Effect of Chronic Smartphone Use on Upper Extremity Muscle Activity and Pain Threshold

Abstract

Background

The use of Smartphone has increased rapidly leading to musculoskeletal disorders. A prevalence of 35% for neck pain and musculoskeletal injuries associated with chronic Smartphone use has been reported in the recent studies. Among them, musculoskeletal disorders occur predominantly in the fingers, neck, back and shoulder. Poor posture is the contributing factor for all the musculoskeletal disorders such as fatigue, stress, neck pain, and increased muscle activity.

Objective The study is aimed to review the effect of chronic Smartphone use on upper extremity muscle activity and pain threshold.
Methodology

An extensive literature review was done on various electronic handprint databases which included Pedro, pub med, science direct, Ovid. Total 7 articles were reviewed and reported based on eligibility criteria, which includes 2 Prospective cohort study and 5 Cross sectional study.

Conclusion

Based on the 7 articles reviewed, chronic Smartphone use was associated with poor posture leading to neck pain and increased muscle activity. Timely interpretation and interventions along with good knowledge about postural correction will be the key entities to deal with text neck.