Background
The current lifestyle, with its growing use of contemporary technologies, has resulted in changes in people's behavior, causing them to become increasingly sedentary and to develop unhealthy body habits. An essential variable determining an individual's physical and emotional well-being is posture. The purpose of this study was to investigate the postural habits and any related joint and muscle pain among school-aged students in Iran during the COVID-19 quarantine.
Methods
The present study used a cross-sectional methodology. An online survey was utilized to measure participants' postural habits and joint and muscle pain during the COVID-19 quarantine in Iran. Participants self-reported their postural habits and any joint and muscle pain during the COVID-19 epidemic. A chi-square test was used to determine the differences in the distribution of the participant responses (P < 0.05).
Results
The survey was completed by 43,660 school-aged students (15,532 boys and 28,128 girls; ages 8–17 years). The results indicated that 57% of the students reported that they did not maintain correct posture while taking virtual classes during the COVID-19 pandemic. The results revealed the following postural details, leaning forward (28%), leaning backward (11%) or curving (18%) during virtual classes. The majority of respondents (54%) reported feeling some joint or muscle pain while taking virtual classes during the COVID-19 pandemic. The greatest pain was reported in the neck (28%), upper back (14%) and lower back (13%).
Conclusion
These findings can help inform efforts to protect and promote children's health and posture during the COVID-19 pandemic. With the reopening of schools following the quarantine period, the findings from this study indicate that screening students for health risks such as body postural status will be necessary.