Vidcast:  https://youtu.be/vwVsXQfh5-0

 

Virtual gaming can provoke damaging shoulder fatigue, neck inflammation, and eye strain.  Oregon State University industrial engineers studied 20 male and female GenZ and millennial gamers for repetitive-type injuries as they pointed and painted in VR.

 

The gamers extended hands led to shoulder discomfort after only 3 minutes as well as later eye strain.  The Oculus Rift headset’s weight sparked annoying cervical spine distress..

 

The engineers recommend manipulating virtual objects close to your body and keeping visuals at eye level to the extent possible.  Lighter headsets will eventually help.

 

VR is expanding into healthcare, military, and training environments of all sorts.  Heed these pointers to protect yourself from weird ergonomic injuries.

 

Sai Akhil Penumudi, Veera Aneesh Kuppam, Jeong Ho Kim, Jaejin Hwang. The effects of target location on musculoskeletal load, task performance, and subjective discomfort during virtual reality interactions. Applied Ergonomics, 2020; 84: 103010 DOI: 10.1016/j.apergo.2019.103010

 

#vr #virtualreality #repetitiveinjury #shoulderfatigue #eyestrain #cervicalarthritis