Effects of self-posture correction exercise in forward head posture of smartphone users

Abstract

The majority of smartphone users tend to tilt heads forward to focus on screens which involves a combination of muscles tension and weakening leading to muscle performance reduction. This study aimed to compare the effects of selfexercise three times-per-week for six weeks combined with received knowledge in experiment and control received knowledge only were assessed craniovertical angle-CVA, head-tilt angle-HTA and shoulder angle-SHA by kinovea program, neck strength with hand-held dynamometer, neck endurance by holding time, flexibility by pectoralis-minor and lattisimus-dorsi length and neck pain with NDI. Forty-six participants that had CVA less than 45° and pectoralis-minor length greater than 6 cm. then random assignment to each group (n=23). All outcomes analyzed by independent t-test (parametric) and Mann-Whitney u-test (non-parametric). CVA, neck flexion-extension strength and neck flexion endurance of experiment increased and left-pectoralisminor length reduced more than control with statistically significant differences. Self-exercise improved CVA, neck flexionextension strength, flexion endurance, and flexibility.

Keywords

• forward head posture
• self-posture correction
• muscle performance
• neck pain
• smartphone users