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Man Needed Surgery For 'Candy Crush' Injury
So...this is a cautionary tale about playing too much 'Candy Crush.' (Photo by Alper Çuğun via the Creative Commons on Flickr)
We've all been there, where we've had the nagging urge to repeatedly play the addictive 'Candy Crush Saga' puzzle game on our smartphones regardless of who we're with or where we are. But one San Diego man took it to the next level and and played it so much that he tore the tendon by his thumb.
In a journal report released this week by JAMA Internal Medicine, researchers discussed a case where a 29-year-old man played 'Candy Crush' all day long for six to eight weeks with his left hand, according to Live Science. He would continue using his right hand to do other things, but the game was always on.
He went to the doctor after he began noticing pain in his left thumb and felt some loss of motion in that thumb as well, reported NBC Los Angeles. Doctors said that he had ruptured his tendon and had to get surgery to repair it. What's interesting is that the man said that he didn't feel pain from playing the game and only noticed he was injured weeks later.
Researchers believe that the reason behind why the man didn't feel pain was that the adrenaline high and hormones that get released in people's bodies while playing video games helps suppress feelings of pain. Dr. Andrew Doan, co-author of the report and head of addictions research at the Naval Medical Center San Diego, said that while video games could be used to help suppress pain while a patient recovers, it's key to play in moderation since video gaming addictions do exist.
However, Doan said this was a rather strange case because this man wasn't addicted and rather was just trying to pass the time between jobs.
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