Musculoskeletal disorder and pain associated with smartphone use: A systematic review of biomechanical evidence

Abstract

The number of smartphone users is growing dramatically. Using the smartphone frequently forces the users to adopt an awkward posture leading to an increased risk of musculoskeletal disorders and pain. The objective of this study is to conduct a systematic review of studies that assess the effect of smartphone use on musculoskeletal disorders and pain. A systematic literature search of AMED, CINAHL, PubMed, Proquest, ScienceDirect using specific keywords relating to smartphone, musculoskeletal disorders and pain was conducted. Reference lists of related papers were searched for additional studies. Methodological quality was assessed by two independent reviewers using the modified Downs and Black checklist. From 639 reports identified from electronic databases, 11 were eligible to include in the review. One paper was found from the list of references and added to the review. The quality scores were rated as moderate. The results show that muscle activity of upper trapezius, erector spinae and the neck extensor muscles are increased as well as head flexion angle, head tilt angle and forward head shifting which increased during the smartphone use. Also, smartphone use in a sitting position seems to cause more shift in head–neck angle than in a standing position. Smartphone usage may contribute to musculoskeletal disorders. The findings of the included papers should be interpreted carefully in light of the issues highlighted by the moderate-quality assessment scores.

The Matthew Effect in Recovery from Smartphone Addiction in a 6-Month Longitudinal Study of Children and Adolescents

“…PSU is increasingly prevalent worldwide. Depression, anxiety, sleep disturbance, poor academic achievement, and physical hazards such as increased risk of accidents, musculoskeletal problems, and ophthalmic problems have been reported in numerous cross-sectional studies [11,12,[14][15][16][17][18][19][20]. However, the long-term consequences of PSU remain largely unknown.…”

“…PSU has been associated with depression, anxiety, aggression, decreased sleep duration/quality, and other addictive behaviors [4,[9][10][11][12][13][14]. It is also related to physical health risks such as dry eye symptoms, musculoskeletal pain, and accidents [15][16][17][18][19][20]. While such physical problems may arise as a direct consequence of uncontrolled excessive smartphone use, the relationship between psychosocial problems and PSU is yet to be established.…”

Selfies as Duplex Non-verbal Communication: Human—Media Interaction, Human—Human Interaction, Case Study, and Research Manifesto

“…To the best of our knowledge, few studies have investigated the kinematics of smartphone-related actions. Those that have, have been interested mostly on the kinematics of thumb movements during texting (Kim et al, 2014;Gustafsson et al, 2018) and on the biomechanics of smartphone usage as predictors of muscoloskeletal disorders (Eitivipart et al, 2018;Vahedi et al, 2019). In the case study presented here, we limited our inquiry to comparisons of the final recorded selfies to the final positions of the selfie-taker and smartphone.…”

The Association between Symptoms of Nomophobia, Insomnia and Food Addiction among Young Adults: Findings of an Exploratory Cross-Sectional Survey

“…However, in recent years, a diversity of problems arising from mobile devices have become prominent [ 4 ]. Adverse health effects of using mobile devices include repetitive strain injuries [ 5 ], muscle tension [ 6 ], headaches [ 7 ], decreased attention [ 8 ], anxiety [ 9 ], depression [ 10 ], poor concentration [ 11 ], sleep problems [ 12 ], and change in body weight [ 13 ]. Some investigations concluded that the use of mobile devices could lead to addictive, antisocial, and potentially dangerous behaviors [ 3 , 14 , 15 ].…”