Is Candy Crush thumb the new BlackBerry thumb?

http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2015/apr/17/is-candy-crush-thumb-the-new-blackberry-thumb

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A man has ruptured a tendon in his thumb by playing Candy Crush Saga, making it one of the first touchscreen-gaming related injuries and putting BlackBerry thumb back on the map.

The Californian man played the game all day every day for between six and eight weeks using only his left hand, while conducting daily tasks with his right. The repetitive motions of touchscreen tapping caused a rupture, not at the tendon’s thinnest point as is normal, or at bone where this type of injury usually occurs, but at its thickest, according to a new report in the medical journal JAMA Internal Medicine.

The unusual thing about an injury there, which rendered the man’s thumb immovable, is the high levels of pain that would have been present leading up to the rupture. The authors of the report found the man suffered no pain while playing the game, indicating his addiction to Candy Crush blocked pain.

Playing video games releases chemicals in the brain linked to pleasure and excitement, but they also have the potential to act as painkillers.

“The potential for video games to reduce pain perception raises clinical and social considerations about excessive use, abuse, and addiction,” write the authors of the study.

Repetitive strain injuries from smartphones are nothing new. BlackBerry thumb from typing over and over on the tiny physical keyboard of BlackBerry smartphones was common. This isn’t the first time video games have caused injuries either, from blistered thumbs due to excessive Street Fighter to black eyes and pulled muscles from over excited Wii play.

But this is one of the first documented cases of touchscreen gaming causing such injuries and points to a potential for video games in pain treatment.

Does your Candy Crush addiction cause more than emotional and financial pain in your life?

Have you ever injured yourself playing video games? Tell us below.

• Candy Crush Saga players spent £865m on the game in 2014 alone