The Esports Medic: A Scientific Gaming Blog Series

Critical Hits 1. An Introduction 2. Expectations 3. About the Author

Welcome to the first-ever blog post for our NEW blog series, The Esports Medic! In this brief “Episode 0”, you can look forward to learning more about this blog series' focus on esports medicine and the Vulcan Esports Academy. With more and more people creating the ambition of mastering their skillset at essentially becoming a successful professional “gamer,” esports is now growing to be not only a booming industry but a popular career choice amongst children and young adults. When considering the research that involves esports health, there is a huge gap in knowledge and little awareness about this topic. However, the field of esports medicine is growing, with the boom of studies and academic papers discussing the negative and the positive impacts of gaming and esports.

An Introduction

What is esports? In simple terms, it is the act of competitive video gaming. Players practice and compete together or alone (depending on the game) to be the best and most versatile players at their game of choice. So, esports carry a few differences and a lot of similarities from traditional sports such as basketball, baseball, soccer, etc. Therefore, esports medicine can be considered a subfield of sports medicine. This field involves studying esports injury evaluation, treatment, and prevention. Esports medicine also involves evaluating ways to protect and enhance the safety and health of esports athletes of all levels.

When considering the research that involves esports health, there is little awareness about this topic. Yet, we hear of professional esports athletes retiring in their early twenties due to cases of carpal tunnel syndrome, serious health complications due to poor posture, or from an extensive history of poor nutrition and lack of exercise. Thankfully, the continued expansion of this area will hold many merits and breakthroughs in understanding what it means to play video games professionally and competitively. Some also suggest that this scientific inquiry can bring us more knowledge of the overall effects of the digital world on our society.

What is the significance of esports medicine and health? For the readers that are more on the gaming side rather than the scientific side, this topic can involve anything from learning about the current medical research and topics in esports, to discussing what innovations are coming to the field of esports to make it more of an extensive career with lower risks for the health complications stated earlier. For the more science-orientated readers, this field is also about learning the science that explains the exceptional amount of expertise involved in playing video games competitively, as well as the overall impact of esports on one's health on a holistic level. And from time to time, methods that can be utilized by even casual gamers to help prevent these negative health complications will also be discussed.

Expectations

One misconception I foresee is that one might think that this series will only shed light on the negatives of esports. However, the goal of this series is to inform and to get people thinking. And this will be done by showing off both the bad of esports while supplementing information about what's happening to make this field and activity even more awesome and expansive. I'll provide an outline of the main points for each post called "Critical Hits" (as seen at the beginning of this post) since some of these articles may be a little long.

Therefore, for the Esports Medic series, I will be posting monthly articles that explain any news and research from the esports health and/or medicine field, while also talking about any news in the gaming or esports world that has ties to health and wellness. I hope to talk with people (such as readers, gamers, health professionals, etc.) to provide more in-depth content in these articles and to allow more opportunities for discussions. You can also expect some mini-posts in-between the monthly articles to supplement any major events going on in the esports medicine world. And lastly, this series helps in serving our mission as the Vulcan Esports Academy.

The Vulcan Esports Academy is an organization that uses STEAM (science, technology, engineering, arts, and mathematics) education to forge the next generation of esports. My fellow co-founders (Andrew Sluss and Jared Chesnut) and I created this organization through the idea of integrating STEAM education into esports, with the intent of not only helping others improve competitive performance in esports, but to inspire further education and interest in STEAM fields and careers through video content, workshops, and competitions. Our content will be geared for any age and at any level of gaming expertise. To learn more about us, make sure to explore our website and to follow us on social media, YouTube, and Twitch!

About the Author

And, finally, who am I? Simply put, I am a student in the medical field with a die-hard passion for gaming. I initially planned to talk about my favorite games and franchises in this introductory article, but I noticed that I would be naming too many titles if I were to do that. So I am a variety gamer, playing anything from first-person shooters, to survival horror, to adventure/strategy games. But if I had to put one franchise at the top as one of my favorites, it would be the Legend of Zelda. And universally, you can find me on many gaming platforms as akaCobee (Playstation Network, Xbox, Steam, etc.).

And I must state again that I am a student. That being said, I am in no position to give any medical advice. The content in this blog series is not intended to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Always seek advice from your physician or other qualified health professionals with any questions or concerns regarding your health and medical conditions. And please do not disregard any professional advice about your health or delay speaking to a health professional due to anything discussed in this blog series.

And that sums up the intro of our first blog series! I'm pretty excited to be expressing my interest in esports medicine and to be able to share it! Feel free to ask me any questions about me, esports medicine, the Vulcan Esports Academy, or gaming in general. And always feel free to send out topic suggestions for future articles. The best way to get your questions to me is through commenting here or through my Twitter, @CSwainMSTP. Make sure to use the #EsportsMedic tag!

Social Media Twitter: @CSwainMSTP Twitch: twitch.tv/akacobee Vulcan Esports Academy Twitter: @VulcanEA You can also join our newsletter email list here: http://eepurl.com/gnW9bf

References:

1. Kyle A. Faust, Joseph F. Meyer, and Mark D. Griffiths. (2013) “Competitive and Professional Gaming: Discussing Potential Benefits of Scientific Study.” International Journal of Cyber Behavior, Psychology and Learning, 3(1), 67-77. 2. Mark J. Campbell, Adam J. Toth, Aidan P. Moran, Magdalena Kowal, and Chris Exton. (2018) “eSports: A new window on neurocognitive expertise?” Progress in Brain Research, 240, 161-174. 3. Kyle Chua. (2017) “5 most common health concerns for esport athletes.” Rappler - 5 Most Common Health Concerns for Esports Athletes 4. Esports Medicine Organization - Esports Medicine