Sadia Hanif, Asna Waseem, Hajrah Mohammad Hafeez, Waleed Jameel, Kiran Mushtaq, Shabana Nawaz.
Head Posture Assessment among Office Workers with Neck Pain; a Cross-sectional Study.
Healer J Physiotherap Rehab Jan ;3(6):642-9.

Background: Forward head posture is considered a deviation because the position of the head varies from that reference line. Frequent use of computers and mobile phones promote rounded shoulders and humped upper back and therefore resulting in forward head posture and neck pain. Objective: To assess the association between forward head posture and neck pain in office workers. Methods: This is a cross-sectional study in which about 88 office workers with age between 20 to 50 years, having neck pain and those who were actively working in their offices in front of personal computers and laptops were included in this study. Participants who has any neurological conditions and those who had neck pain or faulty posture due to any recent accident, trauma or injury were excluded from this study. A mixture of standardized and self-modified structured questionnaires was given to office workers with neck pain. They were inquired about the intensity of their neck pain, and their work concentration levels and were assessed whether they adopted a forward head posture to do their daily visual tasks at work. The posture was evaluated using the postural assessment checklist form and REEDCO postural assessment form. For qualitative variables percentages and frequency were calculated whereas for descriptive analysis, means and standard deviations were calculated for quantitative variables. Results: Out of 88 office workers with neck pain 46(52.27%) office workers had a severely forward head posture, 35(39.77%) had a moderately forward head posture and only 7 (7.95%) had a normal forward head posture. The results of this study suggest that neck pain might be a cause and risk factor of abnormal forward head posture among office workers or faulty forward head posture might be a cause or risk factor for the pain in the neck. Conclusion: It concludes that neck pain among office workers and forward head posture is associated with each other. Neck pain among office workers might be a cause and risk factor of forward head posture in office workers or adopting forward head posture might be a risk factor leading to neck pain.

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