Impact of Smartphone Addiction on Neck Pain and Disability in University Students

Introduction: In the present era, the use of smartphones for teaching learning and communication in education in India has raised manyfold. The increasing use of smartphones in our daily life has brought about numerous musculoskeletal problems. Impairments in the neck is the most common when compared to other parts of the body. Aim: To find out the impact of smartphone addiction on neck pain and disability. Materials and Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted on students from Garden City University aged between 18-25 years through non probability sampling technique. The data was collected from August to September 2019. The addiction level to a smartphone was measured using Smartphone Addiction Scale Short Version (SAS-SV) and the Neck disability was measured using the Neck Disability Index (NDI) and were circulated. The questionnaires were shared to the students through electronic media and 108 subjects participated in it. The data were analysed using IBM SPSS 20.0 statistical software to correlate smartphone addiction scale and NDI. Spearman's correlation test was performed to analyse the relationship between smartphone assessment scale short version and NDI Results: The Spearman correlation analysis clearly showed that there was a moderate positive correlation (r=0.682) between smartphone addiction and neck pain and neck disability in university students and the level of significance was (p<0.01). Conclusion: This study concluded that longer the use of smartphones would result in significant neck pain and disability. The students who were under the category of addiction to smartphone would require ergonomic advice and education about the ill-effects of smartphone and the various musculoskeletal problems that may arise due to overuse.