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Taking a break from talking about SC2 improvement specifically this week, and instead will be covering some more general topics that are still important to the game.
Injury is something people don't often associate with video games. That's something that happens to athletes or people in risky professions, like construction worker or Incontol's spotter, not someone just sitting around in a chair. But as most of us here are aware, injury can knock out a gamer just as easily as any athlete, casual or pro. Thankfully there are some easy things we can do to prevent this.
Stretching
The most useful source I found was http://www.hse.gov.uk/research/rrpdf/rr743.pdf. It contains a useful review of information about combating muscoloskeletal disorders (more commonly known as RSI), especially those involving the use of a computer.
Stretching is probably the most discussed idea for avoiding injury, and it really is the easiest to implement. Stretches can quickly be done as SC2 loads or while matchmaking is working its magic. This costs almost nothing from you in terms of time or energy and will really help prevent injuries like carpal tunnel or tendonitis. A while back, a video was posted on reddit of a drummer doing stretches. This video,
Stretching!
did a good job of covering stretches that can be used to prevent injury and is something that any computer gamer should watch at least once. Learn and use the stretches presented here, and you won't have to worry about the pain that can come from these difficulties. As a drummer myself, I can tell you that the guys on the line who didn't stretch really ended up regretting that decision, with one needing some extensive surgery to correct his arm.
Neck stretches are less talked about than those for your arms and wrists. That doesn't mean they are less important, just less obvious. Keeping your head still for an extended period of time can put quite a bit of strain on your neck, and it is important to occasionally stretch and look around to avoiding hurting yourself. I myself went through a couple of months of near constant headaches until I discovered that some of the muscles in my neck were very tight, and doing daily stretches relieved both the tension and the pain.
Neck Stretches
This article contains the neck stretches that I started using to get rid of tension. Just like with the previous stretches, these can easily be done while waiting for a match or during the commercial of a stream.
Breaks
Taking a break is just as important as stretching for preventing injury. Just a couple of minutes while getting a glass of water or walking around the house/dorm/apartment/whatever allows your muscles to relax and gets your blood pumping just a bit, waking up areas that may be falling dormant from inactivity. Both the relaxing and the moving are important for the body and will allow it to keep going for much longer in the end.
I'll continue the theme of more out of game topics the next two days, and get back into focusing on Terran improvement next week once I'm done traveling.
Stream: http://www.twitch.tv/zultar327 Live around 10 CDT Tuesday through Thursday this week
Twitter: http://twitter.com/Zultar327 @Zultar327
Edited to add PDF document.
 
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Pardon me but, how many hours of your day are spent at the computer to warrant this kind of stretch routine? If you limit your computer use to 3 hours maximum, the risk of computer-use-relative injuries stays pretty damn low.
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Pardon me but, computer-use-relative is not a useful term in this context. I'm going to try to interpret past that to prevent you from encouraging others against protecting themselves.
3 hours a day is incredibly vague. For example, you are exactly right that 3 hours a day on the computer spent reading reddit and TL entries or watching videos will likely never cause injury. 3 hours a day typing or playing a very active and most importantly repetitive game like starcraft is plenty to injure yourself over a long period of time, especially when combined with other activities such as writing, cooking, or anything else that requires a moderate degree of dexterity. This is even more true when you are experiencing stress from something like losing repeatedly, as the body is more susceptible to injury when you are unhappy.
Also, 3 hours a day at the computer is really low for many people out of high school and into this activity. Most seem to be either students interested in technology and therefore spending long hours at the computer working, or already have jobs and spend long hours at the computer working. These people would all need to be concerned about a repetitive stress injury, and would need to care for themselves.
In short, please don't try to undermine my post and make yourself look good. You're not helping anyone like that.
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On August 08 2012 11:25 Zultar wrote:Taking a break from talking about SC2 improvement specifically this week, and instead will be covering some more general topics that are still important to the game. Injury is something people don't often associate with video games. That's something that happens to athletes or people in risky professions, like construction worker or Incontol's spotter, not someone just sitting around in a chair. But as most of us here are aware, injury can knock out a gamer just as easily as any athlete, casual or pro. Thankfully there are some easy things we can do to prevent this. Stretching This is probably the most discussed idea for avoiding injury, and it really is the easiest to implement. Stretches can quickly be done as SC2 loads or while matchmaking is working its magic. This costs almost nothing from you in terms of time or energy and will really help prevent injuries like carpal tunnel or tendonitis. A while back, a video was posted on reddit of a drummer doing stretches. This video, Stretching!did a good job of covering stretches that can be used to prevent injury and is something that any computer gamer should watch at least once. Learn and use the stretches presented here, and you won't have to worry about the pain that can come from these difficulties. As a drummer myself, I can tell you that the guys on the line who didn't stretch really ended up regretting that decision, with one needing some extensive surgery to correct his arm.
While stretching can be beneficial, there is a time and a place for that. First off we have to understand that static stretching does not decrease the chance of injury. Static stretching reduces speed, power, force production, and can actually increase the chance of injury. Obviously a computer game does not have to worry about speed or force production, but saying "stretch and your chance of injury will go down," actually goes against recent studies.
When muscles are stretched beyond natural voluntary ranges of motion, the muscles and tendons are stretched unnaturally. Excessive stretching damages tissues and promotes inflammation (Yang, Im, & Wang 2005). As you can see, if someone is suffering from RSI or Carpal Tunnel, you do not want to be introducing more inflammation as that would be counter productive.
According to Herbert and Gabriel (2002), “The pooled estimate from two studies was that stretching decreased the risk of injury by 5%. This effect was statistically non-significant… On average, about 100 people stretched for 12 weeks to prevent one injury and (if the hazard reduction was constant) the average subject would need to stretch for 23 years to prevent one injury.” (p. 470).
Now don't get confused with "But I've been diagnosed and I've been immobilized for awhile and doctor's orders," then yes, stretching is going to be part of the protocol to help regain your functional ROM and all that fun stuff.
So, what's a good idea? Since warmed muscles stretch more easily, it is advisable to precede any bout of stretching (which should not be painful, and don't hold them for 30+ seconds) with a general activity that elevates the muscle and central core temperature of the body. The degree of warming that is beneficial is that which produces light sweating on the forehead, raising the body temperature to around 1ºC. This is important because the body is in a more-pliable condition, able to accommodate the strain placed on them. If the muscles are not warmed and the stretching occurs, micro-tears in the muscle fibers and even tendons can occur, pre-disposing you to injury.
Now I'm not sitting here saying that you need to go run a half mile before you play. However, if this is something you struggle with, then yes, I'm definitely recommending it. Get your body moving, get your core temp up, get that blood flowing.
Neck stretches are less talked about than those for your arms and wrists. That doesn't mean they are less important, just less obvious. Keeping your head still for an extended period of time can put quite a bit of strain on your neck, and it is important to occasionally stretch and look around to avoiding hurting yourself. I myself went through a couple of months of near constant headaches until I discovered that some of the muscles in my neck were very tight, and doing daily stretches relieved both the tension and the pain. Neck StretchesThis article contains the neck stretches that I started using to get rid of tension. Just like with the previous stretches, these can easily be done while waiting for a match or during the commercial of a stream.
Now I have not looked at either article or video you posted but this I can get behind as there's really nothing inherently wrong with stretching your upper traps or your levator scapulae in a gentle manner, as the headaches are usually going to be brought on by poor posture which leads to muscle spasm --> tightness, headache. So we're not dealing with any repetitive stress that's causing inflammation here, stretching helps "turn off" those muscles which will decrease the spasm, decrease tightness, help relieve the headache.
However if they occur frequently they may have an underlying cause.. but it's best to correct your posture, take breaks, perhaps it's even due to the glare off the monitor, but if that's not fixing it, or they're just getting to be a pain, you should consult a physician.
Just remember that stretching does not decrease injury.
Herbert, R. D., & Gabriel, M. (2002). Effects of stretching before and after exercising on muscle
soreness and risk of injury: systematic review. British Journal of Sports Medicine, 325,
468-470.
Yang, G., Im, H. J., & Wang, J. H.(October 12, 2005). Repetitive mechanical stretching modulates IL-1beta induced COX-2. MMP-1 expression, and PGE(2) production in human patellar tendon fibroblasts. Gene, October 12, 2005.
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I'm going to attempt to address this point by point to make sure I hit everything. I am however going to start in the middle.
On August 08 2012 12:50 Ero-Sennin wrote:
Now I have not looked at either article or video you posted
Those were the meat of the post, and contained the only information on what to actually do. Without looking at them, you are simply making assumptions about what is being said.
While stretching can be beneficial, there is a time and a place for that. First off we have to understand that static stretching does not decrease the chance of injury. Static stretching reduces speed, power, force production, and can actually increase the chance of injury. Obviously a computer game does not have to worry about speed or force production, but saying "stretch and your chance of injury will go down," actually goes against recent studies.
You are correct that studies are mostly inconclusive about stretching, reviews (such as this one http://www.tothemaxfit.com/articles/pdf/FlexibilityInjuryReview.pdf ) of the studies cannot recommend either initiating or halting a stretching routine. However these studies focus on activities that involve speed and power, which you yourself say are irrelevant to the topic being discussed here, preventing injuries from prolonged, active use of a computer.
When muscles are stretched beyond natural voluntary ranges of motion, the muscles and tendons are stretched unnaturally. Excessive stretching damages tissues and promotes inflammation (Yang, Im, & Wang 2005). As you can see, if someone is suffering from RSI or Carpal Tunnel, you do not want to be introducing more inflammation as that would be counter productive.
Once again, this is correct information. But if you had looked at stretches being recommended, you would know that only repetitive, light stretching was being encouraged. This is the sort of stretching that was shown to be anti-inflammatory in the exact same study that you have sourced.
According to Herbert and Gabriel (2002), “The pooled estimate from two studies was that stretching decreased the risk of injury by 5%. This effect was statistically non-significant… On average, about 100 people stretched for 12 weeks to prevent one injury and (if the hazard reduction was constant) the average subject would need to stretch for 23 years to prevent one injury.” (p. 470).
This references an irrelevant study, as the activities being discussed are athletic and the injuries being discussed within are not the repetitive strain injuries discussed here. The study itself states that it cannot be applied generally.
The next section seems to be a rock solid recommendation on how to incorporate stretching into a warmup routinely safely. It also seems to support the idea of mild stretching throughout an activity as a better approach, reducing risk of injury in the form of tears from the stretching itself.
Just remember that stretching does not decrease injury.
This statement is generalized to the point of being wrong. Literature certainly supports this statement when discussing athletic injuries. However, the opposite is true when discussing RSIs related to prolonged use of a computer.
http://www.hse.gov.uk/research/rrpdf/rr743.pdf
I found that document quite helpful, and will be adding it to my initial posting.
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EPT
