Researchers at two different institutions in the UK have identified an injury, and an increase in its incidence, associated with playing the Wii.
"Wii knee" is the latest brand-name computer-entertainment associated injury, joining "Atari thumb" and "Redtube wrist." (Wait, was that my out-loud voice?) Researchers at Leeds Teaching Hospital identified and named the injury; The British Society for Surgery of the Hand also notes "an increase in the number of injuries caused by excessive use of Wii." What's more, they expect to see even more cases of it during/after the holidays.
Here's one non-knee case already:
"She was playing tennis with a partner and fractured one of the bones in her finger when he hit the back of her hand with the control," said Richard Milner of the BSSH. He's one who expects to deal with this more.
Of all the klutzy (I'm aware "spastic" is a big no-no word across the pond, unlike here) Wii-related injuries, that one is a real head-scratcher. Because her free hand would have to have its palm turned away from her swing for that to happen. Correction: Her partner hit her on the back of the hand. That underscores that we're talking about the Wii as a proximate cause of injury and not the actual one. Really, why wouldn't this activity be classified as a sports/fitness/recreation-related activity? Is it because it's done in front of a television?
Of course, the source on this is the Telegraph, in which two anecdotes constitute a trend. Still, be careful out there.
Doctors Fear a Wii Knee Epidemic [Telegraph via HuffingtonPost]