Screen Time and Musculoskeletal Neck Pain in Children: A Comprehensive Systematic Review and Lifestyle Recommendations

Abstract

AbstractMusculoskeletal neck pain is one of the leading ailments in the world right now and affects everyone, from seniors to prepubescent kids. Neck pain also costs countries billions of dollars in healthcare and medical expenses. Research in this field is slim, and thus, a compilation of this information is necessary. This systematic review aims to collect articles worldwide, exploring the correlation between screen use and neck pain in children. This systematic review harnesses PubMed, JSTOR, and Google Scholar data to comprehensively analyze 6,804 articles on the subject, cutting it down to 13 papers. To do this, an independent reviewer first distinguished note-worthy articles from said databases and used articles that fit this study. Then, the articles with data that fit the variables were used. Preliminary results in all articles indicate a substantial positive correlation between reduced screen time and reduced instances of neck pain issues, signifying the potential for lifestyle changes in children and adolescents. This systematic review also highlights its recommendations for screen use at different points in a child’s life, allowing parents to determine their kids’ best screen use rate. By synthesizing these findings, this review offers valuable insights into the potential benefits of reducing screen time as a preventive measure against neck pain in adolescents, increasing support for this cause, and expanding informed parental guidance in managing children’s screen usage habits. These recommendations were determined based on data from articles in the systematic review. Additional work in this field focusing on screen use and neck pain in adolescence is needed, and a higher-quality recommendation chart must be manufactured.