Polish CSGO pro Mateusz “Mantuu” Wilczewski, AWPer, inspired hundreds of thousands of fans after opening up on his Instagram account about a recent injury, diagnosed as Tenosynovitis, that had been affecting him during Team OG’s 3rd place run at CS_Summit6 Europe.
Despite his injury, Mantuu managed quite the performance, only falling to BIG 2-1 in the semifinals of the CSGO event. He managed to go to a 1.13 rating, and ended up +80 on his kill death ratio.
Perhaps the pain made him want to take care of business. Perhaps it was him not wanting to let down his teammates after the third place finish at Summit. Whatever the case, he managed to lead OG and qualify for Dreamhack Open Summer, placing 1st-2nd in the Europe qualifier, where he put up a staggering 1.61 rating. Even not at 100%, it’s clear that he’s here to play, heading into the player break.
Mantuu Opens up About Tenosynovitis Injury, Performance
“It’s been a hard month for me mentally and physically,” Mantuu said on Instagram. I got diagnose with thumb Tenosynovitis on both of my hands. But it’s more severe on my right hand. It’s basically an inflammation on the tendons of my thumb. During playing I lose sense in my hand/thumb/fingers and it makes it impossible to pick anything up or grip the mouse with any comfort.”
“I have been going to my Physiotherapist weekly and he was doing everything that he could do that I have the least amount of pain during officials and practice. I had to take painkillers every time I played and I had to apply hot/cold therapy as much as I could.”
“He told me to stop playing for 6-12 weeks fro it to heal. I’m going to do everything I can to recover and be to one hundred percent when I come back from playerbreak. Losing today sucked but I want to thank my teammates for the constant support. See you after the playerbreak and everyone take care of themselves mentally and physically. 2020 has been hard for everyone.
What Exactly Are the Symptoms of Tenosynovitis?
According to Mayo Clinic, these are the symptoms of De Quervain’s tenosynovitis, which is the full name of what Mantuu described:
- Pain near the base of your thumb
- Swelling near the base of your thumb
- Difficulty moving your thumb and wrist when you’re doing something that involves grasping or pinching
- A “sticking” or “stop-and-go” sensation in your thumb when moving it
The cause of de Quervain’s tenosynovitis isn’t known, but repetitive motions (the examples Mayo Clinic used were working in the garden, playing golf or racket sports, or lifting a baby) can make it worse. Surely clicking heads in CSGO also falls under the category of repetitive motion, especially given that pros play and practice for long stretches of time, and thus it feels almost inevitable that one as dedicated as Mantuu would sustain such an injury.
Given this, it’s perhaps not surprising that Mantuu developed these symptoms, despite being only 22, and this condition usually affecting between 30 and 50 year olds . Pro player health, and especially hand health, is one of the biggest problems facing pro gaming today, as many players and even teams are simply not educated on how to mitigate these concerns. This has been a problem in multiple professional-level esports, including CSGO and (perhaps more notably due to Gamecube controllers) Super Smash Bros. There has been an entire industry that’s popped up around keeping players and their hands healthy, such as the Smash doctor Dr. Caitlin McGee, but not every esports team has yet accessed these new professionals that specialize in this area.
Mantuu’s Injured Performance Places Him in Elite Company
Mantuu’s performance, heading into the player break, probably will get buried underneath the hundreds of other tournament results and matches that he’s played in his career. This performance by Mantuu should, however, be remembered alongside other notable tournament results that players have achieved in CSGO and beyond with an injury. One other notable example of this would be the Vancouver Titans’ Seominsoo, who went on to win the Stage One playoffs over the San Francisco Shock with a broken thumb, among other legends.
His career has been an illustrious one, overall, despite not being on top rosters, he has nearly always been the lynchpin for his teams. He played for PANTHERS Gaming and Alternate ATTAX for most of his career before being scouted by OG to headline their roster. This came after dominating much of the German scene with Alternate Attax, terrorizing the ESL Meisterschaft Spring and Summer events. Mantuu has gone on to become a fan favorite thanks to performances like these, and his injury games have cemented his place as an elite CSGO player to watch despite his young age.
He will surely be on the scouting reports of tier-one organizations, should OG not manage to punch their own ticket into the upper echelon of play, in the coming months. This will especially be true if he manages to keep up these performances once CSGO returns to LAN play, whenever the specter known as COVID-19 is defeated and we can return to whatever the new normal looks like.
