Video gaming and its implications on the epidemiology of office work related upper limb disorders

Work-related upper limb disorders (WRULD) is noted in instances of excessive video gaming. This research aims to identify the plausibility of video gaming as a confounding factor in WRULD epidemiology. A questionnaire was deployed to 327 participants to measure gaming behaviour and pain on a dichotomous scale. 2x2 Pearson Chi-square cross tabulation was utilised for statistical analysis of all pain-related variables. Analyses indicated that gaming impacts on office-work pain in most circumstances, and must thus be considered a confounder. 66.36% of office-working participants play video games, and this number is expected to increase. 63.3% office-workers indicated ergonomically designed workplaces; 19.8% of video gamers indicated ergonomically designed gaming areas. Finally, 68.2% of video gaming office-workers indicated that they play video games for more than 3 hrs per day, without rest breaks or pauses. Preliminary findings indicate that further research is warranted for purposes of identifying the relationships in more detail.