Arthritic gaming

I looked up “video game arthritis” recently (or something similar). I’m not completely sure what I was looking for. Advice for how to keep gaming when it makes it hard to use your hands? Other people going through the same thing, so I don’t feel like the only one? Motivation to work through it? Gaming can be a hobby, a competition, a social space, and even a livelihood. What about when your body makes it hard to keep going?

Unfortunately, when you run a search like that, all you get are articles warning that gamers are in for arthritic futures. I don’t care about that. I have arthritis now. If I want to cause double arthritis, that’s up to me. (And to those warnings, I say: my dad has been a gamer since computer games started coming out, and his hands are fine.)

There’s more than one issue to gaming with inflammatory arthritis. Perhaps the most obvious: if you have arthritis in your hands, it can hurt. Mobility and strength in your hands may also be a problem. Also, sitting for long periods of time isn’t doing your arthritic joints any favors.

After years of wishing I did speedruns, I’ve finally made the leap and started learning how. I am determined not to let arthritis get in the way. As I play more, though, I’ve had to think about what might help make it easier.

Improving hand pain and stability

For a complete review of gloves for gaming with arthritis, check out Gaming gloves for arthritis: reviews.

Hand pain is the worst for me. In order to learn speedruns, I’ve been spending more and more time with a controller in my hands. Getting to sleep has become a game of carefully rearranging myself so that my hands, back, and knees are all comfortable, which never used to happen. Compression gloves for arthritis help me somewhat. It’s frustrating to wear them during gaming, sometimes, but my goal is to try it more to see if I can get improvement. Wearing them at night has also been shown to help pain, so there’s that if nothing else. I use Imak compression gloves.

If my hands are feeling particularly stiff, the gloves can help me feel more capable. They’ve also been proven to improve grip strength. I got mine from Walgreen’s, but there are a number of brands and styles available.

Equipment matters

PC gamers have the advantage here. Controllers have to be the worst thing for arthritic hands, but unfortunately, I’m a hopeless PC gamer. That being said, the controller itself might matter. I’ve noticed that smaller controllers, like Gameboys, small DSs, and Switch Joy-Cons, cause me to grip the controller and contort my fingers in ways that are especially painful. More contoured controllers, like Playstation and Nintendo Pro controllers, are much more comfortable for longer periods of time. Controllers that require a lot of force to use are also problematic, which means I can’t use stiff third-party controllers.

PC gamers experiencing pain may want to look into more ergonomic keyboards and mice. Fortunately, there’s a lot more customization available in these departments. Not as fortunately, it’s usually expensive.

Edit: I’ve been told by a friend on the LiveYes arthritis forum that the Steam controller is really great and customizable. I’ll have to try it out! And check out the forum for a small (but hopefully growing) place to get in touch with other arthritic gamers.

Take a break

Sitting for too long can be a huge problem, but I often don’t notice until I’m already in a considerable amount of pain. It’s really hard to think about it while in the middle of a multiplayer game, intriguing campaign, or difficult level.

I’m considering setting something up to give reminders like Stay Hydrated Bot, which reminds Twitch streamers to drink healthy amounts of water. It might be a phone reminder, timer, or a similarly programmed bot. Nightbot can be programmed with timers.

Sit properly

This doesn’t just have to do with posture (although that’s probably something I should think about more). Sitting with my legs crossed or bent under me hurts my knees, so I have to be careful to think about keeping my legs in a neutral position with my feet on the floor. It’s also important for me to keep my left arm supported, or my shoulder starts to hurt.

For people who sit normally in the first place, this might not be a problem, but I have a tendency to fidget, shift sideways, curl my legs up… all of which are bad for my knees and back. I put this on here because it’s something I need to think about more. Sometimes sitting wrong hurts me, sometimes it doesn’t, but I don’t remember to think about it until it’s too late.

Sleep

As tempting as it is to stay up for just one more game, I find sleep to be incredibly important to how I’m feeling. I’m writing this after a night of too little sleep, and I can feel it in my hands especially. Turning it off and going to sleep is easier said than done, and getting to sleep is another matter entirely, but don’t discount sleep’s importance in how well your body can stand up to things.

Really, this is all a continuing quest to find comfortable ways to game. It’s not easy, especially with the hand pain getting in my way more and more. At the same time, a challenging game can really help keep my mind off my aches. If anybody has their own tips (controllers, keyboards, etc.), I’d love to hear about them!

For more content about gaming with arthritis and chronic illness, check out my reviews of gaming gloves for arthritis and using Stardew Valley to explain fatigue.

-Bri

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