Pain and discomfort in laptop users: Prevalence and its relation to adopted posture

It seems that the prevalence of Musculoskeletal Disorder (MSD) in laptop users is high although relatively few studies had focus in this group. The aim of this study was to investigate the prevalence of discomfort and pain in laptop user subjects and identifying the common adopted posture during usage of laptop. This descriptive cross sectional study was targeted at a group of 300 students aged between 20 and 30 who use laptop at work or at school in Tehran, Iran. A questionnaire was used for data gathering. Descriptive analytic methods were used to show prevalence rate of musculoskeletal pain. The results showed 77.3% of users reported at least one musculoskeletal complaint after using laptop. Among these neck trouble was the most prevalent MSD (60.3%), followed by wrist (27.3%) and right shoulder trouble (26%). Nearly 45% of subjects adopted kyphotic posture during laptop usage. The most common places where laptop was placed on were on the lap 28.7% and 24% on the office desk. On the base of Visual Analog scale the grade 4 was the most pain that was reported. The study has demonstrated that laptop usage causes musculoskeletal pains among students at work and in school and it is associated with the duration of use and adopted postures.