Abstract
BackgroundSmartphone use has been associated with pain in the upper quadrant; however, the relationship between usage duration and low back pain is still unclear. This study investigated the association between continuous smartphone use up to 30-min and back pain severity and proprioception acuity in patients with chronic low back pain. Fifty-eight patients with chronic mechanical LBP played a game for 10- and 30-min. In each session, pain and back repositioning errors were measured at baseline and immediately after task completion.ResultsPain significantly but slightly increased following smartphone use, regardless to the duration (after 10 min: mean increase = 0.75 ± 1.17, P value < 0.001, 95% CI 0.44–1.06; after 30 min: mean increase = 0.96 ± 1.93, P value < 0.001, 95% CI 0.44–1.46). However, changes in perceived pain scores were not significantly different between the two tested durations (P value = 0.42). Proprioception repositioning error was not significantly different within the same testing session (mean change = 0.08 ± 1.83, 0.13 ± 1.77, P value = 0.73, 0.58, 95% CI − 0.40–0.56, − 0.60–0.33, for the 10 and 30 min, respectively). The changes in proprioception were not significant between the two-tested durations (P value = 0.56). Further, smartphone addiction did not significantly affect changes in pain and proprioception after game playing, regardless of the duration (P > 0.05).ConclusionsThese findings show that smartphone use slightly increases back pain immediately after continuous use; with no effect on back proprioception within the duration tested in this study. Changes in pain and proprioception were not influenced by smartphone addiction.
Highlights
ResultsPain significantly but slightly increased following smartphone use, regardless to the duration (after 10 min: mean increase = 0.75 ± 1.17, P value < 0.001, 95% Confidence interval (CI) 0.44–1.06; after 30 min: mean increase = 0.96 ± 1.93, P value < 0.001, 95% CI 0.44–1.46)
Smartphone use has been associated with pain in the upper quadrant; the relationship between usage duration and low back pain is still unclear
The mean (±standard deviation (SD)) age was 22.4 ± 2.6 years, Body mass index (BMI) was 24.3 ± 2.4 kg/m2, and smartphone addiction score was of 35.0 ± 10.0
Summary
After screening 75 patients against the eligibility criteria, 58 patients completed the study (12 males (20.7%) and 46 females (79.3%)). Comparing changes in VAS and RE based on addiction showed no significant differences between the two subgroups (P > 0.05, Table 1). In 10 min task duration, the correlations between smartphone addiction scores and changes in VAS and RE were 0.04 and − 0.15, respectively. For a 30-min task, the correlation for changes in VAS was −0.02 while that for the RE was 0.14. Pain severity significantly increased after using a smartphone (P < 0.05), regardless of the duration (Table 2, Fig. 1). RE angle did not change significantly after game playing, regardless of task duration (Table 3, Fig. 2). The magnitude of change in pain severity and RE angle between the two-tested durations were not significant (P > 0.05) The magnitude of change in pain severity and RE angle between the two-tested durations were not significant (P > 0.05) (Tables 2 and 3, Figs. 1 and 2)
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