Earlier this month, CS:GO stars olofmeister and Guardian announced they were unable to play at DreamHack Masters Malmö due to severe wrist injuries, with Guardian cleared at the last minute. A plethora of top-level players in almost every esports scene have suffered similar problems with their wrists in one form or another. This is an issue that demands to be taken seriously.
Hand + Wrist Exercises For Gamers by Dr. Levi Harrison
For those of you interested in, and or are already playing Competitive TF2 or any other eSport or video games, you’ll likely be playing for extended periods of time - an hour+, maybe even 12 hours in a day now that summer is in effect.
While you love playing video games, you’re also putting major amounts of stress on your hands, and so it is advised to take a break, allow your hands to chill out, and stretch your wrists, hands, and fingers so they can relax.
Dr. Levi Harrison is a Los Angeles based Orthopedic Surgeon and fitness expert who works closely with the Special Olympics. He’s a professional, he knows what he’s talking about, and following his advice will help you greatly in the long run.
If you wear out your hands, you won’t have the stamina or strength to play as hard or as well in the future. It’s always better to be safe than sorry.
Dr. Levi’s top 7 tips for gamers (and time in the video):
Take a 5 minute break every 60 minutes (0:35)
Put your hands under warm water; move your fingers up and down (1:09)
Make a full fist, open your hand wide, table top, claw fist, half-fist, full fist (1:26)
Stretch your fingers out individually, stretch your thumb forward, backward, across [to the base of the pinky], piano [touch each fingertip], reverse piano [reverse the order of the piano], full first, open fist, hands wide open, close, open, make a fist and straighten your arm, tilt your fist down, then tilt your fist up, around the world, and back, elbow in, elbow out. (2:00-2:54)
Take time to shake out your hands and fingers for about a minute every 2 to 3 hours. (2:55)
Nirschl exercises: Hand out like it’s flat against a wall, pull back the fingers, then pull back the palms; put your palm angled down and gently pull the palm towards you. (3:12)
Massage your hand, fingers, and wrists - squeeze on your hands and joints and such; make a fist, shake out your hand around the world, back, full fist, open fist, table, half-fist, full fist. (4:25)
Duncan “Thorin” Shields of the eSports scene sums it up best in a recent Tweet: If you’re a pro-gamer then your hands might be worth millions, so take care of them.
This applies to anybody who uses their computer for extended periods of time - whether you’re an artist, writer, content creator otherwise, or casual/competitive gamer. Your hands are your everything; take care of your them. Do your stretches and take frequent breaks.
