XBox and DVT
Dominic Patrick, age 14, was diagnosed with DVT after playing on his XBox for 10 hours straight, in a kneeling position with his legs tucked under him. From the unfortunate incident come this interesting dialog.
In Thailand, the authorities proposed a curfew on online gaming between 10pm and 6am amid fears of both “addiction” to role-playing games, and the dangers of marathon sessions.
Mandatory play breaks every two hours were also proposed as a way of cutting the risk of DVTs.
Dr Russell Keenan, a paediatric haematologist from the Alder Hey Children’s Hospital in Liverpool, said that it was extremely unusual to see DVTs in otherwise fit and healthy children.
He said: “I would expect to see a DVT in a child perhaps once every few weeks - but the vast majority of these involve children who are very seriously-ill in other ways.
“The only risk factor we could find in this case was the fact that Dominic had sat on his legs for 10 hours playing computer games without moving.
“If you fold the leg, you are basically folding the vein in the leg and causing the blood supply to stagnate. That is what might be causing the clot.
“However, it doesn’t mean that the government should be putting health warnings on Playstations.”
I find it interesting that the parents of this child would let him play for 10 hours straight. The child appears to be in good physical shape but I think he was on his way out of shape. It takes time to build up stamina to play video games for 10 hours straight. The couch potato within him was maturing.
Update: I received an email regarding this post from a person who claims to be the father of the child that got DVT
Tony,
ref, Dominic patrick getting Dvt I am his father ,fact 1. we did not allow him to spend the 4 to 5 hours NOT 10 on his PLAYSTATION not xbox he does not have one,
fact 2. He was supposed to be supervised at his friend house where he was driven and driven back home.
Unknown to either myself or his mother he played WWF wrestling for this period of time in his freinds bedroom. This due to the fact that is was raining heavily , they would have normaly played football on a nearby sports field.
fact 3 Most other sites got it correct Dominic is very athletical and has gained trophies galore for football and more recently cross country running. regards Dave P
I tried to respond to the writer of the email but the return address was incorrect. Fact 1, OK you got me…. I did read that it was a PlayStation but the picture that they tagged to the article was of an XBOX. My mistake, or was it?
Facts 2 & 3, all I can say is that I listed my source and base my conclusions on the facts as they are laid out.
I do apologize for the bad press but I think that if the facts are incorrect then the reporters that originally wrote the story need to print a correction.