Assessment of Forward Head Posture in Information Technology Employees with Neck Pain: A Cross-Sectional Study

Subrat Mohapatra; Anantharamakrishnan Ganesh; Nego Zion

doi:10.18502/jost.v10i1.14962

Subrat Mohapatra Associate Professor, Department of Orthopedics, IMS and SUM Hospital, Bhubaneswar, Odisha, India
Anantharamakrishnan Ganesh Assistant Professor, Department of Orthopedics, Chettinad Hospital and Research Institute, Kelambakkam, Tamilnadu, India
Nego Zion Post-graduate Resident, Department of Orthopedics, IMS and SUM Hospital, Bhubaneswar, Odisha, India

DOI: https://doi.org/10.18502/jost.v10i1.14962

Keywords: Head; Posture; Vocational; Neck Pain; Information Technology

Abstract

Background: Neck pain is the most common complaint that we deal with in orthopedics, most of which are information technology (IT) professionals. These individuals have vocational mismanagement which leads to high incidence of forward head posture (FHP).

Methods: A cross-sectional study was carried out from January 2019 to June 2019 during which a total of 300 patients were taken into study. Clinical assessment of neck pain, head posture, range of motion (ROM), and radiological assessment of craniovertebral angle (CVA) and anterior head translation (AHT) was done.

Results: Out of 300 patients, the majority of the patients were men. On average, men used computers for 9.6 hours compared to 9.2 hours for women. The average CVA was higher in women (58.8). The average AHT was more in men (22.9).

Conclusion: As compared with the previous literature, our study showed that 84.3% of male and 92.91% of female participants had FHP. CVA was lower, while AHT was higher in both groups than the usual range. The mean AHT in our sample was 18.8 mm, which was found to be aberrant in the prior research studies. In our study, we have found a negative correlation between the CVA and AHT, resulting in FHP, which can furthermore lead to early changes of cervical spondylosis in IT employees, probably due to long hours of desktop usage resulting in fixed postural habit.