<p class="title">A record $33.5 million is up for grabs but professional eSports players like those competing in The International in Shanghai this week pay a physical price with deteriorating eyesight, digestive problems and wrist, and hand damage.</p>.<p class="bodytext">At first, Evgenii "Blizzy" Ri looks perplexed at the notion: "It's impossible, how can you get injuries when you play games?"</p>.<p class="bodytext">Then the 24-year-old from Kyrgyzstan discloses that a doctor urged him to take six months off to give his failing vision a badly needed rest.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Ri plays for Natus Vincere or NAVI, and this week is competing in The International, a world championship said to have the biggest prize pool in the history of eSports.</p>.<p class="bodytext">NAVI and 17 other teams will play the multiplayer battle game Dota 2 in front of thousands of fans at a major indoor stadium while hundreds of thousands more will watch online.</p>.<p class="bodytext">If NAVI triumph on Sunday, Ri and his team-mates will become instant millionaires -- but success could come at a price.</p>.<p class="bodytext">"I didn't worry before but now I feel like my eyes are really... I can't see so much," said Ri, who practises up to 12 hours a day.</p>.<p class="bodytext">"Ten years I've been playing computers so they are a bit... I've just got a bad vision.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Ri has been told to wear glasses but he does not find them comfortable and said that his deteriorating eyesight does not hinder his performance because the screen is up close.</p>.<p class="bodytext">A doctor recommended simple eye exercises -- moving them up and down, left and right -- but he admits that he does not do them.</p>.<p class="bodytext">"Actually he also told me not to play the computer for six months to get back my vision, but I didn't listen. I need to play."</p>.<p class="bodytext">According to several players in Shanghai, the most common health complaint for pro gamers is Carpal Tunnel syndrome.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Not unique to gamers, it happens through repetitive hand and wrist motions and is characterised by numbness, burning and tingling of the thumb, index, middle and ring fingers.</p>.<p class="bodytext">In severe cases, surgery is required.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Some gamers talked about wrist injuries so severe they had to quit and lower back problems related to sitting for too long, day after day.</p>.<p class="bodytext">"I used to play and I had some arm and wrist problems so now I coach instead of playing because I can't take the strain," said Kurtis "Aui_2000" Ling, of the Newbee team.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Another hazard of eSports, a fast-growing but little-understood sport, is the mental toll, particularly with life-changing sums of money on the table.</p>.<p class="bodytext">With many players so young -- most are in their 20s but there is a 17-year-old at The International -- some struggle in the hyper-competitive environment.</p>.<p class="bodytext">"I just sometimes feel that my body is so sore," said Ryan "Raging Potato" Jay Qui of the Mineski team, who nevertheless says that his vision is still "20/20".</p>.<p class="bodytext">"Most of the obstacles in this kind of environment is the mentality," said the Filipino, adding that Mineski has a "psych adviser" who helps prop up the players.</p>.<p class="bodytext">While the money at the top of eSports is soaring, in other respects gaming remains well behind many other professional sports.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Newbee coach Ling said that eSports is only now starting to appreciate the need for physiotherapists and other staff specialising in physical and mental well-being, though most teams have no such back-up. Cost is the major reason.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Roman Dvoryankin, general manager of Virtus.pro, said many gamers have a scant appreciation of how important it is to eat well, exercise and sit properly when playing.</p>.<p class="bodytext">"All the pro teams are trying to educate the players to take breaks, do some exercise, stretch properly," he said.</p>.<p class="bodytext">"It's changing now, but what we face is that we get a player and realise that his digestive system is just not working properly and they have stomach problems," added Dvoryankin.</p>.<p class="bodytext">"We do it, but it can be hard to change their daily habits."</p>
<p class="title">A record $33.5 million is up for grabs but professional eSports players like those competing in The International in Shanghai this week pay a physical price with deteriorating eyesight, digestive problems and wrist, and hand damage.</p>.<p class="bodytext">At first, Evgenii "Blizzy" Ri looks perplexed at the notion: "It's impossible, how can you get injuries when you play games?"</p>.<p class="bodytext">Then the 24-year-old from Kyrgyzstan discloses that a doctor urged him to take six months off to give his failing vision a badly needed rest.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Ri plays for Natus Vincere or NAVI, and this week is competing in The International, a world championship said to have the biggest prize pool in the history of eSports.</p>.<p class="bodytext">NAVI and 17 other teams will play the multiplayer battle game Dota 2 in front of thousands of fans at a major indoor stadium while hundreds of thousands more will watch online.</p>.<p class="bodytext">If NAVI triumph on Sunday, Ri and his team-mates will become instant millionaires -- but success could come at a price.</p>.<p class="bodytext">"I didn't worry before but now I feel like my eyes are really... I can't see so much," said Ri, who practises up to 12 hours a day.</p>.<p class="bodytext">"Ten years I've been playing computers so they are a bit... I've just got a bad vision.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Ri has been told to wear glasses but he does not find them comfortable and said that his deteriorating eyesight does not hinder his performance because the screen is up close.</p>.<p class="bodytext">A doctor recommended simple eye exercises -- moving them up and down, left and right -- but he admits that he does not do them.</p>.<p class="bodytext">"Actually he also told me not to play the computer for six months to get back my vision, but I didn't listen. I need to play."</p>.<p class="bodytext">According to several players in Shanghai, the most common health complaint for pro gamers is Carpal Tunnel syndrome.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Not unique to gamers, it happens through repetitive hand and wrist motions and is characterised by numbness, burning and tingling of the thumb, index, middle and ring fingers.</p>.<p class="bodytext">In severe cases, surgery is required.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Some gamers talked about wrist injuries so severe they had to quit and lower back problems related to sitting for too long, day after day.</p>.<p class="bodytext">"I used to play and I had some arm and wrist problems so now I coach instead of playing because I can't take the strain," said Kurtis "Aui_2000" Ling, of the Newbee team.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Another hazard of eSports, a fast-growing but little-understood sport, is the mental toll, particularly with life-changing sums of money on the table.</p>.<p class="bodytext">With many players so young -- most are in their 20s but there is a 17-year-old at The International -- some struggle in the hyper-competitive environment.</p>.<p class="bodytext">"I just sometimes feel that my body is so sore," said Ryan "Raging Potato" Jay Qui of the Mineski team, who nevertheless says that his vision is still "20/20".</p>.<p class="bodytext">"Most of the obstacles in this kind of environment is the mentality," said the Filipino, adding that Mineski has a "psych adviser" who helps prop up the players.</p>.<p class="bodytext">While the money at the top of eSports is soaring, in other respects gaming remains well behind many other professional sports.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Newbee coach Ling said that eSports is only now starting to appreciate the need for physiotherapists and other staff specialising in physical and mental well-being, though most teams have no such back-up. Cost is the major reason.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Roman Dvoryankin, general manager of Virtus.pro, said many gamers have a scant appreciation of how important it is to eat well, exercise and sit properly when playing.</p>.<p class="bodytext">"All the pro teams are trying to educate the players to take breaks, do some exercise, stretch properly," he said.</p>.<p class="bodytext">"It's changing now, but what we face is that we get a player and realise that his digestive system is just not working properly and they have stomach problems," added Dvoryankin.</p>.<p class="bodytext">"We do it, but it can be hard to change their daily habits."</p>