An empirical study on relationship between symptoms of musculoskeletal disorders and amount of smartphone usage

Abstract

This study was conducted to investigate the characteristics of smartphone usage and posture of users during using smartphone. A survey was conducted for 983 smartphone users to understand the association between smartphone usage and including subjective symptoms associated with musculoskeletal disorders.Main results from the survey were as follows; 1) 18.8% of the subjects experienced musculoskeletal symptoms at least at one of body parts. Specifically, 8.1%, 5.6%, 4.1%, and 11.3% of the subjects experienced musculoskeletal symptoms at neck, shoulder, elbow, and hand respectively, 2) The symptoms of musculoskeletal disorders were also associated with amount of text message and time for daily usage of smartphone. Specifically, relative risks of musculoskeletal disorders at hand/wrist/fingers in terms of "amount of text message" and "time for daily usage" for experienced user were 1.425 and 1.368 respectively to inexperienced user.This study identified 'amount of text message' and 'time for daily usage' as the major risk factors of smartphone usage in terms of musculoskeletal symptoms. The results of the study provided a good basis in order to remove or reduce the risks associated with musculoskeletal symptoms due to smartphone usage.

Factors associated with neck disorders among university student smartphone users

“…The results of a different study conducted in Asia with a similar survey method are from Hong Kong, where musculoskeletal disorders among smartphone users were shown to have a much higher prevalence than the Korean study conducted by Eom et al [8]. In the Hong Kong study, 70% of respondents reported having experienced neck pain (n = 1,049), 65% had shoulder pain, 46% experienced wrist and finger pain, [10]; the reasons for the difference in the study results from Korea and Hong Kong are not clear, however, there was a considerable difference in the sample size.…”

“…Musculoskeletal problems are among the most common occupational disorders in many countries and have an increasing trend [7]. An epidemiological study of 938 smartphone users conducted in the Republic of Korea found that 18.8% of smartphone users (n = 185) experienced musculoskeletal symptoms in at least one of their body parts [8]. In another Korean study involving 292 smartphone users, Kim et al [6] found the most painful body regions from smartphones use were reported to be the neck (55.8%) and shoulders (54.8 %) [9].…”

“…Physical design factors related to the smartphone itself may also lead to smartphone users developing musculoskeletal disorders. These physical factors have been reported in many survey studies, includes: the size of smartphone liquid crystal displays (n = 292) [9], the number of text messages (relative risk = 1.425) (n = 983), the time spent on daily usage of the smartphone (relative risk = 1.368) (n = 2,353) [4,8] and prolonged static posture during smartphone usage (n = 1,049) [10]. Several studies have reported psychosocial factors associated with smartphone use.…”

Hubungan Intensitas Penggunaan Game Online Terhadap Resiko Kejadian De Quervain Syndrome Pada Pemain Games Online Smartphone Di Kota Makassar

“…Game tidak hanya dimainkan di komputer tetapi sudah bisa dimainkan di smartphone yang membuat seseorang menjadi lebih mudah dalam memainkan game online dimanapun dan kapanpun orang bisa memainkannya (Ayu & Saragih, 2016). Eom et al, (2013)…”

Investigation of Cognitive Gains in Object Assembly by Using Augmented Reality

“…Despite the advantages, it's excessive usage has had ill-effects on users. There have been reports on the symptoms of musculoskeletal disorders associated with the amount of text message and the time for daily usage of smart-phone during the study of characteristics of smart-phone usage and posture of users [40]. Smart-glasses not only help in relieving the "text neck" [15] but also overcome the inherent short-comings of a smart-phone.…”