


The intensity of esports can lead to athletes developing musculoskeletal injuries that can affect their dexterity in addition to emotional or psycho-social factors. Teams spend countless hours practicing, developing strategy and reviewing footage in order to improve and compete at an elite level. In the USA, esports players have been recognized as professional athletes since 2013 with universities across the country setting up varsity esports programs under the National Association of Collegiate Esports.Īs athletes, players are involved with games that involve high cognitive demand and functional integration often performing more keystrokes per minute than the average gamer. Professional leagues have sponsorships, training facilities and head coaches with the International Olympic Committee recognizing esports in 2017 with a speculative inclusion in the Paris 2024 Olympic Games. Emerging are professional and competitive gamers who are considered top-tier in their respective ranks and compete seasonally in teams for upwards of millions of dollars. Games such as League of Legends, Overwatch, Valorant and DOTA 2 have a global popularity with millions of gamers playing daily. By Vincent Brinas, PT, DPT, Barnabas Health Ambulatory Care CenterĮlectronic competitive gaming (esports) is a popular form of sport involving electronic systems (PC or console) and a human-computer interface.
