Due to the popularity of smartphones and tablets, as well as the growth of television channels, computer games and educational applications, children and teens are spending more time on screens, sometimes with poor posture, which can lead to back pain and other issues. .
A study by Brazilian researchers, funded by FAPESP and reported in an article published in the scientific journal Healthcare, identified several risk factors for spinal cord health, such as watching screens for more than three hours a day, from screens Closeness of eyes, and sitting or lying on the stomach.
The study focused on thoracic spine pain (TSP). The thoracic spine is located in the back of the chest (thorax), mostly between the shoulder blades, extending from the bottom of the neck to the beginning of the lumbar spine. The data analyzed come from a survey of male and female students aged 14 to 18 in the first and second years of high school in Bauru, a medium-sized city in the state of São Paulo.
A baseline questionnaire was completed by 1,628 participants in March–June 2017, of whom 1,393 completed a follow-up questionnaire in 2018. The analysis showed a one-year prevalence of 38.4 percent (proportion reporting TSP in both the baseline and follow-up surveys) and a one-year incidence of 10.1 percent (new TSP reported only in the follow-up survey). More girls than boys reported TSP.
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TSP is common in various age groups of the general population worldwide, with a prevalence of 15%–35% in adults and 13%–35% in children and adolescents. The explosive growth in the use of electronic devices during the COVID-19 pandemic has clearly made the problem worse. According to several investigations, the risk factors associated with TSP are physical, physiological, psychological, and behavioral. There is also strong evidence of the impact of physical activity, sedentary habits and mental disorders on spinal cord health. The World Health Organization (WHO) considered all these factors important in its latest global review of evidence and guidelines.
“The study can be used to inform health education programs for school students, teachers, staff and parents,” said Alberto De Vitta, first author of the article. She holds a PhD in Education from the State University of Campinas (UNICAMP) and completed a postdoctoral fellowship in Public Health at the São Paulo State University (UNESP) in Botucatu.
“It is in line with some of the objectives of the National Curriculum Standards [PCN, Brazilian government guidelines for secondary schools]According to which schools are responsible for health education, including identifying risks to individual and collective health and providing interventions to deal with them, as well as promoting self-care habits in relation to the possibilities and limitations of the body, ” said Vitta, who is currently teaching and researching as a faculty member in the Department of Physical Therapy at the Department of Physical Therapy in Avare, São Paulo state, and at the Faculty of Education, Knowledge and Society in Pousso Alegre, Minas. Teaching and researching in the graduate program of Saipukai Valley University in Gerais state.
According to the article, knowledge of the risk factors for TSP in high school students is important because children and adolescents with back pain are more inactive, achieve less academically, and have more psychosocial problems. Additionally, fewer studies have been done on TSP compared to low back and neck pain. A systematic review of the literature on TSP found only two prospective studies regarding prognostic factors.
