TAIPEI, Feb 19: A Taiwanese man who sat for 15 hours at a table playing the Chinese board game Mahjong became numb and had to be rushed to hospital for emergency treatment.

The 40-year-old man from Taipei tried to get up for a break from the game after playing non-stop for over half-a-day when he found himself unable to move, according to the United Daily News.

The Taipei Municipal Wan Fang Hospital later explained that sitting too long at the table without moving had put great strain on the nerves that lead to the legs and caused one of the man’s feet to become cold and paralysed.

The unidentified man had to stay in hospital for several days during the Chinese Lunar New Year holiday last week.

The man is not the first to have his limbs stiffen during the popular game. Last year, also during the Chinese New Year period, a 50-year-old man from Taipei had to finally call it quits after a 60-hour session rendered him incapable of moving.—dpa