The evaluation of students facing “Text neck syndrome” due to increased use of electronic devices in day-to-day life

Abstract

Background. Text neck syndrome refers to a repetitive stress injury to neck caused by having head in a forwarded position for extended period. The overuse of smart devices has become a basic necessity in day-to-day life leading to health problems. The purpose of the research is to evaluate the prevalence of Text neck syndrome and postural changes in students. Material and methods of research. This prospective study included 166 students aged between 18 and 26 who gave their honest opinion on how they felt about this condition. The students’ data were collected through an online anonyme survey. The questionnaire consisted of sections including socio-demographic, smartphone usage, self-report of text neck posture, musculoskeletal questionnaire-neck component. Results. Out of the 166 students 89(53.6%) were females and 77(46.4%) were males. Cent percent of students are using smart phone followed by 80% of them using laptops collaboratively. The purpose of using smartphones was to study by 95.8% of them and for social media by 94.6% followed by gaming by 53.6%. Around 67% of them have been using smartphones and 41.6% of them have had a laptop for more than 5 years. On an average daily basis around 32.5% of them use 5-7 hours and 26.5% of them by more than 7 hours. About 84.9% of them used smartphones in sitting position and 69.9% were in laying on back both are followed by tilted their neck by 30o forward bending. Around 50% of students had symptoms such as neck pain, headache, discomfort and 30% with stiffness in the neck, upper back pain followed by 18.7% without any symptoms. Treatment: 84% of them were not taking any kind of medicine and 8% were taking some NSAIDs and analgesics. Conclusions. More than 80% of the participants experienced neck disorders due to smartphone overuse. Measures of healthy use of smartphones including postural education, sport activities, and support devices are recommended.