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A childhood playground recreation is making an surprising comeback amongst South Korea’s younger adults, however well being consultants warn that the winter model of this nostalgic pattern might include a better threat of damage.
On-line group platforms and open chat rooms have just lately seen a surge in posts from individuals of their twenties and thirties looking for “police-and-thief meet-ups,” informal gatherings the place contributors play a tag-style working recreation from their childhood. Very similar to working golf equipment that meet for health, these teams collect at evening to play for enjoyable, train and social connection.
Within the recreation, gamers break 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 foundations resemble older Korean folks 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 grow 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 contributors, 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 embody different conventional video games akin to “drop the handkerchief” or “pink mild, inexperienced mild.” The video games are normally adopted by informal periods 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 attraction 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 group constructing.
Nevertheless, docs warning that enjoying high-intensity working video games outside in winter can improve the danger of muscle and joint damage 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 improve friction alongside the iliotibial band — an extended tendon working from the hip to the outer knee — resulting in irritation or pressure. The danger of patellar damage or ligament tears can also rise when gamers dash or cease abruptly on chilly muscle tissues.
“Throughout winter, individuals exercising outside ought to be much more thorough with warm-up and cool-down routines,” mentioned 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 tissues earlier than starting exercise,” he mentioned.
Based on Kim, mild strolling or light stretching for about 5 minutes after train helps chill out tense muscle tissues and forestall discomfort. He additionally recommends carrying hats and gloves to take care of physique warmth and layering skinny, light-weight clothes to raised modify to temperature modifications.
This text from Kormedi.com, Korea’s high well being care and medical portal, is translated by a generative AI system and edited by The Korea Occasions.
