When I use to play a lot of bw a few years back, I had wrist pains from time to time. I had slight back pains as well, but those went away after a good night of sleep. A while back, I saw on kickstarter that a team of people were making some sort of gaming gloves. I was going to pledge on it, but forgot about it until yesterday when my friend told me he was going to get them. Any intense gamers here have experiences with these gloves? Does it help support the wrist to prevent pain or future symptoms like carpal tunnel? Does it effect your gaming speed in terms of comfort?
I think picking up sword fighting might offer better protection than those gloves but I'm going to be perfectly frank here, I have no idea.
Gaming gloves... it just sounds like a scam. Do they actually help? I would also be really interested in hearing opinions and especially as to how they work;
Your posture and mouse settings are far more important for wrist health than some random gloves.
Feet on the ground, elbows above desk, mouse 1:1 (6/11 in windows, no enhanced pointer precision - mouse sens disabled in games) divide the width of your screen's resolution by 1.5 (for 1920x1080 for example - 1920/1.5 = 1280) use that (1280) as an absolute max DPI, don't pivot with your wrist etc
On September 23 2013 01:02 Incognoto wrote: I think picking up sword fighting might offer better protection than those gloves but I'm going to be perfectly frank here, I have no idea.
Gaming gloves... it just sounds like a scam. Do they actually help? I would also be really interested in hearing opinions and especially as to how they work;
I agree but the only reason I think it works is because, you see many athletes like basketball players wearing wristbands that helps, but I always thought of it as a distraction rather than comfort.
Basketball wristbands are just to absorb sweat, carry pads and look cool. I doubt basketball players get carpal tunnel from playing basketball. If they do it's because their muscles get too big so it's not the same. If your wrist hurst you should wear an orthosis at night to relax your wrist.
Compression can reduce some of the very light inflammation symptoms of repetitive stress injuries, but it's not going to hep prevent the underlying causes themselves. Unlike, say, a taped ankle, a gloved wrist isn't going to be less likely to injure itself. It'll just feel less uncomfortable as you injure yourself.
Adopt ergonomic practices, lower DPI (basically good advice from Cyro), and STOP PLAYING GAMES until you can do so again without pain.
Back pains would be a prolonged period bad posture. Bad posture is basically the inevitable result of either laziness (not caring), weak abdominal muscles (it's actually kind of difficult to keep good posture if you have a mushy middle), or both. Pay attention to your posture & do more sit-ups (ugh) if you want to fix your posture.
If you want gloves to prevent RSI, you need to get specialty gloves with braces around the wrist to keep your hand straight the entire time. They do work, but they also make it very difficult to move the mouse adeptly. I used one for awhile though.
On September 23 2013 05:42 Cel.erity wrote: If you want gloves to prevent RSI, you need to get specialty gloves with braces around the wrist to keep your hand straight the entire time. They do work, but they also make it very difficult to move the mouse adeptly. I used one for awhile though.
I'd say skip gloves entirely, but this is what you'd need if you really wanted gloves.
There's 4 helpful things that can be done.(actually I guess that's 5 since I somehow mixed two together in the first paragraph)
The first step is to drastically slow or stop playing altogether for at least 2 weeks (probably a bit longer). Once the arm/hand has healed/rested (as well as before then if still using the computer), posture is the key thing to remedy. You want to position the mouse and keyboard as directly in front of you as possible, and have both around or below elbow height (keyboard ideally as low as possible, although it's difficult to do, especially without a kneeling chair)
Adjusting chair (tilt forward, back forward, height: to line vision up properly with monitor) can help too, including getting a different sitting surface such as a standing chair(?), kneeling chair, or even exercise ball. Personally, I use a cheap kneeling chair; it's not the greatest for long use, but good for specific moments of typing or gaming (otherwise one can shift around to other less-proper positions).
Getting a wrist pad and/or different mouse may help substantially as well. Look for tilted/asymmetrical mice (at least if you're right-handed) which will fit your hand position comfortably so that your hand can be relaxed and still responsive. A pretty good example would probably be something like the Steelseries Ikari (at least for those who hold the mouse with a "palm grip"— in my opinion the only way, but that's just me being ignorant/arrogant). I personally have doubts that mouse sensitivity is a major/significant issue for CTS/RSI, at least compared to everything else.
Lastly and most certainly not least, exercise. Occasional stretches and squeezes really help the hand work out muscles have have been rather stagnant while on the computer. This point could very possibly work alone once the hand is healed if done regularly enough. Scrunchy balls (latex eggs/balls with microbeads or sand or rice inside, can make them yourself if necessary with a balloon or something), gyroscopic resistance, grip trainers, or just waving around heavy objects (est. 2-5kg) can all work rather well, and each target slightly different areas. Lastly there's hand stretches such as those that Day9 has shown:
Getting a wrist pad and/or different mouse may help substantially as well. Look for tilted/asymmetrical mice (at least if you're right-handed) which will fit your hand position comfortably so that your hand can be relaxed and still responsive. A pretty good example would probably be something like the Steelseries Ikari (at least for those who hold the mouse with a "palm grip"— in my opinion the only way, but that's just me being ignorant/arrogant). I personally have doubts that mouse sensitivity is a major/significant issue for CTS/RSI, at least compared to everything else.
Wrist pad is a big no IMO (that implies putting your wrist down on it.. and locking it in place, so using too high sens and pivoting from it), and palm grip is more reliant on the wrist than some other stuff and maybe not ideal for high level gaming
I would say though mouse sensitivity is the BIGGEST factor by far in any kind of wrist discomfort or pain, as long as you got basic settings and posture that are not horribly, horribly wrong
I think that just goes down to not pivoting with your wrist, if you have high enough sens to put it down in the first place, then your only way of moving the mouse is pivoting the wrist (how do you move the mouse without moving your wrist or hand?)
On September 23 2013 01:02 Incognoto wrote: I think picking up sword fighting might offer better protection than those gloves but I'm going to be perfectly frank here, I have no idea.
Gaming gloves... it just sounds like a scam. Do they actually help? I would also be really interested in hearing opinions and especially as to how they work;
To be honest, "picking up swordfighting" (or replace with "any activity that involves some amount of wrist strength training") might be a good thing, not a bad thing. I had way less wrist troubles when I was doing competitive fencing.
Maybe one of those gyro balls + more stretching + more breaks.
On September 23 2013 01:02 Incognoto wrote: I think picking up sword fighting might offer better protection than those gloves but I'm going to be perfectly frank here, I have no idea.
Gaming gloves... it just sounds like a scam. Do they actually help? I would also be really interested in hearing opinions and especially as to how they work;
To be honest, "picking up swordfighting" (or replace with "any activity that involves some amount of wrist strength training") might be a good thing, not a bad thing. I had way less wrist troubles when I was doing competitive fencing.
Maybe one of those gyro balls + more stretching + more breaks.
lol i do Fencing too, kinda expensive just to strengthen the wrist and would still be susceptible to bad posture and have hand pain like myself (after few hours thought).
that's actually why i suggested sword fighting. :p couldn't think of anything else that demands strong wrists
@cyro i think that i did that (subconsciously) so that i could pivot my wrist but in a way that it wasn't both pivoting and set on the desktop (adding light pressure to the wrist). i wanted my wrist to not be set on top of anything
that said this is very limited experience on my part, might have played a couple weeks like this
well if you put your hand far into the desk (away from the edge), your wrist is basically sitting on the desk correct? so that exerts a small pressure on your wrist, which is nothing in most situations. after extensive starcraft, the wrist can start feeling a bit sore.
so by making sure that the edge of your hand is sitting on the very edge of the desktop, we make sure our wrist isn't getting that slight pressure that it gets by sitting on the desktop
description on the gloves: Gam3r Glov3s appeal to anyone and everyone seeking more comfort and style in their everyday lives. A "GAM3R" is not just a person who plays video games, it is a person who has a drive for success. It is a person willing to go the extra mile in order to accomplish an individual and/or team goal. It is believing in something and finding any way possible to achieve that belief. Find your inner "GAM3R" with GAM3R-GLOV3S and allow the universe to unfold as you wish.
.... i mean...they even spell the name in leetspeak, and nowhere does it actually say what the gloves does. they look kinda nice, but im gonna say no.
now for the featues:
Stress Free Comfort.....great i hate stressed gloves. Eye Catching Style....awww yeahh, i walk into the party like whatsup have you seen my gloves. Breathable and Moisture Wicking.....mmmmmmh moist, Thumb Grip......i can grip my Thump with these..yayyy, kept failing without gloves. Multi-purpose....Yayyy now i can both game and fap without having to remove a glove
well if you put your hand far into the desk (away from the edge), your wrist is basically sitting on the desk correct?
I can't drag my wrist left and right while it's in physical contact with the desk, that would create friction and hurt. If i don't twist/pivot with it, i can't actually move my mouse, so i'm stumped as to how you would actually move the mouse without messing up wrist if your wrist is touching the desk haha