Background: Text neck syndrome is a type of stress injury that occurs due to repeated frequently forward and downward flexion of the head towards a mobile, tablet, or other devices. This contributes to one of the most common cause of musculoskeletal neck pain in the adolescent group. The poor posture of the head and neck has been correlated with chronic musculoskeletal pain of the cervical spine and upper back, tightness, and spasm in the upper extremity muscles.
Aims and Objectives: The aim of the study was to assess the prevalence and risk factors associated with text neck syndrome among medical college students in Bangalore.
Materials and Methods: Cross-sectional study was conducted among total of 100 medical college students of a Government Medical College. Text neck syndrome was evaluated using a standard pre-validated questionnaire (neck disability index) and nomophobia questionnaire (NMP-Q) questionnaire used to measure nomophobia. Data were entered in MS Excel and analyzed using Statistical Package for the Social Sciences software version 23.0.
Results: Median age of participants was 21.0 inter-quartile range 8 years. Average duration of phone use was 3.25 ± 1.2 h per day. Moderate to severe text neck syndrome was present in 57% of students. Severe nomophobia was present in 15%.
Conclusion: There was positive correlation between NMP-Q and neck disability index. (Spearman’s correlation 0.53). The results of this study suggest that students should try to limit the amount of time they spend using their smartphones continuously and should also put other preventive measures in place, such as maintaining good posture when using a computer, taking frequent, brief breaks, and using voice-to-text software.
Key words: Neck Disability Index; Nomophobia Questionnaire; Nomophobia; Text Neck Syndrome
|
