Prevalence of Shoulder Girdle Dysfunction in Computer Users with Non-specific Neck Pain

Prolonged improper postures while using computers/laptops/smartphones result in many health problems such as neck pain, shoulder girdle pain, forearm and wrist pain etc. High prevalence of nonspecific neck pain was reported in office workers who use computers compared to the general population. The purpose of the present study was to determine the prevalence of neck pain, shoulder girdle dysfunction and the physical factors associated with computer users.

A Cross sectional, observational study that was carried out at a call center that used computers terminals.

One hundred and eleven (111) male computer users with mean age of 34.3±9.13 years, that worked more than 8 hours a day on computers, were included in the study. They were evaluated for the following physical factors-Pectoralis minor tightness, scapular asymmetry, scapular kinematics, Forward Shoulder Posture, cervical range of motion and Posterior Capsular Tightness. The data were analyzed using descriptive statistics.

There was a high prevalence (n = 72; 64.8%) of non-specific neck pain in our sample. Computer users with neck pain demonstrated increased deficits of cervical flexion-extension ROM (88.2%) followed by cervical side flexion (96.3%) and cervical rotation (79.2%). Shoulder girdle examination revealed a higher frequency of inferomedial scapular border prominences with neck pain, along with a high prevalence of posterior capsular tightness (75%), tight pectoralis minor muscle length (26.3%), abnormal lateral scapular slide test values with arms abducted (84.7%) and protracted shoulders (37.5%), observed in computer users with non-specific neck pain