The influence of computer use on the sitting posture of high school students who develop neck and shoulder pain

Abstract

The prevalence of neck and shoulder pain (NSP) is increas-ing in adolescents and is related to increased time spent on computers.The influence of sitting posture on the development of computer-relatedNSP among adolescents is unclear. This study investigated how the sittingposture of the upper quadrant changes over a ten minute period ofcomputer use in once asymptomatic adolescents who later developed NSP.M ethod: Sitting alignment was measured using the Photographic PostureA nalysis Method. The students performed a typing task while two con -secutive photographs were taken ten minutes apart. The students werefollowed for six months and the photographs of those who developed NSPw ere analy z ed.R esults: The results show that there is no significant change in sitting posture over time. Observationally the most common pattern was to move from a more flexed posture to a more upright posture and there were greater posturalchanges in the case group (students with extreme cervical angles) compared to the control group (students with thepreferred cervical ROM (34.75º - 43.95º)), although both findings were not statistically significant.Conclusion: There was no change, over a ten minute period, in the sitting posture of computing high school studentswho developed computer-related NSP after six months therefore students should be encouraged to avoid monotonoussitting in front of computers because this could be associated with NSP.