The list of injuries related to using technology and helped by massage therapy—carpal tunnel syndrome, mousing shoulder, Blackberry thumb—continues to grow, along with the use of modern devices. The latest addition is Gameboy back, and despite the childlike moniker, it is a serious condition affecting children and others who spend hours a day hunched over mobile devices.
Dutch surgeons Piet van Loon and Andre Soeterbroek said the degree of back injury and weakness today’s children are experiencing harkens back 100 years, when children labored in factories. The two surgeons were interviewed for an article published by The Irish Times.
Conditions associated with Gameboy back, they say, include pain, curvature of the spine and herniated discs, now seen in children ages 8 to 18 years old.
“In those days, kids got weak backs from child labor; now they’re getting it from these devices,” Soeterbroek said. “It makes no difference to the body whether you’re hunched over in a cigar factory or spending eight hours over an iPad.”
The Irish Times article was picked up by mainstream media in the U.S. and Europe. Read more coverage here.