Text neck is not associated with neck and upper limb disability in young adults who use smartphones

The objective of the present study was to correlate neck and upper-limb disabilities with neck flexion in university students who are smartphone users. While handling smartphones, a posture with sustained neck flexion known as “Text Neck” is usually adopted, and some authors related to musculoskeletal symptoms on the neck and the upper limb. However, recent studies state that such an association is questionable.

This is an observational study when evaluating 192 university students through questionnaires such as the Neck Disability Index (NDI), Disabilities of Arm, Shoulder, and Hand (DASH), besides the maximal neck flexion, grip and lateral pinch strength of the participants.

The sociodemographic questionnaire demonstrated that most participants had used the device for 5 to 10 years, for five or more hours per day. The DASH questionnaire scores presented an average of 7.2 points, while the data regarding grip and lateral pinch strength showed averages of 29.5 kgf and 8.8 kgf, respectively. The NDI questionnaire scores presented an average of 10.5. The average range of motion of the maximum neck flexion was 27°.

There was no association between neck flexion with the DASH and NDI or the grip and lateral pinch strength after the correlation and binary logistic regression analyses. The results show that the scores of DASH, NDI, hand grip and lateral pinch strength, have no association with the maximum neck flexion.