Musculoskeletal Discomfort Experienced by Children and Adolescents During the Use of ICT: A Statistical Analysis of Exposure Periods and Purposes

Abstract

The risk of development of musculoskeletal discomfort problems among children and adolescents is high as the development of their musculoskeletal system is still continuing. Therefore, it is very important to learn the habits and attitudes of children and adolescents, the location and duration of the use of these technologies, and the relationship between musculoskeletal discomforts. This study aims to investigate the relationship between duration of daily exposure of children and adolescents to Information and Communication Technology (ICT) devices and the musculoskeletal discomfort experienced. A two-part questionnaire, which are adopted by Dutch Musculoskeletal Discomfort Questionnaire (DMQ) and the Student Specific Cornell Musculoskeletal Discomfort Questionnaire (SS-CMDQ), was used to gather data from children and adolescents in public and private secondary and high schools in Northern Cyprus. The survey findings showed that the participants experienced discomfort mostly in the neck, upper back, lower back, and shoulders. The correlation analysis indicated that there is a relationship between prolonged use of ICT devices for many hours and musculoskeletal discomfort. Also, it was found that there is a significant relationship between daily use of desktop, laptop, or tablet computers for different purposes (activities) and musculoskeletal discomfort. The musculoskeletal discomfort was observed to occur mostly due to the use of ICT devices for communication, surfing the Internet, reading, and writing. The results of the analysis showed that shoulder, upper back, upper arm, forearm, and hand muscles are affected by the use of ICT devices.