Ergonomics in Dota - "For a long-term impact, it needs to come from teams"
Gaming and Esports may not be recognized as an actual sport, but injuries in gaming are a real thing. Evil Geniuses' Fear is the most prominent example of a player that has suffered a serious injury which prevented him from attending TI4. We sat down with Dr. Caitlin McGee, also known as Lurkaderp to talk about the importance of ergonomics in gaming and how on a pro level, continuous consulting should be considered.
How did you get into Dota and combining your expertise in ergonomics with it?
I stayed at a friend's place for a job interview, while he was doing stats for a match between EG and LGD and he was complaining about pushing stats through the Perfect World servers. I would've never discovered Dota, if I hadn't watched somebody else do things in Dota. I saw the game, had no idea what was going on, no idea what the numbers meant, but I thought "This is really cool, I want to do that".
Then I made a joke, that one of the heroes, Rubick, was using his staff incorrectly as an assistance device, which was the dumbest PT (Physical Therapy) joke ever. Brian, my friend, told me that nobody really talks about how PT relates to computer/gaming related activities and that I should talk about that. So we started talking about ergonomics in an office setting and how that translates into gaming. Then I started getting into Dota, watching more tournaments. I remember cringing watching tournaments and seeing how players were sitting. Their carpal tunnel was pressed against their table, there is that famous scene of Fear in FreeToPlay with his desk that desperately needs upgrading...
I've been seeing all that and I thought to myself: "There's bound to be injuries that people aren't talking about in addition to those people are talking about. And there's bound to be people that will I understand if I tell them not to do this or that."
I didn't think it would go over so well, I thought I'd reach a niche audience, maybe a couple of players that already suffered from injuries. I wrote an article for Highground.tv, somebody posted it to reddit and it got 25,000 views, so I assumed people do care about this stuff. And that's how I got started.
You've been to a few events now, assisting on site. How's the communication with the organizers been, what kind of vision did they have for you at the event?
It's been really awesome with all the organizers I've worked with so far. I've made it clear what I'm able to provide at an event, they've made it clear what they're looking for. Of course, to a large extent, what actually happens at an event depends on the players and managers. Most recently at The Summit 5--I can't stress enough how amazing the experience has been--the organizers contacted me ahead of time and told me what space I had available to me and asked me what I needed to do what they asked me to do, which was hands on work, evaluations and treatments, as well as giving advice on ergonomic setups. So I gave them some ideas and all those ideas are there for me to work on.
They also made the managers aware ahead of time that I was going to be there and what services I offered, so that players with injuries would know they could come to me and those without injuries could be told by their managers to come see me anyway to prevent any future injuries. This resulted in me working with almost every team that was there. A lot of cases were just "Here is what you're doing wrong, here's how you can fix it without totally throwing off your playstyle." I fully realize that there are things people won't be willing to change, because people are stubborn, gamers especially. But to whatever extent I can, if there's a thing that I can show you, here's an adjustment you can make and you feel less pain afterwards, you're very likely to make that adjustments.
The communication between the organizers, the managers, the players and me is really what makes this all work.
What would you say is the most common mistake you've noticed amongt players?
If I had to nail down the most common mistake made by players in general, not just pros, it would have to be wrist positioning. A lot of people rest their wrist on the edge of the table. There's a couple of ways to work around this. The reason you don't want to do it, is because your carpal tunnel at the base of your wrist is fleshy and soft and doesn't have anything covering it. That being said, you shouldn't not rest your hand on something. The recommendations I make are to have your armrest level with your desk, so that your forearm is in one flat line and your wrist isn't digging into something. If you absolutely have to rest your hand on something, rest the heel of of your hand, the part with the meat and the bones protecting the nerves underneath--it's less compression on your nerves. [More on the armrest issues and ergonomic setups can be found here.]
Would you say that having played Dota yourself was important in order to do the work you do now?
Absolutely. It would be insulting of me to come into a scene and not have a basic understanding of how the game is played. I totally acknowledge that I'm terrible at every game I've played and work in. That said, I have some idea of the demands that are placed on your body as a result of what you're doing. If I didn't have an idea of what it takes to excel, what kind of stresses and what body parts are most affected--if I didn't have that idea, I couldn't do a good job.
It's not quite analogous to a sports PT. You don't have to be playing on the field to know what injuries the players undergo. But for me, if I'm going to effectively educate and relate to my patients, then yes I need to play the game.
Would you say every event needs a PT at this point?
Here's the thing: I do think tournaments need PTs on site, much like sports events have an athletic trainer on site, to address in the moment injuries and issue. In terms of long-term interventions, it's a thing where an organization or a team needs to have a setup. I'm not going to fix all the issues a person has within 1 session during a tournament. I'm going to address their pain in that moment, I'm going to be able to give them really good advice on how to fix it in the future, but without a consistent effort and consistent intervention, there's not going to be a permanent change. So yes, I think every tournament or organization should have a PT or PTA on site. But for a long-term impact, it needs to come from the teams and not from the tournament organizers.
The teams know their players the best, they know what they respond to. That's why I've also sat down with managers and go over the same things I talked through with the players, so that they can be an additional voice to remind the players. I've actually had managers at TI come up to me and tell me that they have remembered what I told them and have reminded their players to follow through--and that's where you get an impact from.
lulwut
Nice job, I really needed advice on these kind of things. Thanks!
wth is a PT besides from Power Treads?
Physical Therapist! Sorry, I'll add it to the article!
gonna note that ;)
Great blog. Worth reading. Will take note of everything here.
I love this thing...
And yes NO FIRST COMMENT!!
Good read.
yeah sure,we dont have money for good pc's and u talk for gaming chairs and ergonomics...
As a programmer by profession and a DOTA2 player (as well as regular gamer) this is an issue that I'm concerned about. An easily preventable injury like carpal tunnel could leave me unable to do my job for a long period of time. I'm only 25, but I know people my age who have had serious issues and I imagine that esports is one of the most taxing things on your body.
It may not sound like a huge deal, but most younger gamers also go on to work with computers and that puts some (surprisingly) heavy strain on your wrists, back and neck without a lot of exercise to compensate. Avoid the problems you could get NOW instead of dealing with them when they become a real issue!
Now I remember a friend of mine at college years ago had to undergo an operation on his carpal tunnel because he played Age of Empires II way too much.
Love the detailed interviews Dotabuff. Great stuff!
NA dota problems
really useful stuff
Great interview.
Good stuff for many gamers, as many simply threw a rig together without ANY thought to their desk/chair etc, as long as that FPS was maxed!
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is too short (minimum is 6 characters)
Noob dota 2 i ever play with dc player