Risk Factors of Non-Specific Neck Pain in Students: Case Control Study

Abstract

Background: Non-specific neck pain is very common in the general population. Every individual would have experienced neck pain at some point in their life. Incidence of non-specific neck pain is gradually increasing in young adults. Hence there is a need to identify the factors which lead to development of Non-specific neck pain in young adults. Objectives: The objective of study is to determine the risk factors of Non-specific neck pain in students. Materials and Methods: This case control study was conducted with 274 students with Age between 18 to 25 years. 137 students with neck pain (pain intensity >2) having chronic, acute or recurrent neck pain were recruited in neck pain group and 137 students without neck pain (pain intensity<2) were recruited in without neck pain group. Students with chronic disease of the musculoskeletal system (e.g. Polyarthritis, muscular disease), clinical features indicating ‘red flag’ pathology, Trauma or fracture around neck or arm and with Specific headache were excluded. Self-structured questionnaire was used to collect the data. intensity of neck pain, Questions regarding exercise habits, BMI, traveling hours, daily average hours of computer use, type of computer use, years of computer use, posture of computer use, daily average study hours were asked to determine the risk factors of neck pain in those students .Intensity of Non-specific neck pain was measured by numerical rating scale. Data was analyzed using SPSS version 20.0. Results: Mean age of participants in neck pain group was 20.34 ± 1.59 years while in without neck pain group was 20.17 ± 1.79 years. The study demonstrated that various factors increases the risk of neck pain in students, less sleeping hours increases the risk to 1.259 times, greater travelling hours increases the risk to 1.358 times, more years of computer use increases the risk of Non-specific neck pain 1.30 times. Desktop use increases the risk to 1.18 times as compare to laptop use. Conclusion: Current study showed that neck pain is greater in females and other factors like less sleeping hours, greater travelling hours, greater years of computer use, smoking, desktop use, computer use in improper sitting posture found to increase the risk of neck pain in students. While regular exercise, using postural support during computer use and keeping screen level horizontal to eye decreases the risk of neck pain.\ Keywords: Non-specific neck pain, physiotherapy, Student