Abstract:
Background: Smartphone use has greatly increased in recent days, and most of the daily
tasks are done through these devices. As a result, long time use may involve bad posture
that may result in musculoskeletal pain. Therefore, it is important to evaluate the
association between addiction/overuse of smartphones and musculoskeletal pain.
Aim: To determine the proportion of addictive/overuse of smartphones among university
students and to investigate if there is an association between smartphone addiction and
musculoskeletal pain.
Method: A cross-sectional study conducted at Bangladeshi university students. The
Smartphone Addiction Scale Short Version (SAS-SV) was used to measure the level of
smartphone addiction while the Nordic musculoskeletal questionnaire (NMQ) was
utilized to evaluate the musculoskeletal pain.
Results: The prevalence of smartphone addiction among university students was
relatively high (70%). The most frequent pain related to smartphone addiction was in the
neck (66%) followed by upper back (35.8%), lower back (36.5%), wrists and joints
(30.3%). The academic year level was statistically associated with the level of
smartphone addiction. Moreover, a significant relationship found between
musculoskeletal pain and smartphone addiction at certain body regions, neck and upper
back other musculoskeletal parameters included in the test were found to have no
statistically significant association.
Conclusion: Almost three-quarters of the university students identified as addicted to
smartphones. The most common musculoskeletal pain was the neck, upper back, lower
back , wrist and hand joints. The academic year level found to have a significant
association with the level of smartphone addiction while musculoskeletal pain such as
neck, wrist, and knee were the independent significant factors of smartphone addiction;
therefore, it is important to educate the community about the effect of being addicted to
smartphone use in order to prevent the consequences of this behavior.
Keywords: Addiction, medical students, musculoskeletal pain, Nordic musculoskeletal
questionnaire, smartphone, Smartphone Addiction Scale Short Version
Description:
This dissertation is submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Degree of Bachelor of Science in Physiotherapy, Bangladesh Health Professions Institute, Faculty of Medicine, the University of Dhaka, Bangladesh.
