Objective 
Mobile phones are reliable devices for communication and entertainment. However, their utilization for prolonged periods in flexed neck position is linked to neck and shoulders pain. The main purpose of this study is to investigate the association between neck pain and the duration of device use, taking into consideration gender, age, and the most frequent position in which students use their devices.


Subjects and methods 
Based on a self-administered online questionnaire, we filled 500 questionnaires between February 15th, 2017 and March 18th, 2017. The study sample included healthy students from health care faculties regardless of their age, gender, or handedness.


Results 
Analysis of the predictors for pain severity showed that age (p = 0.04) and duration of use (p = 0.001) were significantly associated with the severity of neck pain, while only the duration of use was significantly associated with pain duration (p = 0.036). Subjects were divided into two groups according to the pain score, 75.8% had pain severity equal or less than 4/10 and 24.2% had pain severity more than 4/10. Of those with pain severity >4, 5.8% of students sought medical help at the emergency department and 12.4% visited clinics, compared to only 0.3% seeking medical advice at an emergency department and 4.2% visiting clinics in the group with pain severity of ≤4 (p 4 used analgesia, compared to only 12.1% in subjects with pain severity of ≤4 (p< 0.001).


Conclusion 
This study demonstrates a significant positive correlation between the duration of mobile phone use and the duration and severity of neck pain. Furthermore, the increased severity of neck pain places a huge burden on the healthcare system.

/pdf/association-between-mobile-phone-use-and-neck-pain-in-1o2t771kph.pdf

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

Knowledge of human behaviors is important for improving indoor-environment design, building-energy efficiency, and productivity, and for studies of infection spread. However, such data are lacking. In this study, we designed a device for detecting and recording, second by second, the 3D indoor positioning and head and body motions of each graduate student in an office. From more than 400 person hours of data. Students spent 92.2%, 4.1%, 2.9%, and 0.8% of their time in their own office cubicles, other office cubicles, aisles, and areas near public facilities, respectively. They spent 9.7% of time in close contact, and each student averagely had 4.0 close contacts/h. Students spent long time on close contact in the office which may lead to high infection risk. The average interpersonal distance during close contact was 0.81 m. When sitting, students preferred small relative face orientation angle. Pairs of standing students preferred a face-to-face orientation during close contact which means this pattern had a lower infection risk via close contact. Probability of close contact decreased exponentially with the increasing distance between two students’ cubicles. Data on human behaviour during close contact is helpful for infection risk analysis and infection control and prevention.

https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/17/4/1445/pdf

Infection Spread and High-Resolution Detection of Close Contact Behaviors.

A smartphone is the most popular devices used among adolescents. In a study of university students of the United States, text messaging (SMS) was emerged as the most frequently used type of communicative medium.A recent study shows that 79% of the population between the age 18-44 have their cell phones with them almost all the time, with only 2 hours of their walking day spend without their cell in hand. The term “Text neck” was coined by Dr. Dean L. Fishman, who is a US chiropractor. The term text neck is used to describe a repetitive stress injury or an overuse syndrome where a person has his/her head hung or flexed in a forward position and is bent down looking at his/her mobile or other electronic device for prolonged periods of time. In today‟s world, where the mobile technology has advanced so much, there are more and more people who are spending an increased amount of time on handheld devices , such as Smartphone, computer, tablets and ereaders. The end result is prolonged flexion of the neck when bent over these electronic devices resulting in the ABSTRACT

/pdf/correlation-of-smartphone-use-addiction-with-text-neck-3e0wwdu8l7.pdf

Correlation of smartphone use addiction with text neck syndrome and SMS thumb in physiotherapy students

Physical exposure during mobile phone use results in poor posture and repetitive movements of the hand and thumb cause groups of symptoms. The terms ‘text neck syndrome’ and ‘SMS thumb’ are the most common among them. Our aim was to find out the prevalence rate of text neck syndrome and SMS thumb among smartphone users in college-going students. A cross-sectional study was conducted by a random sampling method from a recognized institution. A total of 113 participants, both male and female, in the age group 17–25 years participated in this study. Participants were asked to fill in a proforma containing the Nomophobia Questionnaire (NMP-Q), the Neck Disability Index (NDI), and the Cornell Hand Discomfort Questionnaire (CHDQ). Descriptive statistics were used to express the prevalence rate and, for the demographic data, the Pearson correlation coefficient was used to correlate between the NMP-Q with the NDI and CHDQ, respectively. The mean age, height, weight, and body mass index (BMI) of participants were 21.15 ± 2.17 years, 160 ± 7.36 cm, 55.50 ± 13.3 kg, and 21.53 ± 5.60 kg/m2, respectively. Of the study population, 46.9% reported having pain in their neck, 42.5% reported having mild to severe disability in their neck, and 29.2% reported having pain in their thumb due to prolonged smartphone use. There exists a significant positive correlation between the NMP-Q with the NDI (p < 0.001) and CHDQ (p = 0.001). The results of this study showed that text neck syndrome and SMS thumb are seen in nomophobic students. The musculoskeletal problems may be short term initially but can develop into long-term disabilities if proper caution is not taken.

Prevalence of text neck syndrome and SMS thumb among smartphone users in college-going students: a cross-sectional survey study

The revolutionary change in information and communication technology has made the people’s lives much convenient more than ever before. But it has affected the human’s physical and mental health as well as community’s social connectivity. Cybersyndrome is the physical, social, and mental disorders that affect the human being due to the excessive interaction with the cyberspace. Many previous works have discussed the role that the technology plays in the development of specific disorders, such as Internet addiction disorder or gaming addiction disorder. However, none of these works have explored the effects of excessive interaction with the cyberspace on the people’s lives as a whole and its impact on the social connectivity of the community. Therefore, in this paper, we have presented the formation stages, classification, recovery, and prevention methods of cybersyndrome. We have explored the impact of cybersyndrome in physical, social, and thinking spaces and its future implications and complications.

Cyber-Syndrome and its Formation, Classification, Recovery and Prevention

Introduction and Background: A recent study shows that 79% of the population between the age 18-44 have their cell phones with them almost all the time, with only 2 hour of their walking day spend without their cell oh hand 1 . Text neck most commonly causes neck pain and soreness. In addition, looking down at your smart phone too much can lead to upper back pain ranging from chronic, nagging pain to sharp and severe upper back muscles spasm. Shoulder pain and tightness, possibly resulting in painful shoulder muscle spasm. Methodology: A structured literature search was done using various electronic and print data bases. Source of data: PubMed, APTA, PeDRO, Science direct, Cinhal, Embase, Cochrane library, Scholar, Scopemed, etc. Study design: Systematic review. Result: Total 45 studies were shortlisted, from which 10 of them with proper methodology were reviewed and reported. Studies include both survey, cross sectional, cohort and few randomised control trials. Studies reported a considerable variation in the scales related to neck pain and disability and also a greater incidence. Discussion: According to The Wireless Association, texting statistics have increased astronomically. In June 2006 in the USA, there were 12.5 billion texts sent monthly. By June 2011, that number grew to 196.9 billion. The most common condition that contributes to neck pain is forward head and shoulder posture. Forward head posture is when the neck slants forward placing the head in front of the shoulders. The most common condition that contributes to neck pain is forward head and shoulder posture. Forward head posture is when the neck slants forward placing the head in front of the shoulders. This head position leads to several problems. Conclusion: As stated in the review smart phone induced neck pain and associated problems are of chronic progressive nature, timely interpretation and interventions along with good knowledge about postural correction will be the key entities to deal with Text Neck Syndrome. Further clinical trials recommending the effectiveness of current practice will be of great use in designing an evidence based protocol.

Sunil Neupane

Papers

Text Neck Syndrome - Systematic Review