Many things can be said about Runescape, but one thing we all may agree on, it's a very click-intensive game. Due to the nature of grinding, repetitive clicking is a common thing. My personal story is, from what I can only guess, one of many. Over the time I played Runescape I grew symptoms of RSI (Repetitive Strain Injury) which is often caused by repetitive tasks, the mouse clicking.

 

I am very curious how this affected others in their game. My personal story is that I was forced to quit. Shortly after I quited, the symptoms reduced and as I am writing this, I very seldom feel this injury. Then again, I spend a lot less time clicking in a very repetitive fashion as I am only a less then casual gamer now (<5 hours of week).

 

Things I want to ask the community are:

1) Did you ever feel any symptoms of RSI / Carpal Tunnel (often called out as well)?

2) Did you manage to overcome this?

3) If so, how did you overcome this? Did you change the way you play Runescape?

4) If not, were you forced to quit or did you do something else?

 

I'm very curious to know if there are even chances for me to get back into Runescape or that it is for the best that I stay away from it. Also I'm interested to see how big this problem really is.

 

Cheers,

David

i use ahk so i dont click a lot

I've managed an RSI once, but it wasn't actually RuneScape that did it, it was 12 hours strait of minecraft, and several thousand clicks and key presses (got it in both arms the next morning). After a day of having my arms feel like they were on fire, I figured out that robax platinum (muscle relaxant and something else combined) was highly effective for pain releif, which was nice since my arms were like that for 3 or 4 days, and generic pain killers like Tylenol did absolutely nothing to help.

 

The problem as it related to RuneScape was that I had to stop playing for about a week, and I managed to do this while I was finishing up my 99 construction goal. Now, lucky for me I was doing it with a friend, and I had a good lead, so he caught up and passed me while I was unable to play (for the first week anything more than 5 minutes typing aggravated it). Once I got back to the game, I finished Contruction off in bursts to avoid making the damage any worse. I got my 99 construction, and I think the injury was gone within a month.

 

It was a real eye opener how much damage you could do to yourself in just a day, and I have been quite careful ever since to make sure that I don't do any heavy clicking or other repetitive movements for extended periods of time, since going through that just once was more than enough to last me my entire lifetime. As a bonus though, can actually feel it coming on now (its possible there might be some long term damage in there), and the second I can feel any kind of hint of the old injury, I just stop. So I guess I have an early warning system.

 

I also got programs in minecraft that can handle some of the repetitive work for me so that I don't risk an injury in that game again.

I can't say I've ever suffered from it, although I do personally know people who do. I guess that if you get it once, you're more susceptible to getting it again in the same place? I don't know, my knowledge only goes as far as 'if your hand starts hurting, stop playing', really.

I've been playing video games ever since i was a little kid and i haven't really had any symptoms of Carpal Tunnel, or any wrist/hand problems for that matter. Though my dad had it, and had to have surgery for it about ~5 years ago.

 

Though actually the thought of "having" to quit gaming sounds different and interesting(Speaking like a true nerd here XD ). Though it's hard to tell what other hobbies i could do that wouldn't also contribute to some sort of hand/wrist condition. Guess i would have to find somethin' eh?

Seven years of intense clicking while playing the 'Scape has done nothing to cause pain for me (yet). My sister ended up having a bunch of wrist pains after only 3 months playing RS, however.

 

I think it also has a good bit to do with what you use, as far as mouse/mousepad/keyboard goes. My sister was using a touchpad on a netbook, whereas I have a Logitech Performance MX Darkfield mouse, and I've never played on anything other than a mouse which fits my hand well.

600 days game time and never had this..

IMO I think it's something your body adapts to as a child, just like learning a new language etc. If you're an adult which is new to gaming, you're probably more likely to get it, because it's a brand new function for your joints.

Sometimes my neck/back hurts from poor posture.

i play rs on my back

it's nice

People with thyroid issues often get carpal tunnel. If you have a poor diet that would exacerbate the inflammation. Could be a simple problem of ergonomics. If you have neurological problems already it could also be from that. It doesn't really have anything to do with clicking, healthy people can click for hours on end, days on end, and still be fine.

Some interesting points.

 

Few unclarities though:

1) Younger people that grew up with a computer are less likely to get these injuries due to ''adapted muscles''?

2) Person A might be more sensitive to injuries then person B

3) Tools affect it as well. Just as neck / back complains come from having your monitor to low or wrong seat, injuries might come from using crappy mouses?

 

Also does anyone managed to find out tricks to prevent such injuries while playing for those that have experienced it? Do mousekeys help? Perhaps not use certain training methods? Thanks for the responds so far.

Hmm. I did have a bit of a problem with my wrist when I played for 48 hours in 2 and a half days, but I sort of deserved that. :lol:

Never really had anything aside from that, however I occasionaly get headaches if I play too long in one session

Nope, not even when I played RS did I experience it.

When I used to grind a lot in junior high/early high school, I would sometimes get wrist pains, then I would have to take a break.

I rarely play for more than an hour or so at once, so perhaps because of that I've never had any problems. If I do something which requires a lot of clicking (e.g. runecrafting), I prefer to play with a drawing tablet, which is more ergonomical, though maybe a little less accurate.

My wrist was sore once for a few hours after I played, but never for an extended period of time or what I would refer to as significant RSI. Then again, I don't play as much as I used to (and even then I didn't play much) so probably my lack of playtime in general accumulates to this.

I've never suffered from it...generally speaking, I play more for fun and often stop training something because it's getting repetitive and dull. As a result, I still haven't ever got a 99 (but I'm not certain I need one).

 

However, I did once get cramp in my right hand/wrist whilst playing barbarian assault. I was the collector, which means quite a few clicks, and I was temporarily (5-10 minutes) unable to make more than the odd, spasmodic, click. I think it was bad posture that did this more than anything else.

I was killing Chaos druids and someone was stealing my kills so in an effort to get the kill before him I quickly swiped my mouse to click on the druid but there was a knife on my desk and I cut my wrist, bled out and died.

 

 

Poor posture usually results in aches for me so no real RSI here for me. But one time during an xbox game I had to repeatedly press one button and that made my arm burn because my muscles were tensed up.

It was getting hard for me to play once due to RSI, I changed my mouse after suffering for months and I've never had it since, sometimes your hand not being supported correctly causes it.

 

I had a Razor at the time, it was very slim, I changed to a Roccat Kone which is much wider and instantly noticed a difference.

The only time I've felt wrist pain is when I was doing 99 runecrafting. I went and bought a wrist-guard and everything was better.

I've never really experience an on-going issue with RSI whilst playing RuneScape. If I played RuneScape for hours on end I would experience some wrist pain, but having a few hours rest helps.

It hasn't, really. Admittedly, the space between my first two knuckles gets a little puffy, but I think that's unfortunately the family history kickin- in and not strain. >_<

One thing that I'm curious about is whether or not this affects males more than females or vice versa. Females I can definitely see being especially prone to RSI.

I was killing Chaos druids and someone was stealing my kills so in an effort to get the kill before him I quickly swiped my mouse to click on the druid but there was a knife on my desk and I cut my wrist, bled out and died.

 

Wait... what.

 

 

My wrists get tired, but nothing big.

 

My eyes, though... I need to take breaks more often.