Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Leveling Up: An Overview of Common Esports Injuries

  • Review
  • Published:
Current Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation Reports Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Purpose of Review

To provide an overview of common injuries experienced by esports players and factors that contribute to injury development with the goal of helping clinicians feel more prepared to care for this new patient population and bring attention to the need for more interventional research focusing on esports players’ health.

Recent Findings

Neck and lower back pain are the most common sites of musculoskeletal pain reported by esports players, while ocular symptoms are the most frequently reported physical complaint overall. Risk factors for injuries prolonged time seated, sustained aberrant postures, lower overall fitness level, and suboptimal ergonomics.

Summary

Esports players have unique needs from traditional athletes. Musculoskeletal injuries and ocular complaints are common, though few specifics are known about the formal diagnoses present or recommended treatment and prevention measures. Currently, there are significant gaps in the medical literature on this topic with a serious need for more investigations.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

Data Availability

No datasets were generated or analysed during the current study.

References

Papers of particular interest, published recently, have been highlighted as: • Of importance

  1. Video gaming audiences in the United States – statistics & facts. Statista. Published 31 Aug 2023. https://www.statista.com/topics/3070/us-gamers/#topicOverview. Accessed 11 Oct 2023.

  2. Peters C, Esfandiari B, West R. Characterizing human vs machine gameplay in StarCraft II. Paper presented at Virtual MathPsych/ICCM. 2020. https://mathpsych.org/presentation/216. Accessed 12 Dec 2023.

  3. LeJacq Y. How fast is fast? Some pro gamers make 10 moves per second. NBC News:Tech News. Published 11 Nov 2013. https://www.nbcnews.com/technolog/how-fast-fast-some-pro-gamers-make-10-moves-second-8c11422946. Accessed 12 Dec 2023.

  4. Trotter MG, Coulter TJ, Davis PA, Poulus DR, Polman R. The association between esports participation, health and physical activity behaviour. Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2020;17(19):7329. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph17197329.

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  5. Lindberg L, Nielsen SB, Damgaard M, Sloth OR, Rathleff MS, Straszek CL. Musculoskeletal pain is common in competitive gaming: a cross-sectional study among Danish esports athletes. BMJ Open Sport Exerc Med. 2020;6(1):000799. https://doi.org/10.1136/bmjsem-2020-000799.

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  6. Kari T, Karhulahti V-M. Do e-athletes move?: a study on training and physical exercise in elite e-sports. IJGCMS. 2016;8(4):53–66. https://doi.org/10.4018/IJGCMS.2016100104.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  7. Rudolf K, Bickmann P, Froböse I, Tholl C, Wechsler K, Grieben C. Demographics and health behavior of video game and esports players in Germany: the esports study 2019. Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2020;17(6):1870. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph17061870.

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  8. DiFrancisco-Donoghue J, Balentine J, Schmidt G, Zwibel H. Managing the health of the eSport athlete: an integrated health management model. BMJ Open Sport Exerc Med. 2019;5(1):e000467. https://doi.org/10.1136/bmjsem-2018-000467.

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  9. • DiFrancisco-Donoghue J, Werner WG, Douris PC, Zwibel H. Esports players, got muscle? Competitive video game players’ physical activity, body fat, bone mineral content, and muscle mass in comparison to matched controls. J Sport Health Sci. 2022;11(6):725–30. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jshs.2020.07.006. This study documented important aspects of esports players’ body composition, such as normal BMI values, as reported by previous studies and showing the trend of lower lean body mass than age-matched controls which may increase musculoskeletal injury risk.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  10. Moon SS. Low skeletal muscle mass is associated with insulin resistance, diabetes, and metabolic syndrome in the Korean population: the Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (KNHANES) 2009–2010. Endocr J. 2014;61:61–70.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  11. Fabbri E, Chiles Shaffer N, Gonzalez-Freire M, et al. Early body composition, but not body mass, is associated with future accelerated decline in muscle quality. J Cachex Sarcopen Muscle. 2017;8:490–9.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  12. Giakoni-Ramírez F, Merellano-Navarro E, Duclos-Bastías D. Professional esports players: motivation and physical activity levels. Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2022;19(4):2256. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph19042256. Published 2022 Feb 16.

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  13. • Forman GN, Holmes MW. Upper-body pain in gamers: an analysis of demographics and gaming habits on gaming-related pain and discomfort. JEGE. 2022;1:1–18. To date, this study represents the largest cross-sectional evaluation of common musculoskeletal pain sites in esports players which confirmed the neck and lower back reported by previous, smaller studies.

    Google Scholar 

  14. Nachemson A. The load on lumbar disks in different positions of the body. Clin Orthop Relat Res. 1966;45:107–22.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  15. Sato K, Kikuchi S, Yonezawa T. In vivo intradiscal pressure measurement in healthy individuals and in patients with ongoing back problems. Spine (Phila Pa 1976). 1999;24(23):2468–74. https://doi.org/10.1097/00007632-199912010-00008.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  16. Paul CP, de Graaf M, Bisschop A, et al. Static axial overloading primes lumbar caprine intervertebral discs for posterior herniation. PLoS ONE. 2017;12(4):e0174278. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0174278.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  17. Morris CE, Bonnefin D, Darville C. The torsional upper crossed syndrome: a multi-planar update to Janda’s model, with a case series introduction of the mid-pectoral fascial lesion as an associated etiological factor. J Bodyw Mov Ther. 2015;19(4):681–9. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jbmt.2015.08.008.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  18. Janda V. The significance of muscular faulty posture as pathogenetic factor of vertebral disorders. Arch Phys Ther (Leipz). 1968;20:113–6.

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  19. Aktaş İ, Ünlü ÖF. Pectoralis minor syndrome. Turk J Phys Med Rehabil. 2022;68(4):447–55. https://doi.org/10.5606/tftrd.2023.12037.

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  20. Jalink MB, Heineman E, Pierie JP, ten Cate Hoedemaker HO. Nintendo related injuries and other problems: review. BMJ. 2014;349:g7267. https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.g7267.

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  21. Hwu M. 1HP year in review: esports medicine and performance team. 1HP. 2020. https://www.1-hp.org/blog/hpforgamers/1hp-2020-year-in-review. Accessed 28 Dec 2023.

  22. Portello JK, Rosenfield M, Bababekova Y, Estrada JM, Leon A. Computer-related visual symptoms in office workers. Ophthalmic Physiol Opt. 2012;32(5):375–82. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1475-1313.2012.00925.x.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  23. Sheppard AL, Wolffsohn JS. Digital eye strain: prevalence, measurement and amelioration. BMJ Open Ophthalmol. 2018;3(1):e000146. https://doi.org/10.1136/bmjophth-2018-000146.

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  24. Lee JW, Cho HG, Moon BY, Kim SY, Yu DS. Effects of prolonged continuous computer gaming on physical and ocular symptoms and binocular vision functions in young healthy individuals. PeerJ. 2019;7:e7050. https://doi.org/10.7717/peerj.7050.

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  25. Seguí Mdel M, Cabrero-García J, Crespo A, Verdú J, Ronda E. A reliable and valid questionnaire was developed to measure computer vision syndrome at the workplace. J Clin Epidemiol. 2015;68(6):662–73. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclinepi.2015.01.015.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  26. Panchuk D, Vine S, Vickers JN. Eye tracking methods in sport expertise. In Routledge Handbook of Sport Expertise. 2019. (pp. 176–187). https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315776675-16

  27. Emerson S, Emerson K, Fedorczyk J. Computer workstation ergonomics: current evidence for evaluation, corrections, and recommendations for remote evaluation. J Hand Ther. 2021;34(2):166–78. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jht.2021.04.002.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, University of North Carolina School of Medicine, 1350 Raleigh Rd, 2nd Floor, Chapel Hill, NC, 27517, USA

    Kathryne B. Bartolo

  2. Department of Exercise and Sport Science, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC, USA

    Adam W. Kiefer

  3. School of Information and Library Science, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC, USA

    Matthew Belskie

Authors
  1. Kathryne B. Bartolo
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Adam W. Kiefer
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Matthew Belskie
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Contributions

K.B., A.W., and M.B. contributed to writing the main manuscript text. K.B. prepared Tables 1 & 2.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Kathryne B. Bartolo.

Ethics declarations

Competing Interests

Dr. Bartolo declares that she has no conflict of interest. Dr. Kiefer has the following disclosures relevant to this research: He is co-founder of Elipsys LLC, a sport performance technology company with broad applications to perceptual-motor performance enhancement. He is also the lead inventor on #PCT/US2021/065652 - Automated eye tracking assessment solution for skill development. This has been licensed to his start-up company, Elipsys LLC.

Human and Animal Rights and Informed Consent

This article does not contain any studies with human or animal subjects performed by any of the authors.

Additional information

Publisher's Note

Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

Rights and permissions

Springer Nature or its licensor (e.g. a society or other partner) holds exclusive rights to this article under a publishing agreement with the author(s) or other rightsholder(s); author self-archiving of the accepted manuscript version of this article is solely governed by the terms of such publishing agreement and applicable law.

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Bartolo, K.B., Kiefer, A.W. & Belskie, M. Leveling Up: An Overview of Common Esports Injuries. Curr Phys Med Rehabil Rep (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40141-024-00444-8

Download citation

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s40141-024-00444-8

Keywords

Search

Navigation