Picture generated by manmade intelligence
Click on right here for extra articles by Kormedi.com.
A childhood playground sport is making an surprising comeback amongst South Korea’s younger adults, however well being specialists warn that the winter model of this nostalgic pattern might include a better danger of harm.
On-line neighborhood platforms and open chat rooms have just lately seen a surge in posts from individuals of their twenties and thirties searching for “police-and-thief meet-ups,” informal gatherings the place individuals play a tag-style operating sport from their childhood. Very like operating golf equipment that meet for health, these teams collect at evening to play for enjoyable, train and social connection.
Within the sport, gamers cut up into two groups — “police,” who chase, and “thieves,” who evade seize. If police catch all of the thieves, they win; if thieves efficiently keep away from seize inside a set time, victory goes to them. The principles resemble older Korean people video games.
The revival of the sport, which was hottest amongst youngsters within the mid-2000s, has been fueled by neighborhood-based digital communities. Many younger adults who grew up enjoying the sport now search native friendships or offline bonding in an period the place social isolation has turn out to be extra frequent.
KakaoTalk reveals quite a few energetic teams when customers search the key phrase “police and thief.” Captured from KakaoTalk.
Search outcomes on neighborhood exercise boards or open chat boards reveal dozens of posts recruiting individuals, with some teams attracting between 300 and 500 members and shutting sign-ups early. In sure Seoul districts, greater than 2,000 individuals have joined a single group. Some gatherings embrace different conventional video games resembling “drop the handkerchief” or “purple mild, inexperienced mild.” The video games are normally adopted by informal classes of consuming, consuming and dialog.
Specialists say the pattern displays a number of forces at work, together with nostalgia for childhood, loneliness amongst younger adults, the enchantment of nameless participation and a cultural need to reinterpret the previous into new social experiences. Some additionally see the gatherings as a uncommon mixture of enjoyable, motion and low-cost neighborhood constructing.
Nonetheless, medical doctors warning that enjoying high-intensity operating video games outdoor in winter can enhance the chance of muscle and joint harm as a result of chilly temperatures make the physique extra vulnerable to stiffness.
The sport’s fast turns and bursts of acceleration place repeated stress on the knees and decrease physique joints. These actions can enhance friction alongside the iliotibial band — an extended tendon operating from the hip to the outer knee — resulting in irritation or pressure. The chance of patellar harm or ligament tears may additionally rise when gamers dash or cease abruptly on chilly muscle mass.
“Throughout winter, individuals exercising outdoor must be much more thorough with warm-up and cool-down routines,” stated Kim Hak-jun, an orthopedic professor at Korea College Guro Hospital. “It’s best to spend 5 to 10 minutes elevating physique temperature and loosening muscle mass earlier than starting exercise,” he stated.
In accordance with Kim, mild strolling or light stretching for about 5 minutes after train helps loosen up tense muscle mass and forestall discomfort. He additionally recommends carrying hats and gloves to keep up physique warmth and layering skinny, light-weight clothes to higher modify to temperature modifications.
This text from Kormedi.com, Korea’s prime well being care and medical portal, is translated by a generative AI system and edited by The Korea Occasions.
