Frequency of neck pain, smartphone dependence and neck disability in physiotherapy undergraduates

• Autor(a) principal: Moreira, Loraine Brito
• Data de Publicação: 2022
• Outros Autores: Pataro, Silvana Maria Santos
• Tipo de documento: Artigo
• Idioma: por
• Título da fonte: Revista Baiana de Saúde Pública (Online)
• Texto Completo: https://rbsp.sesab.ba.gov.br/index.php/rbsp/article/view/3314
• topic: Cervicalgia; Estudantes; Smartphone; Estudos transversais; Epidemiologia; Neck pain; Students; Smartphone; Cross-sectional studies; Epidemiology; Dolor de cuello; Estudiantes; Teléfono inteligente; Estudios transversales; Epidemiología

This study sought to investigate the frequency of neck pain and its association with smartphone dependence and neck disability in physiotherapy undergraduates. An observational cross-sectional study was conducted with physiotherapy students from a public university in the state of Bahia, Brazil, between November 2019 and February 2020. Data were collected by means of an evaluation form with sociodemographic data, the Neck Disability Index (NDI) questionnaire for assessing neck disability, and the Smartphone Addiction Inventory (SPAI-BR) questionnaire for screening smartphone-dependent behavior. Analyses were performed using the Epi-Info statistical package (V.3.5.2), and a significance level of p-value < 0.05. The study sample consisted of 150 physiotherapy students, mostly women, with a mean age of 22.0 ± 3.0 years. Frequency of neck pain in the last year occurred in 66% of respondents, with a statistically significant association only for the variable pain in the last year in 97% of students with neck flexion positioning while using a smartphone (p = 0.003). Frequency of neck pain in the past 12 months was high in this population. This study found no association between these variables with smartphone dependence and cervical disability in university students; however, it did reveal an association between frequency of neck pain in the past year and flexion positioning of the cervical spine during smartphone use.