A 29-year-old man played the video game Candy Crush so much that he ruptured a tendon in his thumb, Fox 21 News reported.
The California man was rushed to the hospital after he began experiencing pain in his thumb and underwent surgery to fix his ruptured tendon.
According to the journal JAMA Internal Medicine, the unnamed man told doctors that he played his Candy Crush on his phone non stop for 6 to 8 weeks using his left hand.
The repeated motions of touchscreen tapping led to a rupture at the tendon's thickest point. Generally, a ruptured tendon leads to severe pain. However, in this case, the man said that he did not experience any pain while he played his favorite video game, but noticed it when he was not engaged in the game.
Playing video games releases brain chemicals that are associated with excitement and pleasure, but they have the ability to act as painkillers.
According to the study, the potential for video games to decrease pain perception increases social and clinical considerations about addiction, abuse and excessive use.
Dr. Andrew Doan, the study's coauthor, said that people need to be aware that some video games can act like digital painkillers.
According to the authors, future research is needed to investigate whether this pain reduction is one of the reasons why some people can injure themselves by playing constantly.
Furthermore, interactive video games can lead to a wide range of injuries such as foot injuries and sprains and abrasions to shoulder, Science Daily reported.