Résumé
Purpose: this study aimed at determining the association between non-specific neck pain and the use of smart phones, iPads, laptops, and computers by university students
Relevance: neck pain is frequently common among adults and contributes significantly to the demand for medical services and the economic burden of absence from work. Population-based studies indicated a prevalence of neck pain between 12 and 34% with an elevated prevalence of the symptoms among users of portable electrical devices. Prolonged use of computers, smartphones and other electronic devices is very common among university students
Participants: this is a cross-sectional study included 355 undergraduate students from King Abdulaziz University. The data were collected though interviewing using a structured questionnaire to investigate the frequency of neck pain in relation to the types of devices used by the students
Methods: students had pain or numbness in the neck according to the frequency of reported pain episodes; pain or numbness in the neck responded by saying very often, often, quite often, sometimes and never. The question of assessment of neck pain was 'Have you had an ache; pain or numbness in the neck during the last 12 months?
Analysis: the comparisons were made between respondents according to the gender variable, type of devices used in the study and types of devices used for entertainment. The chi-square test was used to detect the significant differences between categories. In this study, a P-value less than 0.05 were assumed to be statistically significant [1]
Results: the vast majority of the students were electronic devices users 98%, of them, 92% of used both smartphones and iPads for entertainment, while 32% used these devices for purpose of study. Approximately 64% of the students never complained of neck pain, while 8.2% suffered from neck pain either often or very often. The findings of this study showed significant associations between neck pain and risk factors such as gender, type of devices used for entertainment, and type of devices used for study. About 44% of female students reported the occurrence of neck pain in comparison with only 29% of male students. Regarding the type of devices used for entertainment, 26.3% of students used smartphone and iPad for entertainment, while only 16% of students used desktops and laptops for this purpose. On another side, 45.2% of the students used smartphone and iPads for study, while about 26% of them used desktops and laptops to study
Conclusions: most of the university students use electronic devices usually for leisure activities. About a third of the students complained of neck pain symptoms which showed significant associations with female gender and use of small portable devices, smartphone and iPads, either for study or leisure purposes