10 Video Games That Caused Physical Injuries
5. Guitar Hero / Rock Band
Nintendo's thumb, or "Nintendonitis", were the terms batted around the late 80s as the Nintendo Entertainment System took hold on the hearts and minds of children and young adults across the western world. There were, not entirely unfounded, concerns that extended use of tight, angular game controllers could lead to repetitive strain injuries
This is really true of anything similar though, such as excessive typing or guitar playing.
As such, there was a point to be made with music rhythm games in the late 2000s and early 2010s when Guitar Hero and Rock Band had their boom period. Emulating guitar playing, albeit in a much simpler way, still made for fast, tightly gripped and continuous usage of plastic instruments... especially if you wanted to be a wizard on Expert difficulty.
This was famously found out by Joel Zumaya, baseball player for the Detroit Tigers in 2006. The pitcher had to miss his shot in the American League Championship Series thanks to, in his words, a "Guitar Hero injury".
Guitar Hero had just come out, and I fell in love with the game, dude. I’m a rock-and-roll fan. It’s a killer game. … ‘Hell, I’m gonna buy this.’ … Guess I got hurt, dude.”