stlmomsworld.com - Kay Quinn

Monday, April 28, 2008

Wii Feel Your Pain

I laughed when I was first told that some people who play the popular video games Guitar Hero or Wii experience shoulder, elbow, wrist or thumb pain hours and days later.
But a sports medicine specialist assured me that overuse injuries aren't just confined to people who do too much typing or play too much tennis.
Check out my story on "Guitar Hero Thumb" and "Wii-itis." The next time someone in your household wakes up with a sore hand or shoulder, you can ask them how much time they've been spending with the X-Box or Play Station.
My thanks to Elizabeth Tauben, Carlos Garcia and Michelle Lange for sharing their insights and guitar-playing skills. They were so good at articulating what it feels like to have this kind of pain. And I discovered something interesting while talking with them. Initially, none of them linked the pain they were having to playing video games. It took them a while to realize the pain went away when they played less, and came back when they played more often.
I enjoy working this beat because I often get to report on medical advances and new health findings. But every now and then, I love stories like this, based on anecdotal reports experienced by real people.
This story of mine won't help cure cancer, but hopefully it will give you a little chuckle and food for thought, like it did me.

¶ 6:00 PM

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Name: Kay Quinn

Location: St. Louis, MO

ABOUT ME

Health and medical issues make up one of the most exciting beats in the newsroom. Few other areas of news touch each and every one of us so closely and so often.

Whether you're a senior worried about paying for prescription drugs, a parent concerned about the health of a child or waging your own fight against cancer or heart disease, you can usually find health news that applies to you in my daily reports.

I always tell St. Louisans they are so fortunate when it comes to health care. Our city is home to two research hospitals.

Doctors and scientists at Washington University School of Medicine and St. Louis University School of Medicine are involved in some of the most critical research underway in medicine today.

Work is bring done right at this moment, right in our area, that could lead to a vaccine for bird flu or better ways to diagnose and treat Alzheimer's disease.

I enjoy staying on top of those stories, as well as bringing you health and medical news you can use.

Along with the latest medical breakthroughs, you'll frequently find information on low-cost exercise programs right around the corner from where you live, or details on where to get this year's flu shot.

Many viewers want to know whether I have a medical background. I don't, but my mother was a nurse and I know her health background made a big impression on me as a child.

It's the lifelong curiosity and interest I have in health issues that serves me well in my work as health reporter.

Staying on top of what you need to know to stay fit and healthy is a job I love.