Association between mobile phone use and neck pain in university students: A cross-sectional study using numeric rating scale for evaluation of neck pain

Abstract

Background: The posture while using smartphone in school-aged children is at risk on occurring musculoskeletal symptoms. The purpose of this study is to study the postures while using a smartphone and the factors related to the abnormalities of the musculoskeletal symptoms of school-aged children. Method: Experimental study is a method of this research. The samples were 233 school-aged children in Nakhon Si Thammarat, Thailand. Multi-stage sampling and data collection consisted questionnaire for the musculoskeletal symptoms by applying from the Nordic Musculoskeletal Questionnaire, ISO 11226: 2000 Ergonomics-Evaluation of static postures, which was a smartphone using posture evaluation form with data analysis using percentage, mean, standard deviation and Chi square. Result: The smartphone usage posture are mostly a lying position, which is 52.4%. 91.5 % of children has unacceptable risky smartphone usage posture. Mostly, the lying position has various organs tilted at angles, compared to the body's symmetrical axis, rather than the sitting position. The school-aged children had a prevalence of musculoskeletal symptoms of 20.2%, with the lying position having a higher rate of musculoskeletal symptoms, which is 10.7%. The smartphone usage posture is statistically signi cant correlated with the symptoms occurring in the head area. The risk of ergonomics and the musculoskeletal symptoms are statistically signi cant. Conclusion: The smartphone usage posture among students is at high risk especially lying position and has a chance of a musculoskeletal symptoms, higher than the sitting position. Educating to provide knowledge about safe use of smartphones to students, parents and relevant government agencies is very important.

Smartphone Usage Posture (Sitting and Lying Down) and Musculoskeletal Symptoms among school-aged children (6-12 years old) in Nakhon Si Thammarat ,Thailand

“…When examined the various parts of the body, revealed that the students had head/neck symptoms as a highest rate and the smartphone usage postures were signi cantly correlated to head/neck symptoms at the statistical level at p<0.05. This is consistent with the research of Hadidi et al, which found that students using smartphones have a high level (24%) of head / neck symptoms [22]. However, half of the students bent down their head over 25 degrees and do not have full support while using smartphone, which means that the more time students spend on smartphones, the greater risk they have for the head symptom and other part of the body also.…”

Relationships between Physical and Social Behavioural Changes and the Mental Status of Homebound Residents in Hong Kong during the COVID-19 Pandemic

“…They were more likely to visit different social media platforms [33,34] and, therefore, may have preferred staying at home and relying on electronic devices to obtain information and seek entertainment. This group also experienced increased physical strain, which could be explained by their more frequent usage of electronic devices; often a cause of prolonged physical discomfort such as neck, shoulder, and upper extremity pain [35].…”

Temporal Trends in Cervical Spine Curvature of South Korean Adults Assessed by Deep Learning System Segmentation, 2006-2018

“… 3 Prolonged use of mobile devices is known to aggravate the degree and severity of neck and shoulder pain (NSP). 4 , 5 In 2010, NSP became the fourth leading cause of significant musculoskeletal disability worldwide, 6 with an annual prevalence rate exceeding 30%. 7 …”