Musculoskeletal Pain and Risk Factors Associated with Smartphone Use in University Students.

BACKGROUND

Smartphone has become a very popular necessity among students. An individual has to look at their phone's small monitor and perform repetitive movements in an awkward posture for a prolonged duration.

OBJECTIVES

To assess the prevalence of musculoskeletal pain and associated risk factors in university students because of smartphone usage.

SUBJECTS AND

METHODS

A cross-sectional study was conducted with 2000 university students using a semi-structured questionnaire comprising demographic profile, smartphone usage characteristics, presence of musculoskeletal pain, and specific area of pain according to the body region.

RESULTS

Among the 2000 students, 44.05% reported musculoskeletal pain. The most common sites of pain were the neck (34.2%), thumb (17.45%), lower back (16.7%), and elbow (16.6%). There was an association between prevalence of musculoskeletal pain with the size of the smartphone (P = 0.005), the predominant purpose of smartphone usage (P = 0.002), position preferred while using smartphone (P = 0.000), and the level at which smartphone is held during usage (P = 0.05). Logistic regression analysis revealed that the strongest predictor of musculoskeletal pain was the size of the smartphone.

CONCLUSION

The study reported that the prevalence of pain in smartphone users is high with common sites being neck, thumb, and lower back region. Also, the size of the smartphone had a significant association with musculoskeletal pain.