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Author claims video games lead to finger deformities in children


We've received a number of unsightly wounds upon our mitts from certain games -- "Mario Party Stigmata" comes to mind -- but according to author Mike Tomlich, a different kind of "silent epidemic" is sweeping through the adolescent gaming populous: Crooked fingers. He claims the repeated actions associated with controller manipulation can lead to "accumulative damage" on the soft hand bones of gamers under the age of eight.

It's a theory sensational enough to have merited coverage from Tomlich's local TV news station a few years ago, which we've posted after the break. Tomlich apparently has a plethora of research and the endorsement of a rheumatologist to back up his claims, though we still find them a tad suspect. Sure, our hands are gnarled stubs with digits irrevocably curled in unnatural directions, but that's probably from our tireless journalizing, and not our lifelong penchant for button-mashing.

[Via GamePolitics]