Chinese Gamer Paralysed From Waist Down After 20-Hour Internet Cafe Session

The sudden realisation that you can't feel your legs anymore is probably a pretty good indicator that you've sat and played one too many consecutive games of FIFA.

One Chinese gamer found this out first-hand when he became paralysed from the waist down after a 20-hour stint playing an unknown computer game in an internet café.

The man, who remains unidentified, allegedly started playing a game in the cafe on the evening of 27 January, until his friends called for an ambulance in the afternoon of the following day.

On trying to stand up for a toilet break, the man realised he couldn't move the lower portion of his body.

An ambulance was called out to the internet cafe in Jiaxing, Zhejiang Province and the man reportedly screamed out to his friends to keep playing the game for him as he was carted away to hospital on a stretcher.

One of his friends, who was at the scene, was quoted saying: "It seems he had lost sensation completely, and couldn't move at all. We had to call for an ambulance."

Internet addiction has become a big problem among China's youth - so much so that controversial military-style internet addiction 'boot camps' now exist to try and tackle the issue head on.

The institutions have attracted criticism for their harsh methods and overly-aggressive discipline.

Last year, outrage ensued when an 18-year-old boy died after sustaining multiple injuries just two days after entering one such camp.

The teenager's mother said her son had developed a serious internet addiction which she and her husband were unable to help.

The parents decided to send their son to an internet addiction boot camp in Fuyang city which claimed to use a combination of 'psychological counselling and physical training' to treat children for their addictions.

However, two days after dropping her son off, the woman received a call saying that her son had been rushed to hospital, where he later died.

The exact cause of death was unclear, but doctors said that the boy had sustained more than 20 external injuries as well as some internal injuries.

"My son's body was completely covered with scars, from top to toe... When I sent my son to the centre he was still fine, how could he have died within 48 hours?" the grief-stricken mother was quoted as saying.

Now internet providers are making moves to restrict the amount of time children can spend gaming.

Last year, internet giant Tencent began imposing limits on gaming hours for young users of one of its most popular online games.