Effect of smartphone use on cervical spine stability

Using a smartphone often involves a sustained head-forward tilt posture, which may deteriorate the mechanism of muscle reaction efficiency or reduce the stiffness of connective tissues of the cervical spine. These changes in muscular and connective tissues can impair cervical spine stability and con...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of biomechanics 2024-03, Vol.166, p.112053-112053, Article 112053
Main Authors: Kim, Eunjee, Song, Donghyun, Park, Dasom, Kim, Hyorim, Shin, Gwanseob
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Cervical spine stability
Chairs
Connective tissues
Data collection
Discomfort
Electromyography
Head
Head flexion
Kinematics
Neck
Neck pain
Pain
Posture
Smartphone
Smartphones
Spine (cervical)
Stability analysis
Stiffness
Citations: Items that this one cites
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:Using a smartphone often involves a sustained head-forward tilt posture, which may deteriorate the mechanism of muscle reaction efficiency or reduce the stiffness of connective tissues of the cervical spine. These changes in muscular and connective tissues can impair cervical spine stability and contribute to developing neck pain symptoms. In this experiment, change in the cervical spine stability associated with a sustained smartphone use posture was evaluated by quantifying the effective stiffness and the reflexive responses of the head to sudden perturbations. Seventeen young smartphone users maintained their heads tilted forward approximately 30° for 30 min while watching videos on their smartphones in sitting. Data show that the measures of cervical spine stability did not change significantly after the smartphone use task despite developing mild to moderate neck and upper body discomfort symptoms. Study findings imply that keeping the head tilt posture for 30 min for smartphone use did not significantly alter spinal stability, rejecting its association with neck discomfort.
ISSN:0021-9290
1873-2380
DOI:10.1016/j.jbiomech.2024.112053