Physical complaints and their relationships to esports activities among Japanese esports players: A cross-sectional study

In the evolving landscape of electronic sports (esports), where economic and social expectations are soaring, a critical concern has emerged in physical complaints among esports players. However, empirical insights into these complaints' prevalence and influencing factors are scarce. This study aimed to clarify the prevalence of physical complaints and their association with esports activities among Japanese esports players. A web-based cross-sectional survey encompassing 175 esports players from both professional and amateur teams in Japan was conducted. The analysis focused on 79 male participants (average age: 21.6 ± 5.6 years) with complete responses. The survey items included the esports factors (the device mainly used, the duration of esports titles played primarily, hours of esports activities per day on weekdays and holidays, and the distance between the screen and the face during esports activities) and physical complaints (headache, neck pain, stiff or sore shoulders, wrist pain, finger pain, lower back pain, and eye fatigue). A total of 49.4% reported stiff or sore shoulders, 48.1% faced eye fatigue, and 30.4% had headaches. Professionals exhibited a significantly higher likelihood of neck, wrist, and lower back pain and eye fatigue than amateurs. Age-adjusted logistic regression analysis uncovered that using mainly mobile devices and being closer to the screen and face during esports activities were significantly associated with neck pain, stiff or sore shoulders, lower back pain, and eye fatigue. These results suggest that poor posture caused by using mobile devices and being closer to the screen during esports activities was related to various physical complaints. ### Competing Interest Statement Takafumi Monma and Takashi Matsui report grants from REJECT Inc., NTT EAST Corp., and Meiji Co., Ltd. Shoya Koyama is the chief executive officer and Hiromasa Ueno is an employee of REJECT, Inc. Junichi Kagesawa declares that he is an executive vice president of the NTTe-Sports Ltd. Chisato Oba and Kentaro Nakamura declare that they are employed by Meiji Co. Ltd. All other authors declare no competing interests. ### Funding Statement This study was partially supported by joint research grants from REJECT Inc., NTT EAST Corp., and Meiji Co., Ltd. These companies provided support to the authors affiliated with each company through officers' compensation and/or salaries. ### Author Declarations I confirm all relevant ethical guidelines have been followed, and any necessary IRB and/or ethics committee approvals have been obtained. Yes The details of the IRB/oversight body that provided approval or exemption for the research described are given below: Ethics committee of the Institute of Health and Sport Sciences of the University of Tsukuba gave ethical approval for this work. I confirm that all necessary patient/participant consent has been obtained and the appropriate institutional forms have been archived, and that any patient/participant/sample identifiers included were not known to anyone (e.g., hospital staff, patients or participants themselves) outside the research group so cannot be used to identify individuals. Yes I understand that all clinical trials and any other prospective interventional studies must be registered with an ICMJE-approved registry, such as ClinicalTrials.gov. I confirm that any such study reported in the manuscript has been registered and the trial registration ID is provided (note: if posting a prospective study registered retrospectively, please provide a statement in the trial ID field explaining why the study was not registered in advance). Yes I have followed all appropriate research reporting guidelines, such as any relevant EQUATOR Network research reporting checklist(s) and other pertinent material, if applicable. Yes The datasets used and analyzed in this study are available from the corresponding authors upon reasonable request.