possessed thumb. good y/n?

tannish2

recently i've been playing lots of games where i press the A button with my right thumb almost constantly, in the same motion, and a couple days ago i noticed it moving on its own. is this a big problem? i was thinking about going to the doctor, but i've noticed myself playing some games (that happen to be very thumb-heavy) far better than i normally do, so im wondering, is it really a bad thing? i have also been wondering if anyone else has had this happen to them, and what they have done about it.

Arikado

I'm guessing it's nothing serious. I'd say stop gaming for a bit and see if it persists. Are you in any pain at all? I have no medical background whatsoever but it could be that you might have pinched a nerve there.

tannish2

thats what i thought at first too, but its weird, theres no pain at all, and it just happens, like breathing, i can stop it if i like, or i can move it differently, but if im not trying to do something it just moves forward and back like im pressing A.

anyone else got any ideas? i mean ANY ideas, even if they involve time travel evil paralel universes or zombies...

kerthu

tannish2 wrote: »

thats what i thought at first too, but its weird, theres no pain at all, and it just happens, like breathing, i can stop it if i like, or i can move it differently, but if im not trying to do something it just moves forward and back like im pressing A.

anyone else got any ideas? i mean ANY ideas, even if they involve time travel evil paralel universes or zombies...

the exact thing happend to me a few years back during my diablo 2 days. I would spend hours a day just clicking away at the mouse. after a few weeks of playing my index finger would start moving like you said your thumb does.

like arik said, I stopped playing for a week or so an it went away. hasnt happend to me since then.

tannish2

so did you stop playing altogether, or just stop playing pointer-finger-heavy games?

delphinus

its a pavlovian reaction. dont worry. used to happen to me when i played Marvel vs. Capcom 2, if i pictured the hurricane kick, or even looked at a picture my thumb would motion it.

your brain has primed repetitive images and thoughts to the pathways that make your thumb move. literally like a knee-jerk reaction to a mallet hitting below the knee cap.

expanding on pavlovian experiments and priming thoughts, they managed to prime a light bulb being on and causing a knee jerk reaction.

thisll go away the less you play

Mr. H.G. Blob

It's Lou Gehrig's.

tannish2

hm... that makes sense, thank you (i dont know how to edit thread titles here, but the issue seems to have been resolved with lots of big words)

The Cat

just think of it as the 'go outside, god damnit' signal :P. I've typed roughly 30,000 words in the last 4 days and my hands aren't twitching, so your problem is a pretty sure sign that its time to do something else for a little while, even if the twitch is not going to have any long-term effects.

Falx

delphinus wrote: »

its a pavlovian reaction. dont worry. used to happen to me when i played Marvel vs. Capcom 2, if i pictured the hurricane kick, or even looked at a picture my thumb would motion it.

your brain has primed repetitive images and thoughts to the pathways that make your thumb move. literally like a knee-jerk reaction to a mallet hitting below the knee cap.

expanding on pavlovian experiments and priming thoughts, they managed to prime a light bulb being on and causing a knee jerk reaction.

thisll go away the less you play

This.

It's also called muscle memory. It's basically the same thing martial artists are supposed to learn to do, except with kicks/punches and blocks. Some subconscious cue is making you react without you realizing it.

This also explains your improved reaction times, your subconscious is making your thumb move before the rest of your mind realizes it. I say exploit it and enter a tourney.

But not really, the amount of button pushing you had to do to get like that is prime territory for repetitive strain injury. Take a week or two off before you play again.