In addition to rotting your brain, turning you into a social outcast and giving you carpal tunnel syndrome, video games also trash your back, according to a Cal State Bakersfield study. The subjects it studied got lazier and lazier as they played until they were slouching, button-mashing hunchbacks.

The Bakersfield Californian reports:

Physical therapists looked at a group of 45 children between the ages of 5 to 15 as they played a video game for five minutes, said W. Brian Monroe, doctor of physical therapy and orthopedic certified specialist at Glinn & Giordano. The data is still being analyzed, but the preliminary findings are that their posture became worse as the five minutes wore on and that children sitting in chairs had better posture both at the start and finish than did those sitting on the floor.

Parents should monitor their childrens’ posture while they’re playing, he said. In addition to a forward-leaning head and rounded shoulders, the lower back of players tended to round forward, Monroe said.

“I definitely recommend sitting in a chair with feet flat on the ground and back support,” Monroe said.

I recommend avoiding the trap by standing while you play. It’s a technique I developed while keeping my kids from grabbing away my controller as I played some crucial Tecmo Bowl games.

No slouching! Study examined posture while playing video games [The Bakersfield Californian via Kotaku]

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