"Text neck" and neck pain in young adults
The prevalence of mobile phone use among young adults (18-21 y.o.) is increasing. It has been shown that viewing a mobile phone screen correlates with a more forward head posture (FHP).
Simultaneously, biomechanical studies have shown that increased FHP places increased mechanical load on the physical structures of the cervical spine.
So, does increased use of mobile phone (text neck), have any correlation with the increasing prevalence of neck pain?
This study included 150 students aged between 18 and 21 from a high school in Brazil. They were asked to fill out sets of questionnaires including times spent on the device, neck pain and self-perception of neck posture during mobile phone use.
Some key findings:
- More than 75% of the participants reported more than 4 hrs of using their mobile phone per day;
- More than 80% perceived they had 'inappropriate' posture while using the device;
- 36% of the participants had neck pain.
When all the date were analyzed, it yielded the result that there is no association between neck posture (assessed by self-perception) and neck pain.
> From: Damasceno et al., Eur Spine J Epub ahead of print (2018-02-14 06:43:32) (Epub ahead of print). All rights reserved to Springer Verlag GmbH Germany. Click here for the online summary.
