Following joystick digit, mouse elbow, and central palmar blister, hand-arm vibration syndrome is the latest computer game affliction to be reported in medical journals.

The condition is known as vibration white finger among miners and other users of drills and heavy equipment, but a 15-year old Liverpool boy may be the first recorded case associated with a vibrating computer game.

Doctors who investigated the boy's condition suggest the government may need to consider making it compulsory to issue a health warning with the game.

In a letter to today's British Medical Journal they report how they first saw the boy after he had suffered from painful hands for at least two years.

"His hands became white and swollen when exposed to the cold, and subsequently red and painful on warming."

He played up to seven hours a day playing on his Sony Playstation and was particularly fond of driving games using vibration mode on the hand held "rumble board".

The doctors, from Liverpool children's hospital, point out the similarity of his condition to the syndrome, which was officially recognised as an industrial disease in 1985, and for which sufferers claim compensation and disability benefit. There has also been development of non-vibrating tools and changes in working practices.

The doctors call for research into the possibility of children developing the condition.

"Children spend long periods playing domestic computer games. The seven hours a day the patient reported is excessive, and exceeds the manufacturers' recommendation, but we must assume that this is not an uncommon occurrence."

John Sills, one of the doctors, said the boy had gone to see his GP after having had difficulties doing some sanding for his mother.

"It leads us to further worries about the sedentary nature of our youth today," said Dr Sills.

Sony Computer Entertainment Europe said yesterday that it put warnings inside covers of its computer games, stating the need to take a quarter of an hour break every hour, and pointing out the potential for epileptic seizures. The company had also told its game developers to limit the use of vibration mechanisms; the Liverpool case was the first one of hand-arm vibration it had heard of.

Millions of Playstations had been produced. "If it had been a general problem, we would have picked that up by now," said the firm.