Boy, 15, has stroke after 22 hours a day playing computer games

Be careful out there, specially if you are trying to rehab using Fruit Ninja, although that one requires full arm movements.

Choice of Human–Computer Interaction Mode in Stroke Rehabilitation - Fruit Ninja

The latest here:

Boy, 15, has stroke after 22 hours a day playing computer games

A teenager in China has been unable to move his left arm and hand after binge-playing computer games for a month.

The 15-year-old, nicknamed Xiaobin, indulged in video games for about 22 hours a day while staying at home during the coronavirus lockdown, his mother said.

He was rushed to a hospital in southern Chinese city Nanning after he suddenly passed out at home.

The event was recently brought to light by Nanning Television after Xiaobin had been receiving treatment at the Jiangbin Hospital in Guangxi province since the incident.

The Year 9 student had been staying at home since February after schools across China were closed due to the coronavirus outbreak.

Xiaobin’s mother said that her son spent most of his time in his bedroom during the school closure.

When his parents asked what he was doing, Xiaobin replied that he was taking classes online.

The parent told reporters: ‘He shut the windows and locked the door. We had no idea what he was doing in there.’ 

The mother later discovered that Xiaobin had been playing computer games non-stop for some 22 hours a day.

She said: ‘I saw his online conversation with friends. He said he wasn’t well rested and was sleeping for at most two hours a day.’ 

The teenager was rushed to the Nanning hospital in March after he had suddenly collapsed at home.

Xiaobin was diagnosed with a cerebral stroke after undergoing a CT scan. He also lost sensation in his left arm and hand.

Dr Li, a brain specialist at the hospital, said that the boy’s condition was caused by his unhealthy lifestyle of binge-playing computer games and staying up late.

She told the local media: ‘The main reason is that he had irregular sleeping and eating patterns because he wasn’t at school. The parents also tolerated his behaviours too much.

‘A lack of nutrition and rest had led to a reduced amount of blood and oxygen in his brain and caused a cerebral stroke,’ said Dr Li. 

The young gamer has since been receiving rehabilitation treatment at the Nanning hospital. 

Dr Jin, a chief therapist at the facility, said that it was difficult to determine whether Xiaobin could ever fully recover.

Video game addiction has become a prominent societal issue among the young people in China, with an increasing number of young people choosing to ignore their studies, social lives and family to play online games.

Many parents use the so-called ‘digital detox’ rehab camps as a last resort to curbing their children’s fixation on the digital world.

Internet addiction is considered a clinical disorder in the nation.

Choice of Human–Computer Interaction Mode in Stroke Rehabilitation - Fruit Ninja

The result of this should be a stroke protocol of how many hours of playing Fruit Ninja produces these results. But you and your doctor will need to guess because we have NO stroke leadership enforcing what should be produced from research.
http://nnr.sagepub.com/content/30/3/258?etoc

1. Hossein Mousavi Hondori, PhD1
2. Maryam Khademi, MEng1
3. Lucy Dodakian, MA1
4. Alison McKenzie, PhD2
5. Cristina V. Lopes, PhD1
6. Steven C. Cramer, MD1⇑

1. ¹University of California, Irvine, CA, USA
2. ²Chapman University, Orange, CA, USA

1. Steven C. Cramer, MD, UC Irvine Medical Center, 200 S Manchester Ave, Suite 206, Orange, CA 92868-4280, USA. Email: scramer@uci.edu

Abstract

Background and Objective. Advances in technology are providing new forms of human–computer interaction. The current study examined one form of human–computer interaction, augmented reality (AR), whereby subjects train in the real-world workspace with virtual objects projected by the computer. Motor performances were compared with those obtained while subjects used a traditional human–computer interaction, that is, a personal computer (PC) with a mouse. 

Methods. Patients used goal-directed arm movements to play AR and PC versions of the Fruit Ninja video game. The 2 versions required the same arm movements to control the game but had different cognitive demands. With AR, the game was projected onto the desktop, where subjects viewed the game plus their arm movements simultaneously, in the same visual coordinate space. In the PC version, subjects used the same arm movements but viewed the game by looking up at a computer monitor.  

Results. Among 18 patients with chronic hemiparesis after stroke, the AR game was associated with 21% higher game scores (P = .0001), 19% faster reaching times (P = .0001), and 15% less movement variability (P = .0068), as compared to the PC game. Correlations between game score and arm motor status were stronger with the AR version.  

Conclusions. Motor performances during the AR game were superior to those during the PC game. This result is due in part to the greater cognitive demands imposed by the PC game, a feature problematic for some patients but clinically useful for others. Mode of human–computer interface influences rehabilitation therapy demands and can be individualized for patients.