaged my shoulder over time. I don’t know if it is damage to muscles or nerves that is causing me recurring pain. I played Guitar Hero 3, World Tour, and Metallica. I became good enough that I played expert mode all the time, making the game cause more damage to my body. I remember that the game immediately causing soreness in my left hand fingers and left arm. I think my right arm and hand were fine. I used to loved Guitar Hero, but now I hate it because of recurring pains in my left shoulder. I will never play that game again. The pains, numbness, or loss of sensation in my shoulder recur always when I am sitting for too long (i.e. while driving, seeing movies or plays, long family dinners). One problem is that I’ve been too nervous to get my shoulder checked by a doctor. I’ve told my parents that I’ve had this pain in my shoulder for several years whenever I feel it, but they haven’t taken the initiative to take me to a doctor. I’m finally getting my parents to take me to a doctor next week. Another problem with me is that I don’t work out, but want to start doing so! I heard above that working out can cause problems like this to go away. I’ve never been massaged in my life. By the way, my arms, hands, and fingers feel fine. Side note: my fingers are slightly bent from playing guitar hero and using video game controllers and computer mouses for computer games throughout my life. I am 18 years old now and am concerned enough about this detrimental effect of Guitar Hero to post it here. Thank you.