Virtual Sports Injuries - Xbox Kinect

We were given an XBox Kinect for Christmas, and like most people who watch the commercials, we thought it would be a great way to get the family up and moving around. It came with a dancing game and a couple of sports games.

We fired it up and put in the sports game. Now we had a party. My brother and I are very competitive, so we started with the tennis game. Like other gaming systems, for the Xbox Kinect to work, both people have to be standing in front of it. Probably not a good idea for tennis.

The first match went off without a hitch. We were both sweating and ready for round two. My brother swung for an overhead smash that caught the pull cord on the ceiling fan and sent it flying up into the fan where it was promptly cut off by said fan and sent hurdling across the room. We should have taken that as an omen.

In the last set, my brother was trying to return a vicious backhand from me. Unfortunately, his forehand had a blazing spin on it that not only went past my virtual character, but also caught me in the back nearly rupturing my kidney. We decided to take a break and let the kids play.

My kids started first and my daughter landed a wicked backhand that gave her brother a fat lip. Although, to his credit, he responded with a killer forehand that stayed in bounds and gave his sister a bruise on the shoulder.

We thought it might be best to change games, so we moved to virtual track. This time I talked my husband into playing. We started with hurdles. He had to sit down after he hurt his knee on the fake jump leaving me alone to start the javelin. I knew I had to give it my best shot, so I flung my virtual javelin for all it was worth, promptly spraining my shoulder. How does the even happen? I threw air!

We didn't do much better with the dance game, and before the night was over, we were all sweating and lining up for ibuprofen and ice packs. Who knew virtual sports could be so dangerous?