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G. Szeto1, A. Kwok1, B. Ng1, A. Chu1
1Tung Wah College, School of Medical & Health Sciences, Hong Kong, Hong Kong
Background: Chronic neck and shoulder pain are known to be associated with sleep disturbance. It is also commonly recognized that the young adult generation may have developed neck-shoulder pain due to intensive use of handheld mobile devices such as smartphones and tablet computers.
Purpose: The study aimed to examine the association between mobile device use time and the prevalence of chronic pain, and how it has affected sleep among university students.
Methods: The study involved conducting a survey among university students in Hong Kong that collected information about their daily use pattern of mobile devices and musculoskeletal pain symptoms in the neck and back regions in the past 12 months. Students were also asked to complete the Neck Disability Index (NDI) and the Insomnia Severity Index (ISI). A total of 274 persons responded (191 females and 83 males) with a mean age of 20.6 (+2.7) years.
Results: From the survey results, 125 participants (45.6%) had suffered neck pain within the past 12 months. The mean pain scores (0-10) in the neck region was 3.4(±2.0) on right side (n=20), 2.6 (±1.6) for left (n=9) and 96 participants had bilateral neck pain (mean score= 7.3 + 3.8), which was computed by pain score x 2 areas. The self-reported average use time of smartphones were in the range of 2-4 hours (28.8%) and 4-6 hours (32.5%) per day. The participants (n=266) also reported a mean score of 3.4 (±4.0) for the NDI, which would be considered to be normal in functional ability. For the Insomnia Severity Index (ISI), a total of 262 students completed this questionnaire with a mean score of 6.3 (±5.0), which was considered as “no clinically significant insomnia” (0-7 points).
Pearson correlation was examined between neck pain score, average use time of smartphones, NDI total score and ISI total score. The correlation between smartphone use time and neck pain score did not reach a statistical significance (r=.162, p=.062). There were significant correlations between neck pain scores and ISI (r=.249, p=.005), and between NDI and ISI (r=.471, p<.001). Correlation between neck pain score and NDI was also marginally significant (r=.164, p=.060).
Pearson correlation was examined between neck pain score, average use time of smartphones, NDI total score and ISI total score. The correlation between smartphone use time and neck pain score did not reach a statistical significance (r=.162, p=.062). There were significant correlations between neck pain scores and ISI (r=.249, p=.005), and between NDI and ISI (r=.471, p<.001). Correlation between neck pain score and NDI was also marginally significant (r=.164, p=.060).
Conclusion(s): The present results showed that about half of this group of university students had a mild-to-moderate complaint of neck pain. A positive trend seemed to exist between time spent on using smartphones and neck pain. Neck pain seems to have a significant relationship with sleep disorder and this issue warrants further investigations.
Implications: The present results may suggest that young people nowadays have become adapted to the lifestyle of intensive use of mobile devices and this would not interfere with their daily functions and their sleep habits. Physiotherapists should still assess the daily use time and postural habits of patients related to smartphone use, and monitor the impact on the spinal functions and sleep quality.
Funding, acknowledgements: This project was funded by the College Research Grant of the Tung Wah College, Hong Kong. Grant no: 2017-00-51 CRG170201.
Keywords: neck pain, smartphone, sleep
Topic: Occupational health & ergonomics
Did this work require ethics approval? Yes
Institution: Tung Wah College
Committee: Human Ethics Committee
Ethics number: REC2018016
All authors, affiliations and abstracts have been published as submitted.
