How Mobile Phones Cause Neck Pain(2024)

If someone complaining to much neck pain for unknown reason, they must read How Mobile Phones Cause Neck Pain [ The Best Concept 2024].

Our body is associated with our head by a significant structure, the “Neck.” Neck pain is considered the fourth reason for disability [1]. Overuse and injury, which cause repetitive stress, commonly result in neck pain. This is called painful neck syndrome or text neck syndrome[2]. “Text neck ” “is used to depict neck pain that happens in individuals who spend significant stretches utilizing electronic gadgets like cell phones, computers, and tablets with a bad body posture [3]. Text neck syndrome symptoms typically include pain in the upper back, shoulders, and cervical region(P. Premalatha, 2017).

Read more about other muscle conditions such as Active and Passive Insufficiency of Multi-Joint Muscles.

How Mobile Phones Cause Neck Pain

Text neck And How Mobile Phones Cause Neck Pain had defined by Dr. Dean Fishman, who is a professional in the treatment of misalignment of joints in the united state. “tech neck” explains repeated pressure injury or an overdue disorder. When someone constantly maintains his or her neck in suspending position or bends in an onward pose and watches at his/her mobile phone or another computerized tool for a lengthened period. Nowadays, Smartphone technology has become so famous; that countless citizens are wasting their bulky quantity of time only on portable gadgets, such as mobile phones, laptops, and e-books.

This cause prolonged forward position of the neck when crooked over these computerized devices developing in the “text neck.” This stipulation is an expanding well-being fear and can involve countless inhabitants of the entire world. The expression of “text neck,” or another term, “tech neck position,” may be explained as overuse pressure harm and constant hurting from unnecessary viewing or communicating on a Smartphone for a lengthy time. Tech neck might lead to countless hurtful signs and indications, such as neck pain, shoulder blade pain, upper back pain, persistent headaches, and an enlarged backbone curve. Mobile phone users habitually sustain flexed onward skull position during viewing downgrade at the screen of android mobile phones.[4]

The thumb is generally entailed in smartphone handling. Many types of research enclose a complete pain condition affecting the tendon on the thumb side of the wrist and its involvement with many computerized tools. A wrist injury specifies De Quervain tenosynovitis over the lateral surface on the distal part of the radius bone. Overdo of the thumb for mobile phone chit-chat has been measured as a problematic issue for De Quervain tenosynovitis. The most widespread judgment is a positive Finkelstein test [5]. This is How Mobile Phones Cause Neck Pain.

Manifestation-How Mobile Phones Cause Neck Pain

Before proceeding the discussion on How Mobile Phones Cause Neck Pain, lets have a look on changes that occur in side neck.

• The anatomical connection between the neck and cervical spine is quite complicated. It has facilitated by the organization of the muscles, bones, nerves, and spine. The aggravation of the nerves can cause neck and shoulder pain.[4]
• As your head moves downward lower cervical region goes into hyperflexion, which is connected with the shoulder and upper back region causing flattening of the spine (Masoumi & Akoochakian, 2019).
• Meanwhile, the upper region goes into hyperextension by increasing the curve connected with the skull. This normal process exerts pressure on the facet joints, Intervertebral disc, and spine, causing them to stretch. It also increases the tension in the spinal root level (Won et al., 2011).
• Spending more time using cell phones in a stationary posture causes text neck syndrome, which results in serious issues or problems such as neck and shoulder pain (Dolah, Yie, & Gee, 2020).
• In average posture head of an adult typically weighs 4.5 to 5.5 kg. Changing the angle of this posture and moving the head in flexion exerts more head weight on the spine and neck muscles, causing more stress(Namwongsa, Puntumetakul, Neubert, & Boucaut, 2018).
• This increase in weight is about 12kg in at least 15-degree flexion; increasing it further to 60 degrees may increase the weight stress to about 27kg.(Kubal & Dsouza, 2020) Hence, children with more head-body ratio are more prone to getting text-neck syndrome than adults.

Literature Search

• In 2018, Abdullah Farooq Khan researched 101 students, of which 58.4% were female and 41.6% were male. All students were included who used smartphones for the past five years. In the questionnaire, students were asked about their preference for using devices and e-reading and warm-up exercises before using a smartphone or other electronic devices, on which 5.9% of students warmed up their muscles before using smartphones. A majority, 94.1%, did not warm-up neck muscles, majority of the students who did not warm up before using phones hence had neck pain. 

• In 2018 Abdul Rahman Nasser Alzaid et al. The Prevalence of neck pain and its relationship with smartphone usage among 2435 Saudi people. An online survey was done to collect data, and results found that about 70 percent of people using smartphones for 5 to 8 hours for the past 7 to 11 years had neck pain. Based on this result, it was concluded that there is a close association between neck pain and time usage of smartphones greater the usage more significant will be the complaint of neck pain.

• In 2020 S. Zindahiet al conducted study that discussed the technique in phones, which the participant to straighten their posture decreased the chance of stress cervical injury problems, that is usually caused by faulty posture.

• In 2021 at six medical colleges in Jeddah, a cross-sectional study was carried out by Alsiwed, Alsarwani, and colleagues. This study aimed to assess factors, Prevalence, and their contribution to text neck syndrome. They access How Mobile Phone Cause Neck Pain? The participant completed the neck disability index and the smartphone addiction scale. There were 428 medical students in all. Where 304 of them were women and 124 were men. The average age was 22.11 plus 2.07 years. According to this survey, 68.1% of people have text neck syndrome. This study found no statistically significant link between gender and the NDI or the SAS-SV. The period remarkably links to NDI. Medical students must study long while craning their necks and glancing at smartphones for educational reasons helps explain this phenomenon of high occurrence. According to the study, only 7.5% of students in this survey warmed up their neck muscles before using cell phones. According to the study, most medical students have neck disorders, and there is a strong correlation between Smartphone use and text neck ailments. Beyond this, prolonged Smartphone use and improper neck alignment were prevalent among students. This is how How Mobile Phone Cause Neck Pain. [6] 

• A cross-sectional survey was conducted by kumara in 2021 on Indian students. This study aimed to discover how common text neck syndrome and neck pain were among college students and how neck pain affected their everyday activities. A customized questionnaire was created and distributed among the college students using Snowball sampling techniques. The participants were chosen by a selection of universities.108 of the 282 participants were men, while the remaining 174 were women. They ranged in age from roughly 18 to 40. The minimum daily usage of a smartphone is three hours. According to all replies in this study, 58.5 percent of people reported experiencing neck, upper back, or shoulder pain three months prior and sought medical treatment to ease their symptoms. 41.5 percent of the respondents reported having no difficulty in the three months prior. 36.4 percent of respondents said they had a minor disability, 36.0% said they had no impairment, 23.4% said a moderate disability, and 2.1% said they had a severe disability. The remaining 2.1% said they had a permanent disability. The results of this study show that men were more 16 homophobic than women and How Mobile Phone Cause Neck Pain. When compared to the results of other earlier investigations, this research showed that respondents’ neck disabilities were more severe[7]
• Yousaf Ali and Abid Ali conducted a cross-sectional survey of Saudi Arabia’s population in 2020 to recognize the Prevalence and knowledge of inhabitants regarding Text neck syndrome and How Mobile Phone Cause Neck Pain. The survey allowed for queries to assess the frequency and recognition of text neck syndrome and sociodemographic data. Three hundred eighty-five persons in total took part in the survey. 55.1% of the 385 respondents were male, and 50.1% were between the ages of 21 and 30. Respondent was queried regarding their commonness of using Smartphones each day.61% of those who participated used smartphones for more than 5 hours daily. 90.1% of the partakers were aware of the distress of using Smartphones. It shows that even though 80.5% of the respondents had symptoms of the disease, text neck syndrome was only 1.6% expected in the city.Moreover93% of the respondents were advised to reduce their use of smartphones due to their symptoms. Text neck syndrome appeared to be underdiagnosed in Jazancity, Saudi Arabia, where more than 75% of the respondents reported symptoms of this illness. This disparity in Prevalence may be attributable to the general public’s and medical experts’ inadequate familiarity with the signs and symptoms of Text Neck Syndrome.[8]
• In the young population, a pilot survey was carried out in 2020. This pilot study sought to ascertain the impact of smartphone use on neck discomfort, functional limitations, and cervical lordosis. Young people who applied to an outpatient clinic had patients with persistent neck discomfort who had been experiencing it for longer than three months. Participants in this study had to be at least 18 years old, use smartphones, be eligible, have chronic neck discomfort, and be literate enough to complete the survey. The Smartphone Addiction Scale Short Version was used to assess smartphone use (SAS-SV). Pain and impairment were assessed using the Neck Bournemouth Questionnaire (NBQ), the Neck Disability Index (NDI), and the 100 mm Visual Analog Scale (VAS) Cobb technique was used to assess cervical lordosis angle. The findings of this pilot study showed How Mobile Phone Cause Neck Pain? in patients with smartphone addiction who had neck pain and disorders related to neck pain that was much more severe than in individuals without smartphone addiction. It was shown that the intensity of neck discomfort and impairment rose along with smartphone usage. Smartphone addiction, however, had no impact on cervical lordosis. An independent risk factor for neck pain and disability caused by neck discomfort has been identified as bright 17 phone addiction. Our patients with persistent neck discomfort may benefit from avoiding prolonged neck flexion.[9]
• Galczyk carried out a study in 2020. The SMS study’s goal was to illustrate the growing risks associated with mobile phone use and to identify the primary health issues that these users face. It was based on a review of the literature. Examining the literature covering scientific publications from 2011 to 2019, Smartphone users who were addicted to their phones developed cervical spine issues. This may be linked to repetitive flexion postures that change the cervical spine’s natural curvature and put more strain on it, leading to inflammation and spasms in the ligaments and skeletal system nearby—a Pakistani study to assess smartphone addiction and any unusual symptoms of neck function. The study’s findings revealed How Mobile Phone Cause Neck Pain? Every subject used their smartphones frequently, and there was a strong relationship between smartphone addiction and varying degrees of neck pain. This literature review supported programs to alert individuals about the physical risks of excessive smartphone use. Using smartphones excessively could harm the cervical spine’s ability to function and produce pain.[10]
• In order to ascertain the prevalence rate of SMS texting thumb and neck syndrome among college students using smartphones, Ahmad and Akhter did a cross-sectional study in 2019. A total of 113 men and women participated. The age range of 17 to 25 and a minimal amount of daily smartphone use of one hour were the selection criteria for this study. Using the simple random sampling procedure, the necessary sample size was recruited. Participants were asked to complete Performa, which contained the Cornell hand, the neck disability index, and the homophobic questionnaire. This study found that 46% of the population experienced neck pain with prolonged Smartphone use. Thirteen cents have mild, 67.5% moderate, and 19.5% have nomophobia. According to reports, 28.3-29.2% of smartphone users have SMS thumb. The primary causes likely to cause the related syndrome include the heavy usage of the thumb and palm muscles while typing and the continual and recurrent movements of the fingers and thumb. Thumbs are addicted to the keyboard of mobile devices and use high force to type. This study concluded that the adverse effects of smartphones are positively correlated with text neck syndrome, SMS thumb, and the Nomophobia questionnaire.[11]

Frequently Asked Questions- How Mobile Phone Cause Neck Pain

References

1. Anand, B. and P. Sharma, Association of Hand Performance with Neck Disability in Text Neck Syndrome among College Students. Website: www. import. Com, 2020. 14(4): p. 13.

2. Genez Tarrifa, S.Z. and R.D.l. Hoz Lara. Text Neck, More Technology, Less Health? in Congress of the International Ergonomics Association. 2018. Springer.

3. Vijayakumar, M., S. Mujumdar, and A. Dehadrai, Assessment of co-morbid factors associated with text-neck syndrome among mobile phone users. IJSRST, 2018. 4(9): p. 38-46.

4. Neupane, S., U. Ali, and A. Mathew, Text neck syndrome-systematic review. Imperial journal of interdisciplinary research, 2017. 3(7): p. 141-148.

5. Baabdullah, A., et al., The association between smartphone addiction and thumb/wrist pain: A cross-sectional study. Medicine, 2020. 99(10).

6. Alsiwed, K.T., et al., The Prevalence of text neck syndrome and its association with smartphone use among medical students in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. Journal of Musculoskeletal Surgery and Research, 2021. 5(4): p. 266-272.

7. Kumari, S., R. Kumar, and D. Sharma, Text Neck Syndrome: The Pain of Modern Era. International Journal of Health Sciences and Research, 2021. 11(11): p. 161-165.

8. Abdali, Y.A., Sherwani, A. A., Alsharif, A. A., Kariri, A. M., Khormi, Y. B. Y., Jobran, M., & Lughbi, M. M. H. (2020). Text neck syndrome prevalence and knowledge among the Saudi population in Jazan, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia: A cross-sectional study. City, 207, 53.58.

9. Cankurtaran, D., Yigman, Z. A., Yigman, F., & Celik, G. (2021). How does smartphone usage affect the severity of neck pain, neck pain-related disability, and cervical lordosis? A pilot study. Medical Science and Discovery, 8(4), 254-259.

10. Gałczyk, M., Kułak, W., & Zalewska, A. (2020). Is the use of mobile phones good for your neck? Text neck syndrome as an awareness of the existing threat–a literature review. Medycyna Ogólna i Nauki o Zdrowiu, 26(3), 240-243., 2020.

11. Ahmed, S., Akter, R., Pokhrel, N., & Samuel, A. J. (2021). Prevalence of text neck syndrome and SMS thumb among smartphone users in college-going students: a cross-sectional survey study. Journal of Public Health, 29(2), 411-416, Prevalence of text neck syndrome and SMS thumb among smartphone users in college-going students: a cross-sectional survey study. 2021.