Prevalence of Forward head posture among car and bike drivers and its relation with neck and cardiopulmonary health parameters- a cross-sectional study

• Published in: PloS one 2024-08, Vol.19 (8), p.e0307016
• Main Authors: Aafreen, Aafreen, Khan, Abdur Raheem, Khan, Ashfaque, Ahmad, Ausaf, Shaphe, Mohammad Abu, Alshehri, Mohammed M, Alajam, Ramzi Abdu, Hakamy, Ali, Alqahtani, Abdulfattah S, Ali, Taimul, Aldhahi, Monira I
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Adolescent; Adult; Aged; Automobile drivers; Automobile Driving; Bicycling - physiology; Binary data; Biology and Life Sciences; Blood pressure; Chi-square test; Commuting; Correlation analysis; Cross-Sectional Studies; Disability; Engineering and Technology; Ergonomics; Ethics; Evaluation; Female; Head - physiology; Health; Health aspects; Health risk assessment; Health risks; Heart beat; Heart rate; Heart Rate - physiology; Humans; India - epidemiology; Male; Medicine and Health Sciences; Middle Aged; Neck; Neck - physiology; Neck pain; Nondestructive testing; Parameters; Physical therapy; Posture; Posture - physiology; Prevalence; Pulmonary function tests; Pulmonary functions; Questionnaires; Range of motion; Range of Motion, Articular - physiology; Research and Analysis Methods; Respiratory function; Smartphones; Statistical analysis; Statistical tests; Suburban areas; Young Adult
• ISSN: 1932-6203; 1932-6203
• DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0307016

This study aimed to evaluate and compare the prevalence of Forward Head Posture (FHP) in car and bike drivers, and its potential correlation with neck and cardiopulmonary parameters. This cross-sectional study involved 400 participants from urban and suburban areas around Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh, India, including 200 car drivers and 200 bike drivers aged 18-65 years with a minimum five-year driving history. Neck health was assessed using measurements such as cervical range of motion and Neck Disability Index (NDI), cardiopulmonary parameters were evaluated through resting heart rate, blood pressure, and pulmonary function tests using the spirometry test, and FHP was assessed using Surgimap application. Statistical analysis was performed using IBM SPSS Statistics software (version 26.0) and included descriptive statistics, hypothesis testing, Chi-square or Fisher's exact test for binary data, and correlation analyses. The result show that difference in the mean FHP between car and bike drivers was statistically significant (p = 0.0001), indicating a higher prevalence of FHP among car drivers than among bike drivers. Correlation analyses revealed significant associations between FHP and neck health metrics, especially cervical flexion (r = 0.71, p