Association between home posture habits and neck pain in High School adolescents

BACKGROUND: Neck pain (NP) in adolescence is as frequent as in adulthood. However, the relationship between home posture habits and neck pain is still unknown. OBJECTIVE: To investigate the prevalence of NP and the association with home posture habits (HPH) in adolescents. METHODS: Cross-sectional study with High School adolescents. Students answered questions regarding sociodemographic variables, lifestyle, HPH (illustration in the questionnaire), time (TV, computer, video-game) and the presence of NP. Multivariate logistic regression was used to investigate the association between HPH and NP. RESULTS: The prevalence of NP was 48.9%. The ones who watched TV lying supine in bed for 2 hours or more a day yielded an odds ratio (OR) of 6.21 (1.45-26.52) for acute neck pain (ANP). Who watched TV and used the desktop in the slump posture yielded, respectively, an OR of 4.0 (1.63-9.85), and 2.03 (1.23-3.34) for chronic neck pain (CNP). The ones who frequently changed their positions while using the desktop and used it for 2 hours or more a day yielded an OR of 0.34 (0.14-0.85) for ANP. CONCLUSION: Our findings support the high prevalence of NP in adolescence and raise the association between some HPH and neck pain.