Because of the ongoing pandemic, this year’s press conference was held as a digital presentation with only a handful of people on site. Professor Dr. Ingo Froböse (Head of the Institute of Movement Therapy and Movement-oriented Prevention and Rehabilitation at the German Sport University Cologne) presented the findings in collaboration with Rolf Buchwitz (Deputy Chairman of the Board of the AOK Rhineland/Hamburg) on March 23rd.
Fortunately it has been found, that most of the questioned players feel pain only occasionally. If they do, the pain appears in their neck and back most of the times. As a result of the long time that esport players look on a screen, we could find many cases of „other Pain“ like headaches or eye fatigue. A major problem is dealing with pain. Roughly half of the participants answered, that they normally ignore the pain. Opposite to that, only one third would visit a doctor to get a diagnose.
The second main topic of this year’s study has been ergonomics. We could find that many players already have ergonomic helpful equipment for gaming. None the less there are a few points that could be optimized. For example, only 16 % own a table with adjustable height and not even half use a keyboard with a support surface for their wrists. Furthermore, players hardly pay attention to their posture while playing.
Just like for everyone else the pandemic also has its shadow over esport players. Although, the overall subjective state of health is mostly very positive this year. However, there has been a decrease in the psychological well-being and an increase of the BMI in comparison to last year. The average BMI of 24.7 kg/m² from last year rose to 25.6 kg/m². In contrast, the activity level is high like in the last years. The players engage in over six and a half hours of physical activity throughout a week. . That is far above the recommended minimum of 150 minutes per week by the World Health Organization.
Another finding brought by the survey has been that the participants are well aware of the fact, that a balanced nutrition combined with physical activity and enough sleep can reflect positively on their performance in game.
The detailed research report of the 2022 eSport study can be found under Research Findings (only in german).
