Impact of Computer use on Prevalence of Neck Pain and Consequent Disability

To study the prevalence of neck pain in computer professionals.

To study the consequences of neck pain in terms of disability in daily life.

To study the gender related differences in neck pain.

The survey was conducted in various software companies namely Cognizant Technologies, Tech Mahindra and Copper Lab. About 100 subjects, randomly chosen, aged 20–30 years participated in the survey.

The study was aimed at determining the association between the self-report of pain and disability by means of a questionnaire. The questionnaire included was a modified version of the Northwick neck pain questionnaire (NPQ).

The questionnaire was mailed to the study subjects and response was studied. The subjects were to assess parameters in relation to their neck pain. Each parameter was scored on a 0–4 point scale.

The results showed that there were significantly increase in incidence of neck pain with age and computer usage. The incidence of neck pain was around 81% for men and around 91% for women.

The prevalence increases with age and longer working hours and generally women have higher neck pain than men.