Teens who use smartphones for more than 3 hours a day are more likely to have back pain

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• Apr 10, 2023 | Kabir Chakraborty

The data analysed came from surveys of 14- to 18-year-old male and female high school students in their first and second years in Bauru, a medium-sized city in the state of Sao Paulo.

Digital
Desk: Children
and teenagers are spending more time staring at screens, often with poor
posture, as a result of the popularity of smartphones and tablets, as well as
the proliferation of television channels, computer games, and educational
programmes.

A study funded by FAPESP
and reported in the scientific journal Healthcare identified several risk
factors for spinal health, including looking at screens for more than three
hours per day, sitting or lying on the stomach, and sitting or lying on the
back.

The research
concentrated on thoracic spine discomfort. (TSP). The thoracic spine runs from
the bottom of the neck to the beginning of the lumbar spine and is placed in
the back of the chest (the thorax). The data analysed came from surveys of 14-
to 18-year-old male and female high school students in their first and second
years in Bauru, a medium-sized city in the state of Sao Paulo.

A baseline questionnaire
was completed by 1,628 individuals between March and June 2017, with 1,393
completing a follow-up questionnaire in 2018. The study found a one-year
prevalence of 38.4% (the proportion of those who reported TSP in both the
baseline and follow-up surveys) and a one-year incidence of 10.1%. (new TSP
reported only in the follow-up survey). TSP was reported by more girls than
boys.

Risk factors

TSP
is prevalent in various age groups of the general population around the world,
with prevalence ranging from 15%-35% in adults and 13%-35% in children and
adolescents. The rapid increase in the usage of electronic gadgets during the
COVID-19 pandemic certainly exacerbated the problem. According to various
studies, the risk factors connected with TSP are physical, physiological,
psychological, and behavioural. There is also substantial evidence that
physical exercise, sedentary behaviors, and mental illnesses all have an impact
on spine health. The World Health Organization (WHO) considers all of these
elements significant in its most recent global review of evidence and guidance.

"The study can be
used to inform health education programmes for school students, teachers,
staff, and parents," said first author Alberto de Vitta. He holds a PhD in
education from the State University of Campinas (UNICAMP) and a postdoctoral
position in public health from the University of Sao Paulo (UNESP) in Botucatu.

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"This is consistent
with some of the objectives of the National Curriculum Parameters [PCN,
Brazilian government guidelines for secondary schools], which state that
schools are responsible for health education, including the identification of
risks to individual and collective health and interventions to combat them, as
well as the promotion of self-care habits with regard to the body's
possibilities and limits," said Vitta, who is currently teaching and
researching at Eduvale College as a faculty member in its Department of
Physical Therapy in Avare, Sao Paulo state, and the University of Sapucai
Valley’s Graduate Program in Education, Knowledge and Society in Pouso Alegre,
Minas Gerais state.

color:#222222">According to the paper, information on TSP risk factors in high
school students is crucial because children and adolescents with back pain are
less active, perform worse academically, and have more psychological
difficulties. Furthermore, less studies on TSP have been completed than on
lower back and neck discomfort. A systematic review of the TSP literature
discovered just two prospective studies on predictive variables.

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