If you or your child is having difficulty standing up straight then you may need to blame your console. The effects of hunching over to play with smartphones, consoles and tablets have created what two Dutch orthopaedic experts are calling ‘Game Boy Back'. These back problems are normally associated with older adults who have been working hard for years.

Research was published in the Dutch medical journal Medisch Contact in which they found a rise in spinal curvature between 8 to 18 year olds. The doctors then spoke with the Irish Times to explain that herniated discs and curvature of the spine was last seen in children over 100 years ago. Can technology really be responsible for the problems?

Andre Soeterbroek, one of the men in charge of the research said “In those days, kids got weak backs from child labour; now they’re getting it from these devices. It makes no difference to the body whether you’re hunched over in a cigar factory or spending eight hours over an iPad.”

We can now include ‘Game Boy Back' among problems such as ‘text neck' and ‘Blackberry thumb'.

How can you stop the problem? practise good posture when gaming and don't slouch for hours on end. Seems pretty logical to us.

Kitguru says: Game Boy Back, whatever next?

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