Shubham Menaria, Tittu Thomas James*, Pranali Gaonkar, Shubhi Saxena and Pradnya Dhargave

Department of Physiotherapy Center, NIMHANS Hospital, Bengaluru, India

*Corresponding Author: Tittu Thomas James, Department of Physiotherapy Center, NIMHANS Hospital, Bengaluru, India.

Received: August 19, 2022; Published: September 09, 2022

Abstract

Objective: There is an increased usage of smartphones among college-going students, especially with an increase in online education system during the COVID pandemic. Long-term use of smartphones may lead to various health issues in an individual. The objective of this paper was to identify the impact of smartphone usage on the neck posture and disability in college-going students.

Methodology: The study recruited 50 students between the age group of 21 to 25 years. The weekly usage of smartphone in hours was documented from usage-tracking apps. Forward neck posture of the individuals was assessed by measuring Cranio-Vertebral (CV) angle using Photogrammetry method, and the disability using Neck Disability Index (NDI). Pearson correlation analysis was done to statistically analyze the data.

Results: The mean age of the study population was 23.3 ± 1.5 years and had 14 males and 36 females. There was a mean weekly smartphone usage of 36.45 ± 9.50 hours among the participants. The mean NDI score was 4.82 ± 3.76, depicting mild disability among participants. A moderately positive correlation was identified between the weekly smartphone usage and NDI score and was statistically significant (ρ = 0.309, p = 0.029). The mean CV angle was 46.62 ± 4.71 degrees. The CV angle had a strong correlation of -0.811 (p < 0.001) with the weekly smartphone usage, denoting an increased forward neck posture with increased smartphone usage.

Conclusion: The study identified a mild disability in neck functions and an increased forward head posture in individuals who having increased weekly usage of smartphone. The results of the study call for actions in these patient population in order to prevent further worsening of situations by increasing awareness regarding the same.

Keywords: Smartphone; Forward Head Posture; Cranio-Vertebral Angle; Neck Disability Index

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Citation

Citation: Tittu Thomas James., et al. “Impact of Smartphone Usage on Forward Neck Posture and Function in College-Going Students".Acta Scientific Orthopaedics 5.10 (2022): 16-20.

Copyright

Copyright: © 2022 Tittu Thomas James., et al. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.