Due to the popularity of smartphones and tablets, as well as the growth of television channels, computer games, and educational applications, children and teenagers spend a lot of time looking at screens, sometimes with bad posture, which can lead to back pain and back pain. 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 spine health, such as watching screens for more than three hours a day, eye proximity to screens, and sitting or sleeping on the stomach.
The study focused on thoracic spine pain (TSP). The thoracic spine is located behind the chest (thorax), usually between the shoulder blades, extending from the base of the neck to the beginning of the lumbar spine. Data analyzed from a survey of 14- to 18-year-old male and female students in the first and second years of high school in Bauru, a medium-sized city in the state of São Paulo.
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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% (proportion of TSP reporting in both baseline and follow-up surveys) and a one-year incidence of 10.1% (new TSP reported only in the follow-up survey). More girls than boys reported TSP.
risk factors
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 exacerbated the problem. Risk factors associated with TSP are physiological, psychological, and behavioral, according to several studies. There is also strong evidence of the impact of physical activity, sedentary habits and mental disorders on spine health. All these factors have been considered important by the World Health Organization (WHO) 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. He 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.
“This aligns with some of the objectives of the National Curriculum Parameters [PCN, Brazilian government guidelines for secondary schools]According to which schools are responsible for health education, including the identification of risks to individual and collective health and interventions to combat them, as well as the promotion of self-care habits in terms of the body’s possibilities and limitations, “said Witta. Currently at Eduvale College of Physical Therapy in Aware, São Paulo State As a faculty member in the department and graduate program in Education, Knowledge and Society of Sapucai Valley University, he is teaching and researching in Pousso Alegre, Minas Gerais state.
Information about 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, according to the article. Additionally, fewer studies have been conducted 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.
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